Reading Nishat Desai's piece on T.B. Cunha, I must correct myself that the Paris meeting of few Goans was held after Goa's liberation, though for these Goans it was annexation. As Nishat says they launched Goa Freedom Movement to convince the Indian government to give Goa the status of a separate nation. I has said that Portugal ignored their plea.
In a pamphlet written and published by Dionisio Fernandes dos Santos called "Independence -- Goa's birthright", first published in 1948 and revised in 1953, the author says that he is "no anti-Bharatiya or anti=Portuguese nor do I intend acting in a manner prejudicial to the interests or security of the Bharatiya Union. I am against, only in so far as the interests of my people and my country are adversely affected." He pleads by saying that "Foreign rule has been and in source of infinite misery and the minor benefits it may confer can never compensate for the major degradation it involves. Goa must be freed from foreign domination: the hunger and poverty of the masses must be removed; the country must e put on the way to power and prosperity." He concludes his introduction by saying that "political forces are gathering awful momentum. The mental twilight in which the average educated Goan passes his days may shut his eyes to these forces, but cannot save him from the calamity that is approaching fast. The time is not far when it will be too late. What are we waiting for Would we awake when the calamity is already upon us?" I am not aware if Dionisio is still alive. He was my good friend and I spent many hours in his office in the air-conditioned market at Tardeo. I fiery man with lot of passion in his eyes. He was very much a Goan at heart. It was in his office that I first met the late Frank Fernand and we talked about things Goan and how to motivate the masses into an economic force through use of cooperative practices. He lived at Chapel Road in Bandra. A bachelor all his life, he was, I think, secretary of the Lusitania Cooperative Society that ran a cold storage store opposition the church (forgets the name) which had the famous St. Stanislaus School. He should that Goa can be considered for the status of a separate nation as there are other countries smaller in size that Goa and population.. He noted that the Vatican, Monaco, San Marino, Liechtenstein, Andorra, Luxemburg are lesser in area (square metres) than Goa (1,312 acress), circa 1951. I am not sure if the angry old man is alive. But whenever the subject of Goa came up his nostrils would flare up. What would he have said now releasing that calamity has descended on Goa in different forms? At the same time a pertinent question that could be asked is if Goa would have been different from what it is now if it had been given the status of a separate nation? Would not the same "ruling class" be in charge of Goa's destiny? The fear expressed by T.V. Mohandas Pai is the fear that perhaps people like Dionisio saw. I know hindsight is better than foresight. But Is it time for Goans or, as Fred would put it the 'chattering class', to come out of the "mental twilight" and do everything necessary to save Goa? I know there are grassroots organizations trying hard to bring to the fore the ills and woes facing Goa. Goans bemoan their plight and blame it on the ruling class, be the rulers from Congress or the BJP. In his concluding lines, Dionision says, though in the light of Goa attaining nationhood, that "unless we think deeply and act quickly, we Goans will be submerged under the Bharatiya avalanche; victims of our own lack of foresight, political ignorance and national imbecility." In the prevailing circumstances, can we say that we are showing signs of imbecility? Our foolishness is to elect the same bunch of politicians who have proved time and again that they are selfish enough to make themselves prosperous -- and powerful -- without any regard to the common good of the people. Those who are now shouting from rooftops that Goa is "submerged" by immigrants and that the law and order situation has gotten out of hand are not far off the mark. Pai has reasons to fear that Goans will be "a minority in his own state" in 20 years time. He thinks that if Goa becomes a centre for "higher education" and if Goan children are highly educated the future for the Goan would be secured. Pai puts his hope in having more "think-tanks, policy institutions, science centres" that would make fuel the Goan's innovation. Maybe to some extent "the intellect of the Goan and a spirit of innovation that can create a new Goa" but that's not enough. Educational advancement can be one route to achieve the great Goan dream. Finding economic solutions and looking for ways and means to correct the societal problems to alleviate the fear that has seized Pai and many others like him. The first step is to get Goa to maintain itself as a sober society devoid of all the negative things that has made the state step into a hellish state. The Augean stables filled with corruption, nepotism, cronyism, communalism and all other "isms" that hamper growth must be cleaned. But the question remains: who would do it? Pai believes that an educated Goan would help affect change. But the reality is that the educated Goan, with the exception of few, turn away from taking on the challenge to fight the problems faced by those struggling at the lower stations, be they economic or social. Dionisio's motto was "Our will to live, my countrymen, depends upon our willingness to die." Is this relevant today? Eugene Correia
