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Documented by Goa Desc Resource Centre Ph:2252660
Website: www.goadesc.org Email: [EMAIL PROTECTED]
Press Clippings on the web: http://www.goadesc.org/mem/
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I fought for freedom: Willy
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The Goa Revolution Day function in the city witnessed
vehement protests from the gathering of freedom fighters,
today, when the compere, Dr Dayanand Rao called the
Deputy Chief Minister, Dr Wilfred de Sousa on the stage
to honour some of the participants in the Goa's liberation
movement, by addessing him as a 'freedom fighter'.
The president of the Goa, Daman and Diu Freedom Fighters
Association, Mr Vossant Moliyo and the president of the Goa
Freedom Fighters Association, Mr Chandrakant Kenkre,
spearheading the protests, marched to the dais and forced
Dr Rao to apologise to the Goans for this error and further
withdraw his words.Dr Rao sought apology over the same
and said that the mistake had been committed unintentionally.
Meanwhile, Dr de Souza, addressing a press conference shortly
after the Goa Revolution Day function said that the hostile reaction
from the freedom fighters had come out of their ignorance about
the history.
"I was among one of the Goan students besides Dr Jose Francis
Martins and Mr Froilano Machado, who joined the first year science
class at the Karnataka College, Dharwad, in June 1942, and who
participated in the Quit India movement carried out at Dharwad
from August 1942, in response to a call given by Mahatma Gandhi
on August 8 of that year," he said, adding that the students from
his batch lost their entire academic year, due to such participation.
Furthermore, I was involved in the Mumbai Royal Indian Naval Mutiny
of 1946 and was shot in the leg by the British soldiers and
subsequently had to be admitted to the St Jorge's Hospital near
Victoria Terminus, he informed.
"I have never claimed any compensation in the form of benefits
or facilities from the government for being a freedom fighter,"
Dr de Sousa said, adding that he has achieved much more in
life than anyone can even think of achieving.
"In fact," he recalled, "during one of my previous tenure as a chief
minister, I had raised a question as to how so many freedom
fighters are produced in Goa, even decades after the liberation
of the region." This situation is an insult to the Goan population,
he observed.
Dr de Sousa also told the reporters that he does not expect any
regrets coming from the freedom fighters, for their act against
him at the Revolution Day function. "Their apology means nothing
to me," he remarked.
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The Navhind Times 19/06/05 page 1
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GOA DESC RESOURCE CENTRE
Documentation + Education + Solidarity
11 Liberty Apts., Feira Alta, Mapusa, Goa 403 507
Tel: 2252660 mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED]
website: www.goadesc.org
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Working On Issues Of Development & Democracy
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