Somewhere in mid fifties, speaking in the Parliament, Premier Nehru said, “once Portuguese are ousted from Goa, Goans will be given a choice to decide their future but will not bring them under the Indian Union against their wishes”. According to political observers a referendum should have been conducted on this issue but once grabbed, Nnowehru and his Congress Party forgot the assurance given to Goans. This is called cheating and India is well known in this art.
On 31stDecember 1974, both the Foreign Ministers of Portugal and India namely Mario Soares and Y.B. Chawan respectively, signed a Treaty in Delhi officially surrendering Goa to India. This Treaty comprised only 6 Clauses giving no benefits and privileges to Goans to protect their rights.
While the same India when it signed the similar Treaty with France with regards to Pondicherry, on 28teh May 1956, India incorporated in this Treaty 31 Articles and 8 Articles of Protocol. All these Articles are regarding the wishes, aspirations of and safeguards for the citizens of Pondicherry. These Articles were arrived at after a couple of years of consultations with the representatives of the citizens of Pondicherry.
Again our last aspiration to protect our Goanness was rejected when Special Status facility was denied to us by the BJP government by citing Constitutional hurdles when the same Constitution of the same India granted Special Status privileges to 11 States in India.
When Goa matters we are denied our rights and privileges but for others there is no problem. Are we Goans second class citizens of India? We are treated not as liberated but as conquered and precisely because of this the Supreme Court of India in its verdict on Pe. Chico Monteiro’s case declared “Goa was conquered” on 19.12.61.
A.Veronica Fernandes,
Candolim, Goa.
Tel:7507394349.