Jose Colaco: 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. Response: The fact remains that there was no movement or demand for special status. There was no pressure exerted on Nehru to keep his promise. They were all frogs in a small pond. Goans had another opportunity in 1967 after the opinion polls.They should have struck when the iron was hot, but again frittered away the opportunity. The sad and bitter truth is that the goans themselves are responsible for todays sorry state. So long as Goa was a Union Territory, governance was far better. The real deterioration started after Goa became a full fledged state in 1987. One needs to look at Sikkim. They have laws, rules and regulations that protect the local population. And this state does not have the educational, financial and literacy levels of Goa. Regards, Marshall
