Goa: 69 Years Ago, A Little-Known Story of Independence

[P.J.]

Share:

Facebook X (Twitter) WhatsApp Email Share Link

Goa: 69 Years Ago, A Little-Known Story of Independence

Rishika Baruah

June 17, 2015

Ram Manohar Lohia during the Civil Liberties movement, 1946. (Photo: Directorate of Art and Culture, Krishnadas Shama Goa State Central Library)

It’s a little known story but the first blow for Goa’s liberation from the Portuguese in 1961 was struck on June 18, 1946 by freedom fighter Ram Manohar Lohia.


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 colonise parts of India and were the last to leave. India gained independence on August 15, 1947 but Goa got its freedom on December 19, 1961.





The Portuguese invaded Goa in 1510, and ruled it for over four centuries, subjecting Goans to the most diabolic torture. By 1540, they started the bloodiest period of inquisition and persecution of Hindus and Goan Catholics, as well as the suppression of the Konkani language. They destroyed Hindu temples and placed prohibitions on Hindu marriage rituals. Hindus voluntarily converting to Christianity were exempted from land taxes for 15 years. 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 1946, at the time when the rest of India was inching towards freedom, on the invitation of Goan academician and writer, Dr. Juliao Menezes, Ram Manohar Lohia arrived in Goa. What was originally a visit to a friend, evolved into a movement for civil liberties. When the Goans heard of Lohia’s arrival, nationalist leaders rushed to Menezes’s residence to apprise Lohia of the plight of the Goans.





June 18, 1946, was the beginning of the end of the Portuguese rule in India. 69 years ago, the first cry for freedom emanated from the streets and sands of Goa. Freedom fighter, nationalist and socialist leader Ram Manohar Lohia launched a movement to fight for the lost civil liberties of the Goans.



June 18, 1946, defying the ban on public meetings, Lohia launched the Civil Disobedience Movement.

June 18 movement was a movement to gain back the lost civil liberties. Dr. Lohia along with Dr. Julia Menezes arrived in a horse carriage at the venue. The Portuguese police had planted their people all over. The moment Dr. Lohia alighted from his carriage and took out the speech, the Portuguese officer hurled a pistol at him which Lohia brushed aside and was about to give his speech, that is when they arrested him and lodged him in the Margaon Police station.

– Prajal Sakhardande, Historian

​

While Lohia was arrested and the movement was quashed, it left a lasting impression on the minds of a number of young Goans like Prabhakar Vitthal Sinari, who was just 13 years old during the movement.

When we reached the venue of the protest, the police officers started beating us. They used to make special whips with Hippopotamus hide, The moment you get a lash, the whole skin would come off. They started thrashing children with those whips. This was the incident that changed my whole life and I thought that I must eradicate the Portuguese even though I was so young.

– Prabhakar Vitthal Sinari, Participant in the movement & Member, Azad Gomantak Dal

​

It was the spirit of people like Sinari that lived on to ultimately liberate Goa from the Portuguese. Sinari along with revolutionaries like Prabhakar Trivikam Viadiya and Vishwanath Lawande were among those brutalised during the non-violent civil disobedience movement. These men went on to form a revolutionary outfit called the Azad Gomantak Dal that played a crucial role in keeping the battle for freedom of Goa alive.



Even after Lohia was expelled from Goa, this movement inspired Goans to openly defy the ban on public meetings. People began to meet, organise and strategise Goa’s liberation.


June 18, 1946 was the ultimate catalyst in making the Goans believe that their land, seas and sand could breathe the same air of freedom as the rest of India.





http://www.thequint.com/India/goa-69-years-ago-a-little-known-story-of-independence

 

[prasad1]

When India became independent in 1947, Goa remained under Portuguese control. The Indian government of Jawaharlal Nehru insisted that Goa, along with a few other minor Portuguese holdings, be turned over to India. However, Portugal refused. France, on the other hand, which also had small enclaves in India (most notably Puducherry), surrendered all its Indian possessions relatively quickly.[SUP][66][/SUP][SUP][67][/SUP]
In 1954, unarmed Indians[SUP][68][/SUP] took over the tiny land-locked enclaves of Dadra and Nagar Haveli. This incident led the Portuguese to lodge a complaint against India in the International Court of Justice at The Hague. The final judgement on this case, given in 1960, held that the Portuguese had a right to the enclaves, but that India equally had a right to deny Portugal access to the enclaves over Indian territory.
In 1955 a group of unarmed civilians, the Satyagrahis, demonstrated against Portugal. At least twenty-two of them were killed by Portuguese gunfire.[SUP][68][/SUP]

Later the same year, the Satyagrahis took over a fort at Tiracol and hoisted the Indian flag. They were driven away by the Portuguese with a number of casualties. On 1 September 1955, the Indian consulate in Goa was closed. Also in 1955, Nehru declared that his government would not tolerate Portuguese presence in Goa. India then instituted a blockade against Goa, Damão, and Diu in an effort to force a Portuguese departure. Goa was then given its own airline by the Portuguese, the Transportes Aéreos da Índia Portuguesa to overcome the blockade.
On 16 December 1961, Indian troops crossed the border into Goa. 'Operation Vijay' involved sustained land, sea, and air strikes for more than 36 hours; it resulted in the unconditional surrender of Portuguese forces on 19 December. A United Nations resolution condemning the invasion was proposed by the United States and the United Kingdom in the United Nations Security Council, but it was vetoed by the USSR. Under Indian rule, Goan voters went to the polls in a referendum and voted to become an autonomous, federally administered territory. Goa was admitted to Indian statehood in 1987.
After joining India, the territory of Goa was under military rule for five months, however the previous civil service was soon restored and the area became a federally administered territory. Goa celebrates its "Liberation Day" on 19 December every year, which is also a state holiday.

Many Goans reportedly felt that the Portuguese were deliberately misleading the international community by portraying Goans as Luso-Indian or Portuguese. Following his release from prison, P.D. Gaitonde conducted a series of international lectures to challenge this notion. With increased support from the international community and Portuguese African colonies instigating an armed struggle against the Portuguese, the policy position of the India government was able to became more hardline.

In 1961, India proclaimed that Goa should be liberated "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.
With few options left, Nehru finally 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.


https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/History_of_Goa
Any one can rewrite History and be as biased as themselves.