The arrest of Tiatrist Francis de Tuem by the Hitlerian Goa police of Verna is a condemnable act and from Kuwait I and on behalf of all my likeminded friends and colleagues, condemn it in the strongest terms. It is a rape of freedom of speech given to Indians by the constitution; such a rape was not done by the Portuguese government in Goa even though we accuse Portuguese government of being the government of dictatorship while the democratic system of India is found dead killed by the Goa government under BJP Parrikar. BJP at the Centre is accusing Uttar Pradesh government of trampling justice under its feet by undemocratically sacking Durga Shakti but in Goa BJP does worst undemocratic act.
Portuguese may be bad in some aspects but it always permitted Tiatrists to criticize anyone from the Stage rightly except Portuguese government and that also if it was done maliciously and wrongly. The little restriction lawfully applied by the Portuguese government to Tiatrists was inflated by the local Goan Regidores to prove their super affiliation to the ruling regime. When Portuguese government asked the Goan Regidores to bend down, they stooped down shamelessly. Portuguese government may be bad but surely our Regidores were the worst who were responsible to create a bad image of Portguese rule in Goa.
By arresting Francis de Tuem under the instigation of Mickey Pacheco, the Goa government enhanced the ratings of Tuem and gave an added booster to the might of the Tiatrists. It is once again proved that how powerful Tiatro and Tiatrists are become in Goa. During powerfully aristocratic Bandodkar’s rule in Goa, Bandodkar was not afraid of 12 Opposition MLA’s of powerful UG but terribly afraid of Trio Kings of Tiatrists Conception-Nelson-Anthony and to woo them in his side he was ready to do anything for them but they never bowed down because they were the real sons of their real fathers.
Singing political songs, reprimanding Tiatrists and arresting them for criticizing government, its wrong policies and its leaders is not the first time in Tuem’s arrest. About 80 years back Goa government imposed tax on “Renders” for the Coconut Trees they used for extracting Toddy. To oppose this, all the Toddy Tappers from Agacaim joined together and put a boycott on extracting Toddy any further. One Render defied this boycott by refusing to toe the line of his other colleagues. Hence, on one fine evening he was shot dead while he was extracting Toddy on top of the Coconut Tree. He was shot dead by one of the boycotters Render but none divulged his name to the Panjim Police when they were summoned for questioning. Government wanted to suppress this news from spreading beyond Ilhas but within a week or so at Anjuna in a traditional “Zagor” one singer rendered a beautiful solo on the beats of “Gumott, Madyem and Kansaem”. One verse of this song I quote hereunder:
“JANERACHEA PIRMERAK DHORUN VHELET RENDRANK,
ANI PONJE VHORON PIREZ KELET KHUIM TEAM AGXIKARANK,
HE BHAXEN VINCHAR KELO TANCHE LAGUIM SERKARAN,
KI HI BUDH KONNE DILEA TI SANGAT MHONON JURAMENTAN
CH
AGXIKARANIM SANGLEM AMI AZIR MHONN MORNANK
PUNNI ZAMNNO ANINK KEDINCH GHALCHENAUM MADDANK
AGXI EKLEAN MADD DOVORLOLE TAKA JITOCH MARLO FARAN,
TACHO DEMAN CHOLTA ATAM PONJE SERKARAN.
Because of its matter and catchy tune the popularity of this song spread far and wide. Immediately the local Regidor summoned the singer to his house and gave him verbal bashing. The effect of this reprimanding was so great on the singer that thenceforth the poor guy stoped acting in Zagor.
KID Boxer was the first known professional Tiatrist to be arrested in Bombay by the government of India, somewhere in 1958 for singing a song against Indian government’s faulty policies towards Goa.In this song he opposed India’s annexation of Goa. Immediately he was arrested, tortured in prison and after imprisonment deported to Goa where he was open heartedly welcomed by the Portuguese government of Goa and offered a very lucrative job as a Konkani artiste at the Emisora de Goa for a very handsome salary of Rps. 400/- which was highest among all the artistes then.
Following the invasion of Goa, there was a Tiatro at Mapusa, first time under Indian regime. In this Tiatro there were 2 political songs against Bharat; one from the Trio Kings and the other from Kid Boxer. Immediately when Tiatro was still in progress they were arrested, Kid Boxer before the completion of his song in which he curses Bharat for invading Goa against the wishes of majority of Goans. A few lines of this song I quote hereunder:
“TUM BHITOR SORLAI CHUKON, MORTOLOI SUKON, DUSREACHO DESH POCHONA, (Referring to Bharat for illegally invading Goa)
TUM PAN POTTI KHATAI ANI POCHHU KORUN THUKTAI, LOZUI KAIM DISSONA (Referring to Indian Ghanttis)
TUM NESTAI FOKOT VALO ANI KHATAI FOKOT PALO(Referring to dress code and eating habits of Bharati people).
Then again in mid-sixties Kid Boxer was arrested in Bombay for singing a solo against wrong policies of government of India and he was sentenced by the Bombay Court to undergo 6 months imprisonment at Nashik High Risk Prison where he wrote his Tiatro “Somzonen Zatoch Chukh”. In this Tiatro he rendered one beautiful song reprimanding Indian government for curtailing freedom of speech. Further in this song he says sarcastically that:
“AUM SOU MHOINE NASHIK CONVETAN RAVON AILAM PUN KAINCH MUDAR ZAUNKNA”.
William de Curtorim was another noted political singer whose hard hitting political solos directly attacking the politicians created so much of uproar in Goa that once about 8 years back he was summoned to Mapusa Police Station for reprimanding him for singing a solo against Rane. For the next Show William invited Dayananda Narvenkar as a chief guest at the same Mapusa venue where in his speech Narvenkar lashed out Mapusa Police for suppressing democratic rights of Tiatrist William de Curtorim.
Comig back to the unwarranted and undemocratically arrest of Tiatrist Francis de Tuem, I say it was the malicious act of Mickey Pacheco and clandestinely supported by Parrikar. Do not except anything good from Parrikar, he is acting worst than a dictator. He thinks he is too smart, too intelligent and too educated. My foot! If Congressmen were good, people in Goa would never elect him and his BJP. Today he is ok playing his "dadagiri" but tomorrow he will face the consequences of his misdeeds.
Baba Francis de Tuem we are all with you at this hour of your arrest, don’t think that you are alone, we are not going to leave you alone into the hands of vultures of Parrikar. Be strong and remain cool and calm in these crises. You are not wrong, you are right in all aspects and because you are right they got you arrested. They are afraid of you because you are exposing their misdeeds. Treat this arrest as a joke.
They want to silence your voice by putting you into prison. But remember well, the prison that they put you will never be a prison Cell for you even though it is built of concrete walls with Iron Door as long as you have freedom of mind to think free. By putting you in prison they may stop you physically from moving an inch further but they will never stop you from thinking further. This is your freedom even though you are physically imprisoned.
A. VERONICA FERNANDES,
KUWAIT.