Floriano Lobo: The sentiments portrayed by you would live dear GOA out of the clutches of the hypocrite Nehru Cacha who cried crocodile tears saying: "Goa ke log ajeeb haim" and promptly hijacked the aspirations of genuine GOAN Freedom Fighters ( not Lambert Mascarehas) by agreeing to the 1967 Referendum on Goa [The Famous Opinion Poll] when he was not even supposed to hear of it as according to his promises to Goa and Goans.
Response: Nehru died on 27th May 1964. Hence he could not have played any role in the referendum of 1967. It is my humble opinion, based on reading books and articles on and by Nehru that Nehru was truly democratic by nature though autocratic by temperament. He genuinely held goans in high esteem. He consulted Frank Moraes and Cardinal Gracias on a number of matters. However he did not live long after the 'liberation' of Goa. The chinese debacle in Nov 1963 dealt him a death blow and he was a sick man thereafter. It was Nehru who respected the sentiments of Kashmiris and ensured the inclusion of Article 370 in the Constitution to protect the special culture and identity of Kashmir. The same thing would have happened to Goa. Unfortunately, it appears in retrospection, that the goans themselves were not prepared for the makeover.I have not come across any data or information about goans seeking special status for Goa soon after Goa was 'liberated'. What was evident was the 'crab' mentality in full display with Bandodkar bringing in Maharashtrians to replace goans in administration and positions of power and authority. Even now, the cry for special status is hardly audible. If the Congress and the BJP major parties in Goa and at the Centre join together, they can easily pass an amendment bill granting special status to Goa. Every time I visit Sikkim, I observe with sadness, how Sikkim has grabbed all opportunities with both hands to their advantage while goans have squandered whatever little they had. Isn't it a crying shame that Sikkim has its own High Court while Goa only has a bench of the Bombay High Court despite having a history of having produced outstanding legal luminaries? It took years for Goa to get its own local news channel. Goa must be the only state in India where its official and most spoken language, Konkani is neglected and treated like a step child and not even used for official business by all alike. It is worth introspecting where we have gone wrong instead of merely finding scapegoats for our shortcomings. Regards, Marshall
