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CARDINAL GRACIAS - Goa Lover or Traitor?
"That my widow mother is a poor woman is a hard fact and I am not shy of it", felt the late Cardinal Gracias whose birthday has just been celebrated by his admirers in the village of his ancestors. That his mother was an ordinary Ayah did not bother him, on the contrary as he said he was proud of her poor and illiterate mother who inspite of being so backward made her only son great intellectually and literally. Konkani was dearest to his heart because this was the only communicating link between him and his poor and illiterate mother whom he loved so much, as he confessed. During Lent on every Good Friday, Akashwanni Mumbai at 8.10 p.m. news bulletin used to relay his sermon in Konkani during those days and I was an ardent listener to his sermons though his Konkani was not as fluent as mine. With his high calibre in intellectual and educational capacity he rose to very high position and thus made a mockery of those who were criticising his caste and class. His smartness shattered the so called greatness of casteists. He worked for the upliftment of the poor and much of his work for the cause of poor was done silently. Internally he disliked Bhatkarshai-i and Bamonshahi-i and was under the impression that this class of people in Goa was supported by the Portuguese regime and this class of Goans co-operated with the Portuguese to enhance their motives. For this reason he wanted Portuguese to leave from Goa. His elevation in the Church hierarchy had some support from the top Bharati influential people. Same Bharati people used him like a tool to influence Goans against Portuguese regime. Bharat Serkar headed by Nehru projected him as a symbol of Indian secularism and supported him very much. When the late Pope Paul the VI in 1964 visited Bombay for Eucharistic Congress almost the entire Union Cabinet came to Bombay to welcome him headed by premier Lal Bahadur Shastri, Indira Gandhi was Information and Broadcasting Minister that time. Even the president of India Dr. Radakrishnan came to Bombay and was present at Santa Cruz Airport to receive the Pope. Indian Government made Cardinal Gracias very happy by giving the Pope the most spectacular welcome even though the Jana Sangh party was against this. Pope was highly impressed by the enormous influence Cardinal Gracias had on Indian Government. V.P. Naik the then Chief Minister of Maharastra played a very pivotal role in giving total co-operation to Cardinal Gracias in hosting the Pope and Eucharistic Congress of course with an ulterior motive to extract a pound of flesh at an appropriate time. When he came to Goa St. Xavier�s College in Mapusa was still not fully completed and as a token of his love for this College he donated a huge amount to finish the work of Laboratory. When he came to Mapusa he was welcomed in bigger number by many of the �hoi polloi� Hindus who were strong supporters of MGP and its agenda of merger. Many of the pro-Goan and ant-mergerists refrained from joining in his reception and refused to welcome him
Came the time of Opinion Poll in Goa. Almost the entire Goan community in Bombay dominated by Catholics stood behind Goans in Goa who were fighting against Goa�s merger with Maharastra. Goa lover Goans in Bombay were backing anti-merger issue and they were in the initial stage of campaigning were afraid that Maharastra�s flow of cash into the coffers of Dayananda Bandodkar, his party and all the scrap Goans who were supporting merger might win the Opinion Poll. Dr. Simon was the leading Goan in Bombay who had great love for Goa, Konkani, Goan culture, tradition, history and everything that is dearest to Goa. He during those turbulent days collected Goans under his banner and led them everyday to Cross Maidan to recite Holy Rosary and pray to the miraculous Cross for the success of Opinion Poll in favour of pro-Goans. The news of this everyday prayers spread everywhere, alerted V.P. Naik who put pressure on Cardinal Gracias as a head of the Catholicism to stop this prayers. Unfortunately, Cardinal Gracias succumbed to the command of V.P. Naik but Dr. Simon and all the genuine Goans who were in that prayer groups said �hey bloody rascal, you mind your own business and don�t stop us from doing what we are doing�. Some spoke ill of his mother calling him �Rannecho put Goem khairo�, others spoke ill of his private life calling him �Bebdo, Naikinnimcho Kombo�, yet others said in one voice Cardinal Gracias is anti-Goan and as such he should be boycotted by genuine Goans. In Goa Bamonshahi and Bhattkarshahi jealous of his rise from humble background to the peak got a golden opportunity to degrade and disgrace him the way they wanted.
In the eyes of many of the true Goa lovers, Cardinal Gracias will remain as bloody rascal because he had less love for Goa being a Goan. Is it right to treat this prince of Church a great lover of Goa?
A. Veronica Fernandes, Kuwait.
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