On Feb 8, 2014, at 9:02 AM, Marshall Mendonza <[email protected]> wrote:
'Goans should have fought for special status soon after 1961 when the issue was fresh in everyone's minds. Today, it is too late. The horse has already bolted. Unfortunately, lack of democracy under Portuguese rule emasculated the goans. They did not know how to exercise their democratic choice.They were babes in the wood in the world of real politick. Goa has not been able to throw up a leader of national standing barring Peter Alvares and Eduardo Faleiro who shone on the national scene for a brief while. Look at Mangalore who.....' COMMENT: I wonder if Marshall is conversant with the political history of Goans circa 1961. Does he believe that Laxmikant Bhembre, Ramakrishna Hegde, Pundalik Gaitonde, Tony Correia Afonso, Dr. Benedito de Souza, Alvaro Loyola Furtado, Purshottam Kakodkar, Lambert Mascarenhas, Nagesh Karmali, Pandurang Shirodkar, Tony Fernandes et al + others who were in the so called Azad Gomantak Dal ..... were all emasculated by Salazar? The fact is that in 1961: Nehru made NO attempt to ASK Goans what they wanted to do with their future. No provisional govt was set up before the invasion. The Military came in and ruled via diktat. The meeting in Mapuca happened 2 years later. The power brokers set Bandodkar in place. The offer was : Merger or Bust. Gaitonde walked out. The MGP was formed. The MGP worked very hard to destroy Special Status. (The BJP and many of the Congresswallas were/are MGP). What nonsense are Eugene and Marshall writing about? jc further reading at http://www.colaco.net/1/letdown.htm 'In a move which can only be explained as a move to destabilize Catholic Goans, the ruling MGP set in place a policy of discrimination against Goans when it came to employment in Goa. Officers in all major fields with no particularly spectacular expertise were brought in to positions which could easily have been filled by Goans. Many Goans found themselves in the untenable position of being literally bossed around by less capable deputationists who were specifically brought in by the MG government. A good number of the deputationists were good, honest and hard working. They served Goa well. But the vast majority of them were substandard space occupiers. These less competent "bosses" didn't have a clue of Goa, Goan culture or of the landscape. They didn't even display a scintilla of interest in improving anything in Goa. All they did was talk down to Goans, bad mouth Goans as "lazy, good for nothing,sossegado feni drinkers" and specialized in merely filling up posts with their friends and relatives. It wasn't very uncommon for a a good number of posts in Government departments being filled up by individuals from Kerala or Andhra or Maharashtra or Delhi, if the Head was from that region. Even clerical and secretarial posts! And what happened toGoans ? Well, they were told to "apply in six months time". A very curious method of creative advertising of posts was in situ. Advertisements for posts in Goa, appeared in Goa newspapers well over a month after they appeared in newspapers in Bombay, Delhi or Trivandrum. In fact, on most occasions, the advertisements appeared in Goa a day or two before the last date of application. Many Goans who had the qualifications and nerve, packed their bags and left Goa. Most of them, for good.' (The next line has a typo which needs to be corrected)
