By Valmiki Faleiro valmi...@gmail.com Western countries tried and failed to move an intransigent Portugal. But they kept pressurising India not to resort to force in Goa. Nehru himself was opposed to war and hoped for a peaceful solution. None was emerging. Disquiet continued in various forms in Goa.
On 17 February 1957, militant freedom fighters Camilo Pereira of Bandora-Ponda and Suresh Kerkar of Keri-Ponda were shot dead by police at Curti-Ponda when proceeding to blow up a pipeline supplying water to the Portuguese garrison at Ponda. In New Delhi in June 1957, Nehru for the first time met 11 Goan leaders from a crosssection of the Goa freedom movement. They were (alphabetically): Prof. Armando Menezes, Evagrio George, Adv. Gerald Pereira, JN Heredia, Luis Gracias, Nicolau Menezes, Peter Alvares, Dr. Pundalik Gaitonde, Purushottam Kakodkar, Dr. Rama Hegde and Vishwanath Lawande. At the time, 360 Goans languished in Portuguese jails -- 350 in Goa, 8 in Portuguese Africa and 2 in Lisbon. Nehru expressed 'full sympathy' with the plight of Goan prisoners (Bombay: Free Goa, 10 June 1957, Volume 4, No.15, Page 7). Nehru told the Rajya Sabha in September 1957, "Portugal and her NATO allies should no longer be in any doubt about India's firm policy towards Goa. India has tried all possible means, short of war, to settle the problem of Goa. But Portugal seems determined to perpetuate colonialism...". Wrote Air Vice Marshal Arjun Subramaniam in his tome India's Wars: A Military History 1947-1971, "The procrastination of the Government of India after such aggressive pronouncements by its PM reveals Nehru's reluctance to use force, even if it was against the last vestiges of colonialism in India" (Subramaniam, 2016, Footnote 1 to Chapter 13, Page 490). By the November 1957 general elections, Portugal's national opposition -- comprising, broadly, of two streams of republicans (led by Vasco da Gama Fernandes and António Sérgio), monarchists (Vieira de Almeida), Catholics (Francisco Lino Neto) and a mix of democrats, liberals, socialists and communists (Abranches Ferrão, Cal Brandão, Mário Soares, Arlindo Vicente, Cruz Ferreira and Cunha Leal) -- more or less crystallised its position on Goa on the basis of a writing by António Sérgio: 1. Illegitimate and forced that it was, the Salazar regime was not competent to deal with the Goa Question on behalf of the Portuguese people; 2. The regime's imposition of the Colonial Act and racial discrimination is what started the disquiet in Goa; and, 3. The best solution would be an UN-supervised plebiscite with the UN enforcing its result (Sousa Lopes, 2017, Page 263). (While some freedom for propaganda existed in Portugal during the pre-poll period, there was no such window in Goa, where, bereft of opposition candidates, both the 'official' candidates -- Msgr. Castilho Serpa do Rosário Noronha and Purushottam Ramnath Keni -- were elected by 3.3% of the population entitled to vote in the 3 November 1957 elections.) By April 1958, the pioneer Goa National Congress formed in 1928 by Tristão de Bragança Cunha, Father of Goan Nationalism, ended its active role, urging the Government of India to seek a peaceful solution, and faded into oblivion. (TB Cunha passed away 26 September 1958. Loknayak Jaiprakash Narayan was a pallbearer. Government of India issued a postage stamp and later unveiled his portrait in the Central Hall of Parliament. The World Peace Council at Stockholm decorated him with a gold medal posthumously in 1959.) India did three things in 1960. First, it took the 'Case of Goa' to the UN and like in 1956 argued that Goa was a colony. Portugal maintained that this was its internal matter and nobody had the right to raise it at the world body. On 15 December 1960, the UN General Assembly by 68 votes to 6 adopted Resolution No. 1542 (XV) declaring Goa and other Portuguese possessions in Asia and Africa to be "non-self-governing territories" (meaning, colonies) rejecting Portugal's contention that they were "overseas provinces" of Portugal. The six that voted against the resolution were Portugal, South Africa, Belgium, Brazil, France and Spain. There were 17 abstentions including by US and UK. The UN mandated Portugal to file information on the colonies with the UN Secretary General. It also directed Portugal to allow the people of the colonies to exercise the right of self-determination. Two, India deputed an Administrator to Dadra and Nagar Haveli. And three, it appointed Gopal ("Gopi") Krishna Handoo, IPS (Indian Police Service), an Inspector General of Police from Jammu and Kashmir, to head the organisation of border guards, Central Reserve Police (there was no Border Security Force then). Together with the out-of-turn-promoted Lt. Gen. BM Kaul and Intelligence Bureau chief BN Mullik, Handoo would become Defence Minister Krishna Menon's triumphant trio -- or unholy triumvirate, depending from which angle one views them. Handoo's appointment heated up things for the Portuguese in Goa. He trained, armed and infiltrated saboteurs across the border into Goa in waves, sporadically but relentlessly. There was a stark difference between Goan and Indian saboteurs: while Goans carefully selected targets to hit the Portuguese where it hurt the most (armed stations and economic interests like mines), Indian guerillas were far less discriminate. Wrote Gen. Carlos de Azeredo, "The most evolved guerilla warfare which our [Portuguese] Armed Forces encountered was in Goa. I know what I'm talking about, because I also fought in Angola and in Guiné. In 1961 alone, until December, around 80 policemen died. Major part of Azad Gomantak Dal was not Goan. Many had fought in the British Army under General Montgomery against the Germans." Portugal had a worthy terror counterpart in Goa: PIDE, the dreaded secret service police -- and its most notorious torturer: 'Agente' Casimiro Monteiro (on that next week). Nehru was anxious that Goa does not turn into a Cold War issue between the two power blocks. He again requested NATO countries friendly to Portugal -- USA and UK -- to exert pressure on Portugal to quit Goa. Both the US and UK tried to persuade Portugal to withdraw peacefully but failed. The UK was caught between a British Commonwealth partner, India, and an ages-old ally, Portugal, that she was pledged to defend. The US offered Salazar another option, which, if accepted, would have changed the course of Goa's history (for the fourth time, if one may add, the first being the Indo-Aryan migration to Goa, the second being the Muslim invasions from the early 14th century and the third being the Portuguese conquest in the early 16th century). The US urged Salazar to withdraw and let Goa rule itself as an autonomous region a la Hong Kong on US funding. Salazar abhorred American capital. He refused to budge. There was no chance of Portugal changing her stance. US President John F Kennedy led, from 20 January 1961, a Democratic Party dispensation that was favourably disposed towards India, unlike the predecessor Republican government. Kennedy wrote to Nehru hoping that war would be avoided and asked his Ambassador in India, Prof. John Kenneth Galbraith, to discuss the issue with Nehru. On 26 January 1961 -- India's Republic Day -- a 'Goa Gate' was erected at Bombay's major traffic junction opposite the Metro Cinema, entrance to the Goan hub of Dhobitalao. The arch was 10 metres tall and well lit -- with the legend, "Remember Goa is not yet free". -- 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). 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