Goans Were Cheated By Bharat – by A. Veronica Fernandes, Candolim

Refreshing my memory once again going back to December 1961, it was wintry morning of 18th of that month, at about 6.00 AM. My father was adjusting the flow of water in our field touching the main road about 70 metres away from our house.  That particular moment the convoy of Indian Military vehicles consisting of a huge fleet of Jeeps, Lorries and Tanks moving on the road to Aguada where a huge number of Portuguese troop stationed. 

 

Suddenly the Convoy stopped moving further by seeing my father and one of the ranking soldier in the front Tank called my father and asked what he was doing alone in the field. My father gave him the reason.  Then the same top Indian Military man asked my father whether he knew how much is the distance from that spot to Aguada and Chapora too and whether any troop is stationed at Chapora Fort.  Then my father was asked whether he knows the number of troop stationed at Aguada.

 

Finally the same Indian Military personnel asked my father who was wearing a sleeveless Banyan, “WHY YOU ARE WEARKING THIS POOR BANYAN?” For this my father replied saying “BECAUSE I AM POOR I AM WEARING THIS POOR BANYAN”.  Then with a broad smile on his broad face, the Indian Military man said “YES, WE KNOW PORTUGUESE GOVERNMENT HAS PURPOSELY KEPT YOU GOANS AS POOR ONLY.  HENCEFORTH YOU GOANS WILL NOT REMAIN POOR, WE ARE COME TO FREE YOU, TO MAKE YOU RICH AND GIVE YOUR GOA IN YOUR OWN HANDS”.

 

While going to the field my father was using the slogan “Viva Portugal and Salazar Zindabad but while coming home surprisingly he used the slogan saying “Jai Hind - Salazar Murdabad and Nehru Zindabad”. When my mother asked what has happened, he said henceforth we will not remain poor thinking that honey and milk will directly flow thru a pipeline into our homes, starting from Delhi .  But what happened ultimately? My father felt that we were cheated.

 

Yes, we were cheated because since the ouster of Portuguese from Goa we Goans are treated as conquered people by Bharat.  We are conquered people because according to the landmark judgment on Goa by the Supreme Court of India, on 19th December 1961 Goa was conquered by Bharat.  Hence, we are not liberated on this date and as such it is wrong to mark the 19th December as the Liberation Day of Goa.

 

Within a week of the conquest of Goa, to fool the Goan masses Bharat Serkar dumped Goan market with cheap Onions, Potatoes, Dry Chillies, Bananas and other fruits and commodities.  Seeing this, Goans thought now "Achchya Din" already come and will remain forever. But within a fortnight everything cheap coming from Bharati territories disappeared from Goan Bazar and scarcity of essential commodities appeared everywhere.  And in this way, Goans were denied many things which were earlier easily available.  In one word the Hell was let lose on Goa in all the angles in the name of Fake Liberation.  I pity myself for being the victim of this Hell.  Whom to curse?  My elders died by cursing and cursing the Indian Raj and Indian "Rajkhabari" for bringing my beloved Goa to this level. It is not Goa of the choice of our elders but it is the Goa of the Cheats and Corrupts.