Suggestion: Get it translated asap (again a suggestion) in Marathi and Konkani (even in Portuguese or sell it to such publications and even in Hindi) and see if it may be accepted for p[ublication. This piece must go beyond English.
Venantius J Pinto On Mon, Sep 3, 2018 at 7:35 AM V M <[email protected]> wrote: > > https://epaper.timesgroup.com/Olive/ODN/TimesOfIndia/shared/ShowArticle.aspx?doc=TOIGO%2F2018%2F09%2F03&entity=Ar00607&sk=96975398&mode=text > > Gurudas Kunde joined the anti-nationalists when he was just 17 years > old. Their movement gathered at night, to discuss the injustices of > the state. They worked hard to pass the message to other idealistic > young men and women. On 17th February 1955, Kunde (along with > Viswanath Gude, Rajnikant Mahatme and Dinkar Ambe) dramatically > offered satyagraha, by shouting slogans and unfurling the tiranga near > the Municipality building in Margao. For this act of conscience, he > was sentenced to 10 years imprisonment, and disinherited by his father > to boot. > > By that time, Alvaro Pereira was already incarcerated in Aguada jail. > The 29-year-old was part of a resistance cell under Peter Alvares, and > his compatriots Ravindra Raiturkar, Shivnath Karmalkar and Abu Naik > were also brought into custody. Found guilty of distributing > pamphlets, Pereira was given 11 years for “anti-national crimes.” The > sadistic Agente Casimiro Monteiro singled out this “big fish” for > inhuman beatings, demanding an apology. But Pereira refused to bend. > When the visiting priest, Father Chico Monteiro complained about the > abuse, Captain Romba exploded, “what do you expect Padre, should we > offer him bonbons?” > > Kunde and Pereira were released on the international Amnesty Day, > August 15, 1959. By this time, the writing was on the wall about > colonialism. The last Governor General of the Estado da India, Vassalo > E Silva admitted years later, “The liberation of Goa was in the > interest of Goans. Though Portugal ruled Goa for 450 years, this > territory had always remained a part and parcel of India, irrespective > of some people who might feel otherwise. It was also in the interest > of Portugal that Goa should go back to the hands of Goans.” > > But that wisdom was not apparent in white-hot 1961, when Indian troops > swept across the border. Quite the opposite, Vassalo E Silva was told > to “prevail or perish.’ It was only his own brave acts of conscience > that prevented, in his own words, “the total destruction of Goa.” > Then, “harassed, humiliated, and even stripped of my powers” he > returned to Portugal. Here he faced the singular wrath of Salazar, the > authoritarian Prime Minister, whose deeply regressive Estado Novo > survived from the 1930s right to the Carnation Revolution in 1974. > > In uncanny parallel with several hard-right leaders of the 21st > century, people continue to debate whether Salazar was actually a > fascist. But there is no doubt we see a contemporary revival of his > trademark blend of cult of personality, vainglorious nationalism, > highly conservative religiosity, and disdain for parliament. > Crucially, he also criminalized dissent, which is what jailed Gurudas > Kunde and Jose Pereira in Goa. Another victim was the Goan-Mozambican > novelist Orlando da Costa, who was arrested several times by Salazar’s > secret police > > But here’s the big lesson from all this history. Truth prevails. > Iniquity fails. As Martin Luther King said, “the arc of the moral > universe is long, but it bends towards justice.” Orlando da Costa’s > son became the Mayor of Lisbon, and is the current Prime Minister of > Portugal. When he visited Goa earlier this year, he met 93-year-old > Alvaro Pereira at his civic reception in Panjim, an extraordinary > vindication of moral courage, and the difficult road taken by many > “anti-nationals” to the betterment of both nations. Today, no country > is closer to India than Portugal. > > But the days of sacrifice and strife aren’t yet over, and no one is > more aware (or ready to serve again) than Kunde and Pereira, who spend > almost every morning together at the latter’s little shop on Azad > Maidan in the state capital. They pore through the newspapers > together. Earlier this week, they read about the shocking wave of > arrests of activists and lawyers under the rubric of “urban Naxals” > and the Supreme Court ruling “dissent is the safety valve of > democracy, if it is not allowed the pressure cooker will burst.” > Pereira said, “it’s just like Salazar, all over again.” >
