Dear Mari, Thanks for your post and desire to know the history and circumstances as stated in the said petition by Mr .Lobo.Unfortunately neither me or my colleagues at the department have a core expertise on that phase of Goan History which you seek to clarify and our understanding of the same is based on what we gather from secondary resources and writings which are in the public domain.But I promise you to dig deeper with my more knowledgable colleagues in History Department and get back to you soon.However, permit me to say the following based on my lay understanding of what I can make of Mr Lobo's painstaking, yet seemingly misplaced petition. 1.The first sentence of the petition itself is problematic and hilarious to say the least where he contradicts himself."India was born only in 1947"...and goes on to imply further that Goa was never part of India as India never existed until 1947'.at the same time he says that Goa was established as 'Estado da India in 1510 and was continuous existence for 451 years till 1961." It does imply that something called 'India' did exist before 1947, at least from 1510 if accept his own argument. 2.If I take his logic further, I get more confused, as it would have me believe that Goa existed only from 1510, thereby erasing an entire history, culture and tradition that constitute Goa's unique heritage.My understanding of a nation is much beyond mere territories and legal treaties which must include people,customs and their traditions. 3.Point number 11 of the petition that' Except for Goa , most of the Portuguese colonies got independence ' and cites East Timor (2002) as the latest example. A comparision of Goa with East Timore can only be done by someone who either has complete ignorance of history, but also of the politics of the circumstances in which it happened. Portuguese abandoned East Timor in 1974, left chaos, Superpower rivalry facilitated Indonesian invasion and subsequent rule over the territory which was very brutal and violent, leading to a quarter century of secessionist movement and the eventual referednum.It would be good to know if which of India's actions post 1961 can be equated with the above? 4.Having said this, let me say that despite Goa's present place of pride in the Indian Union, there is a lot to fight for Goa given the churning that is taking place in the state and in India itself.The way the special status issue has been dealt with only makes me feel exasperated with the Goan (and Indian political establishment). But there is still a ray of hope.Our Constitution gives us enough safeguards to fight our battles to protect identity, land and environment. A good number of warriors in Goa are already doing that against highly adverse circumstances.My request to people like Mr Lobo would be help such warriors by acknowledging their efforts to say the least rather than trying to open up Quixotian battles.Otherwise you will only end up destroying their cause.There are enough elements around to mis-label genuine battles. Don't pick wrong battles is what I would wish to conclude. 5.These are my personal views and should not be taken as the views of my department or the University.....but I promise to get back further with more inputs from my history colleagues. Prof. Rahul Tripathi
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