Panaji, June 18: Goa, the land of Sun, Sand and beaches, observes June 18 every year as the Goa Revolution Day as a memory for those martyrs who have sacrificed their lives to liberate the state from the clutches of Portuguese.
Today we go to Goa to enjoy its beauty and for tourism but do we know how the state of Goa which now breathes an air of independence got free? Here is how……
When India in 1946 was preparing to free herself from the shackles of the British Raj, Goa was fighting with the other enemy.
India was then on the cusp of Independence, but it took 14 long years for the Portuguese to leave Goa. The Portuguese were among the very first to colonize parts of India and were the last to leave. India gained independence on 15 August 1947, but Goa got its freedom on 19 December 1961.
The first blow for Goa’s liberation from the Portuguese in 1961 was struck on 18 June 1946 by freedom fighter Ram Manohar Lohia.
Entered the Goan land in 1510, Portuguese ruled Goa for nearly 450 years with an aim to suppress the Konkani language and praise their own. In 1540, they started the bloodiest period of inquisition and persecution of Hindus and Goan Catholics.
After the Portuguese came under the dictatorship of Antonio Salazar in 1932, things only got worse. People were denied basic civil liberties; the right to speech, assembly, and press were also taken away. Even simple things like marriage invitation cards were censored.
In 1949 PM Nehru’s government sent a mission to Lisbon to negotiate with the Portuguese government about the withdrawal from Goa. To Nehru’s surprise, the Portuguese government refused to even discuss the matter, let alone the issue. By 1953, the Indian mission was closed and diplomatic relations between the governments were conducted through intermediaries.
On 21 July 1954, the United Front of Goans (led by Francis Mascarenhas) forced the Portuguese to retreat from the colonial enclave of Dadra, a small landlocked territory bordering Nagar Haveli. A group of volunteers from the National Movement Liberation Organisation (NMLO), an umbrella organization involving revolutionary groups Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh and Azad Gomantak Dal, led an attack on Nagar Haveli on 28 July 1954 and took it on 2 August. Despite successfully conquering the territories,
The Portuguese dictator Salazar defended his position in a speech presented to the Portuguese National Assembly on November 30, 1954. He said,” The extension of Indian sovereignty to include Goa is not a prospect opened up by, or an anticipation of, the evolution of history; it is a political goal which India’s present leaders suppose it their duty to achieve in order to fulfill their mission…It is always historical facts, and not geographical outline, that fix frontiers, institute rights and imposes sovereignties….For the Indian Union to claim to turn the clock of history back to the 15th century, to come forward now and make out that she already existed potentially at that time, or to set herself up as the rightful heir of those whom we found holding sway there, is a fancy of static dreamers; it is not for the dynamic shapers of history that the men who received an empire from England want to be”.
India did not immediately assimilate these enclaves into the Indian Union. For some time, both enclaves functioned as de facto independent states, administered by the Varishta Panchayat of Free Dadra and Nagar Haveli.
The successful annexation of Dadra and Nagar Haveli provided the dormant Goa anti-colonial movement with renewed vigor and motivation to continue the anti-colonial struggle. On 15 August 1954, hundreds of people crossed the Portuguese Goan borders, defying a ban by the Indian government on participating in Satyagrahas. The Portuguese responded to the action by injuring and fatally shooting many Satyagrahis.
The Portuguese responded to the Satyagrahas, which continued throughout 1955, by sealing Goa's borders in an attempt to curb the growing support for the movement. By 1955, the Indian government had developed a clear policy on Portuguese Goan territory, which supported the anti-colonial movement. Between 1955 and 1961, six political parties were formed to advocate for an end to Portuguese colonial rule. These parties included Azad Gomantak Dal, Rancour Patriota, the United Front of Goans, Goan People's Party, Goa Liberation Army and Quit Goa Organisation
India’s Prime Minister Jawaharlal Nehru on July 26, 1955, in an address to the Indian Parliament, the Lok Sabha, said ” Although it does not require that anything should be said in justification of our claim to Goa, I shall, nevertheless, venture to mention a few facts…There is, of course, the geographical argument. The Portuguese Government claims that Goa is a part of Portugal. That remark is so illogical and absurd that it is rather difficult to deal with….It has no relation to facts…I am not going into the old history of the Portuguese possession of Goa, but I think many members will remember that this history is a very dark chapter of India’s history”.
In 1961, India proclaimed that Goa should join India "either with full peace or with full use of force". In August 1961, India began military preparations and, following Nehru's announcement on 1 December 1961, that India would not remain silent in relation to the Goan situation, Indian troops were strategically stationed close to the Goan border.
After the failure of diplomacy with the Portuguese, PM Nehru ordered the Indian Armed Forces to take Goa by force. In a military operation conducted on 18 and 19 December 1961, Indian troops captured Goa with little resistance. The governor-general of Portuguese India signed an instrument of surrender.
Remembering this day, CM Manohar Parrikar and Governor Mridula Sinha paid their humble tributes to those martyrs who gave their lives for making state free happily.
CM Parrikar also remembered DR. Ram Manohar Lohia, who ignited the fire of patriotism among the people to unite and fight against the oppressive colonial rule.