Dear Marshall,
A million thanks for correcting my slip.
Indeed, at the back of my mind I did know that P.J. Nehru died before 1967
and after the Chinese war. Also, as a boy I had sung a song in the local
tiatr (M. Boyer's 'clown'- adapted) about Nehru, his shock at the death of
John F. Kennedy on Nov 22, 1963. This was before Nehru Chacha died (I
think). I clearly remember the censors (police) would not allow me to sing
the song but I had sung it anyway, in defiance.
However, it is unfortunate that I had a heated argument about the Opinion
Poll with one of my colleagues who insisted that Nehru died after 1967 and
that he had very much ordered the same. Since I consider him very
knowledgeable, I submitted. But I should have checked-out my haunch. It is
my fault that it was too much trouble for me to check this on google, which
I normally do before venturing info.
Therefore I absolve Nehru Chacha for Goa O.P of 1967 .
But I would certainly retain other grudges like the 'invasion of Goa' and
not giving Special Status for Goans while he was alive. Probably he would
have if he had to live a bit longer. Who knows?.
Cheers
floriano
goasuraj
9890470896
www.goasu-raj.org
----- Original Message -----
From: "Marshall Mendonza" <[email protected]>
To: "goanet" <[email protected]>
Sent: Friday, September 24, 2010 10:21 PM
Subject: [Goanet] CWG Delhi 2010--'7' Years and not yet ready
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
