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should be reproduced without the author’s written permission. This article was
published in “Revista da Casa de Goa” and it is reproduced here with the
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A DAY OF JOY FOR
GOANS
John M.
de Figueiredo, MD, ScD
On July 4, 1776, a
courageous group of English citizens established in North America declared
their desire to separate from England to form a new nation, the United States
of America. More than a century and a half later, on July 4, 1930, in a remote
corner of the western coast of India, while the Americans were celebrating
their Independence Day, four Goans presented in Goa a declaration to the
Government Council of Portuguese India. The declaration responded to the
request of Dr. Oliveira Salazar, then Minister of the Colonies, for an opinion
from Portuguese India through its Government Council on his project of the
Colonial Act. That Act stated in Article 2: “It is of the organic essence of
the Portuguese Nation to perform the historical function of owning and
colonizing overseas domains and to civilize the indigenous populations that are
comprised in them, also exercising the moral influence assigned to it by the
‘Padroado do Oriente’ " And in Article 3: “The overseas domains of
Portugal are called colonies and constitute the Portuguese Colonial Empire.”
The four Goans made up the elected part of the Government Council: Luiz de
Menezes Bragança, author of the Declaration, António Xavier Gomes Pereira,
Naraina Bandorcar, and Cipriano da Cunha Gomes, co-signatories. The declaration
was adopted by the Government Council by unanimous vote. This statement,
transcribed from the Minutes of the Government Council, ran as follows:
“1st Portuguese India does not renounce the right of
peoples to reach the fullness of their individuality, until they become units
capable of directing their destinies, since it is an original right, of its
organic essence;
2nd Recommends that, maintaining the organization of the
Portuguese State established in the Political Constitution of the Republic:
a) There is no discrimination between the Metropolis and
the Overseas Provinces of individual rights and guarantees expressed in Art. 3
and its Constitution numbers and the representation of India in the Congress of
the Republic is maintained
b) The regime of administrative decentralization and
financial autonomy of the Overseas Provinces is reestablished in the terms
defined in Articles 67 B and 67 F of the Constitution as a starting point for
representative institutions of broader action.
c) The principle of majority elected in the highest
deliberative body in the country is reestablished in India, the intervention of
that majority being recognized, through its representatives, in the special
function of the “examination and visa”, of ordering the expenses and accounts
of management"
Unlike the
founders of the United States, Menezes Bragança, Gomes Pereira, Naraina
Bandorcar, and Cipriano da Cunha Gomes did not ask for political independence
for Goa. Nor was their desire to transfer sovereignty to the Indian Union,
which, at the time, did not yet exist as a nation. Known as the “Greatest of
All”, Menezes Bragança thought that the people of Goa had an individuality and
psychology fundamentally different from the peoples of the rest of India, the
result of Portugal's assimilationist policy, and it was always of the opinion
that Portuguese India was part and portion of the spiritual unity of the
Portuguese Nation. Despite his vehement opposition to the Colonial Act, he
simply asked for the people of his homeland democratic representation and
maximum administrative and financial autonomy under Portuguese sovereignty.
To say that
Menezes Bragança was the “Tilak of Goa” shows ignorance of what he wanted for
his homeland. Lokmanya Tilak wanted, for his India, complete and immediate
independence (‘Swaraj”) from the British colonial rule. Menezes Bragança
was always loyal to Portugal and during the First Republic he was praised by
Dr. Jaime de Morais, Governor of Portuguese India, for his loyalty to Portugal
and his honesty. Unfortunately, the little he asked for, he did not obtain, and
the Colonial Act was promulgated and incorporated into the 1933 Constitution.
Menezes Bragança's reaction was to state that “the 1933 Constitution betrayed
the spirit of the 1911 Constitution”. His newspaper “Luz - Pracasha”
was closed by order of the Government, forever silencing his voice.
In this manner
was born the historical fatality of the people of Portuguese India. As the
Viceroy of Portuguese India Count of S. Vicente said so well, “Portuguese India
is only seen from far away and only heard too late”. The voice of Portuguese
India echoed in the desert and died. Goa's fate was decided by others, not by
the Goans themselves. The human right of self-determination, an “original
right, of its organic essence” was never
exercised by the Goans through a plebiscite, and will never be exercised, but
the protest of the Goans against the Colonial Act and the _expression_ of their
natural desire to “reach the fullness of their individuality” were recorded
forever in the annals of history.
The Declaration
of Self-Determination is the most important document in the modern history of
Portuguese India. July 4th is not a day of joy and pride for the Americans
only; it is also for the Goans.
