Bloodless ?
On Sun, 15 Aug. 2021, 6:04 pm Goanet News, <[email protected]> wrote: > GOA 1961: LIBERATED OR CONQUERED? > > On 18 December 1961, India’s armed forces marched into Goa, Daman and Diu > and, in a virtually bloodless operation lasting some 36 hours, ended the > Portuguese rule of 451 years. > > Was Goa ‘liberated’ or was it ‘conquered’? > > The question still befuddles many. The subject is, generally speaking, > sparsely understood at best and misunderstood at worst. Being the 60th > anniversary of the event, I decided to share, in about 60 easily readable > installments, one every Sunday beginning the next, the full story – the > background, diplomacy, arguments, the run up, the buildup, the actual > military operation, and its aftermath in Goa, within India and > internationally. > > This 1961 event is serialised from a revised (and as yet unpublished) > chapter called ‘The Wars’ from my book, ‘Patriotism In Action: Goans in > India’s Defence Services’ first published in 2010 and now being readied for > a final edition. The chapter on wars seeks to bring out the little known > fact that Goan Officers were there in practically every military op in > post-1947 India – 1947/48 J&K Ops, 1961 Goa Ops (there were 14 Goan > Officers from the Army, Navy and Air Force in Vijay-1), 1962 China > Conflict, 1965 Indo-Pak War, 1971 Indo-Pak (Bangladesh) War, 1999 Vijay-2 > (Kargil), besides a host of other ops like defending Siachen, IPKF Sri > Lanka, UN Peacekeeping, counter insurgency and cross border terrorism – > Goans were there in each and every one of them, some laying down their > lives. > > Beginning next Sunday, 22 August 2021, the story of Goa 1961 will appear > weekly in the local Marathi language daily newspaper ‘Gomantak’ and > simultaneously, in English, at Facebook, Goa-centric mail lists and > Whatsapp. (Please do remember that formatting is lost at FB and WA, and > reformatting would be a bore!) > > Feel free to share. But, since this is as yet unpublished work, please do > NOT delete the attribution that appears at the foot of every instalment. > > In case of any comments/queries that you would like me to read, please > email me at, valmikif at gmail dot com. > > Hope you will enjoy reading the 1961 story as much as I enjoyed researching > and writing it! > > 15 August 2021 > -Valmiki Faleiro >
