May the soul of the late Dr. Jack Sequeira REST IN PEACE. He is called the father of Opinion Poll and rightly he deserved this title though Adv. Uday Bhembro and of his tribe think Jawaharlal Nehru instead should be called the father of Opinion Poll. The Bhembros will never accept any great achievement of minority community member for the cause of Goa and Goans. He was one of the persons responsible for denying the Romi Konkani followers the privilege of recognition of Romi Konkani also. Today Romi Konkani is suffering only because of the chicanery of the Nagri Konknnivadis in KPA like Bhembros. Their crookedness towards Romi Konkani was facilitated by the dumbness in KPA of men like Tomazinho Cardoso and the late Mathanay Saldanha who should both have fought vigorously for giving recognition to Romi Konkani also. In view of this I lost all my hopes on any person in Goa to fight forcefully for Romi Konkani. If a known Konknnivadi like Tomazinho Cardoso failed us then who is left now to fight for our cause?
For 5 years the so called “our man” Tomazinho Cardoso was in the Goa Legislative Assembly holding the post of the Speaker. During these 5 years what did he do for Romi Konkani? Couldn’t he do anything? Instead he acted for 5 years as a feudal lord because temporary power reached to his head. He thought he would always remain the Speaker or MLA but never expected a kick from the voters. His political downfall was his artificial pride. For this reason one has to be very careful before elevating a small background man to the big post. Otherwise, we would have Tomazinho Cardosos only in Goa.
Regarding Nehru and Goa and also Bhembro, Nehru declared in Bombay on 4th June 1956: “If and when the Portuguese go and the people of Goa deliberately wish to retain separate identity – I am not going to bring them by force or compulsion or coercion into the Indian Union”. Finally what did Nehru do to Goa? He used force and violence to conquer Goa and thus paved the way for Goa to lose its separate identity. He internally wanted Goa to lose its geographical and separate identity to declare to the World that Goa is a part of Indian Union because the world was accusing Nehru for using military force to conquer and invade Goa and not to liberate Goa. On 19th December 1961 Goa was not liberated but according to the Supreme Court judgment, on 19thDecember 1961, Goa was conquered by India against the wishes of Goans. Since this is the case, Nehru’s India still treats Goans as conquered people denying every demand of ours including the Special Status which we will never get because Central governments of BJP and Congress want Goa to be converted into a big brothel for all the rascals and Pimps from Delhi.
According to my information, immediately following the declaration of the Opinion Poll result, during the rally and meeting at Campal where the entire family of Dr. Jack Sequeira also participated, participants spontaneously raised the slogans saying “Dotor, you are the father of Opinion Poll”. Since then, rightly he goes as the father of Opinion Poll.
Bhembro must know that Nehru cannot be the father of Opinion Poll. It was Dr. Sequeira who out of concern for preserving Goa’s identity first impressed upon Nehru to have the Plebiscite for Goa to decide the future of Goa as per the above statement of Nehru but Nehru was Nehru, a cheat, a liar and a traitor and today we are suffering in Goa the sense of non-entity it is only because of Nehru who failed to maintain his assurance. For such a man to call the father of Opinion Poll will be a big crime and an insult to Dr. Sequeira who moved boulders and mountains to get an Opinion Poll for us. Nehru citing the demand of Kashmiris for Plebiscite in Kashmir to decide its future which India did not want to give, rejected Plebiscite in Goa also. But what Nehru failed to realize was this that Kashmiris case is totally different from Goa’s case.
No doubt everybody under the umbrella of “Anti-Merger” worked very hard even snatching Siolim and Mapusa constituencies from MG teeth yet the leadership of Dr. Sequeira was the need of the hour. He was during that time acted like a Hinge to unite anti-mergerists and in this mission he was successful. He went to Bombay and contacted Bombay Goans and impressed upon them to return to Goa to vote against merger. Bombay Goans played a good role to save Goa from getting merged with Maharastra. CM of Maharastra VP Naik and another mighty Maharastrian leader Y. B. Chawan in the Central Ministry played a huge role by sending deputionists to Goa to vote for merger. But Dr. Sequeira played his card very well to counter their onslaught by bringing Bombay Goans to Goa to vote for Goa. In this strategy Dr. Simon Fernandes based in Bombay played a pivotal role.
Dr. Sequeira was such a fine administrator, so beautiful orator of whose type Goa is yet to produce another one and above all he was the great secular by core. It was a pity that we missed his leadership to rule Goa. If UG had to win the first election itself, today Goa would be like gold because of his efficient administrative leadership but instead the “Rostad” anti-Goan administrator Bandodcar got the chance not only to misrule Goa but also to destroy Goa which he finally did. Bandodcar destroyed Goa because he was not a good administrator; he was the hard core communal and a big dictator worse than Salazar. It was not he alone that was a curse on Goa but the entire MGP is the curse on Goa and unfortunately we still are suffering from this curse because the last remnants of MGP are still existing. We the elders have fought vigorously in the past to half finish it from Goa and the remaining job the new generation must complete. The MGP is still craving to convert Goa as one Vaddo of Maharastra (Maharastra Vaddi).
In the light of what I said above about Dr. Jack de Sequeira, I maintain that it is none other than Dr. Sequeira alone is the FATHER OF OPINION POLL.
Congratulations to Calangute Panchayat under its leader Joseph Sequeira for being first in Goa to erect the monument of Dr. Jack de Sequeira. Tomazinho Cardoso was ruling Candolim Panchayat for a long period but such idea of constructing the monument of Dr. Sequeira in Candolim never dawned in his head though he talks a lot on Dr. Sequeira now. Where Tomazinho failed, Joseph Sequeira succeeded.
A. Veronica Fernandes,
Candolim, Goa.
Tel: 7507394349