By Valmiki Faleiro valmikifale...@gmail.com What follows is a sequel to what appeared last Sunday. Unless you recall (or read) last week's piece, the one that follows below may not make much sense. [See https://tinyurl.com/yg35pj33 ]
Freedom fighters like Adv. Pandurang Mulgaokar and Adv. Gopal Apa Kamat associated in 1947-48 with a move of Loutulim's Vicente João de Figueiredo for autonomy with Goa as an overseas state of Portugal. Laxmikant Bhembre also associated initially, but soon left. Figueiredo and Adv. José Inácio Francisco ("Fanchu") de Loyola started a daily, A Vóz da Índia in 1940 to further the demand. (The newspaper was soon sold to a group of 10 Hindus and 10 Catholics.) Adv. António Anastácio Bruto da Costa demanded 'complete autonomy' for Goa as a quasi-nation aligned to a Portuguese Commonwealth. His Group of Margao issued an appeal favouring the opposition candidate, Gen. Humberto Delgado, in Portugal's 1958 presidential election. Signed by 18 Goan Catholics, the appeal was also signed by 15 Goan Hindus namely, B. Sinai Ramani, Krishna Bangui, Kashinath Sar Desai, Gopal Prabhu Nachinolkar, Gopal Sinai Borkar, Adv. Madhav Rao, Manohar Prabhu Tamba, Adv. Mukund Sincró, Sakharam Gopal Sinai Gude, Sadanand Govind Prabhu Desai, Adv. Vinayak Sinai Kaissare, Dr. Venkatesh Rau Sar Desai, Vinayak Sinai Neurenkar, Jaywant Surya Kandeparkar and Narayan Surya Rau Desai. The Group of Margao comprised of other Hindus (as identified by PIDE in early 1960 in the dossier on António Bruto da Costa and various sources including Col. Carlos Alexandre Morais in his book A Queda da Índia Portuguesa), such as Adv. Atmarama Xambu Panandikar, Balkrishna Sinai Sukhtankar, Datta Fotu Dessai, Adv. Gopal Apa Kamat, Dr. Govind D. Vaidya, Adv. Govind Sinai Orti, Madhusudan Desai, Narayan Parcenkar Desai, Adv. Pandurang Mulgaokar, Dr. Ramesh Atmaram Borkar, Dr. Vaman Naik, Dr. Vaman Sinai Xeldenkar, Adv. Vassu Fotu Gauns, writer Venctexa Ananta Poi Raikar and Margao businessmen Esvonta Poy Raiturcar, Kashinath Damodar Naik, Narcinva Damodar Naik and Vissu Sinai Virgincar. The Group of Margao demanded a free Goa aligned to a Portuguese Commonwealth which, as seen, involved amending the Portuguese Constitution, something that Salazar would not countenance. It is clear that there were divergent approaches by Goans about their future -- integration with India, continuance under Portugal but with autonomy, complete autonomy or a quasi-nation aligned to a Portuguese Commonwealth. But no approach was based on religious lines -- Hindus on one side, Catholics on the other -- as is often erroneously believed. The adherents of each school of thought were a mix of both Hindu and Catholic. Even in early 1961, Pandurang Mulgaokar, Gopal Apa Kamat and Shankar Sardesai contemplated autonomy for Goa under Portuguese sovereignty (Kanekar, 2011, Page 35). Purushottam Kakodkar, Congress veteran who had served an exile sentence of a decade in Portugal (1946-56), also pursued the idea and went to Lisbon for talks on the proposal of autonomy for Goa within Portugal in early 1961 (Shirodkar, My Life in Exile, Page 238, and Goa Gazetteer, Who's Who of Freedom Fighters-Vol 1, Page 149). This approach was called the 'moderate' school of thought. Historian Sarto Esteves says, "Among others who subscribed to this approach in one way or the other were José Inácio de Loyola, Paolo Ribeiro, Gopinath Kurade, Vicente João Figueiredo, AX Gomes Pereira, António Sequeira and Francisco Xavier Furtado. Their approach and attitude towards freedom for Goa was to a great extent conditioned by the censored press and the police rule that was prevalent in Goa" (Politics and Political Leadership in Goa, 1987, Page 48). As long back as 26 June 1946, Gandhi had written in the 'Harijan' that Goa had no future as an autonomous entity in an independent India. India meanwhile rejected the offer by the US and UK to mediate a peaceful Portuguese exit from Goa, asking them instead to exert pressure on Portugal to quit Goa. The diplomatic deadlock between New Delhi and Lisbon continued. Goans were never part of the debate, says Philip Bravo in the abstract of his paper, The Case of Goa: History, Rhetoric and Nationalism (Past Imperfect, Volume 7, 1998, Pages 125-154). "[In] the fruitless diplomatic contest between New Delhi and Lisbon ... the arguments used by each government to defend its right to Goa provide an interesting case study of how history can be used in an attempt to define a 'people'. Few Goans were persuaded to make a stand on either side of this debate. ... Goans seem to have been indifferent to this problem. A mass nationalist movement that represented either the Portuguese or Indian position did not exist in Goa. ... [Quoting MN Pearson, The Portuguese in India, Cambridge University Press, 1987, Pages 160-61] In 1961, following the Indian 'liberation' of Goa and celebrations throughout India, journalists noted an unusual lack of enthusiasm among Goans." Academician-author then at Dartmouth College, Prof. Arthur G Rubinoff, noted that Goans "seemed at best to be apathetic" (Rubinoff, India's Use of Force in Goa, 1971, Page 48). That was not entirely true. Based outside Goa, given it was a repressive police state, Goan organisations fought for freedom by means peaceful or violent. These were, alphabetically: Azad Gomantak Dal, Goa Action Committee, Goa Liberation Army, Goa Liberation Council, Goa Liberation Front, Goan National Conference, Goan National Union, Goan Political Convention/Goan League, Goan People's Party, Goa Vimochan Sahayak Samiti, Goan Youth League, National Congress (Goa), Quit Goa Organisation, Rancour Patriotica and United Front of Goans. Nehru later observed, "The story of Goa's fight for freedom is one that all of us should remember.... What is worth remembering is that this small territory produced a relatively large number of men and women who have sacrificed much in this struggle" (Goa Gazetteer, Who's Who of Freedom Fighters, 1986, Back Cover). The significance of Goa to both the contending parties explains what Philip Bravo describes as Salazar's recalcitrance and Nehru's procrastination. One headed a nation that gained independence by non-violence, the other was a dictator who championed 'peaceful' methods. Two ground realities obtained at the time: India's diplomacy with Portugal over Goa had failed and Salazar stubbornly refused to consider via media options about Goa's future offered by Goans themselves. -- Excerpted from revised text of the book, Patriotism In Action: Goans in India's Defence Services by Valmiki Faleiro, first published in 2010 by Goa,1556 (ISBN: 978-93-80739-06-9). Revised edition awaits publication. (NEXT WEEK: The Economic Blockade of Goa, what it was meant to be and what it turned out to be) *-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*- Join a discussion on Goa-related issues by posting your comments on this or other issues via email to goa...@goanet.org See archives at http://lists.goanet.org/pipermail/goanet-goanet.org/ *-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-