WHY DAYANAND BANDODKAR IS THE TRAITOR OF GOA AND GOANS by Bebdo

Dayanand Balkrishna Bandodkar is a traitor to Goa and Goans and I say this with conviction and without any remorse. Bandodkar was a person who was never loyal to Goa and Goans. His loyalty was to Maharashtra and not to his own people, the people of Goa. With his one-point agenda of merging Goa with Maharashtra, Bandodkar not only fooled the Bahujan Samaj but also divided the Goans on communal and caste lines.

Soon after the invasion of Goa by the Indian forces, Bandodkar who was a timber smuggler joined hands with other smugglers from across the border in Maharashtra and formed the Maharashtrawadi Sanghatana, which means the organisation of pro-Maharashtrawadis. This organisation ardently believed in Goa historically been a part of Maharashtra and Marathi as the mother tongue of Goans. Later this Maharashtrawadi Sanghatana was renamed as Maharashtrawadi Gomantak Party (MGP).

The MGP was fully funded by the Congress leaders from Maharashtra, especially Y.B. Chavan and V.N. Naik. It was also funded by the RSS and the Jana Sangh. With money and man-power from Maharashtra, the MGP won the first election narrowly and Bandodkar became the first chief minister of Goa.

As soon as the MGP came to power, the leaders of Maharashtra were dancing with joy. They thought their dream of merging Goa with Maharashtra had come true and used Bandodkar to implement their agenda. Bandodkar never thought about the Goans. Yet he knew that it would be very difficult to win over the original Niz Goenkars of Goa, especially the Goan Catholics, the Goan Hindu Brahmins and the Goan Hindu businessmen. He realised that in order to achieve his goal of merging Goa with Maharashtra, he had to win over the socially, economically and educationally backward classes whom he easily moulded with money, lies and false promises. To do that he brought Maharastrians officers and bureaucrats who soon replaced the more competent Goan officers in the bureaucracy.

These Maharashtrian officers and bureaucrats brainwashed many other Goans into believing in Bandodkar’s one-point agenda of merging Goa with Maharashtra. Bandodkar opened Marathi medium schools in each and every village of Goa. In some villages more than two Marathi medium schools were opened. All the teachers (gurujis and bhaiis) were brought from Belgaum, Kholapur, Sholapur, Banda and other places of Maharashtra. Special land grants were given to them to build their houses and colonies.

The curriculum in these Marathi medium schools was borrowed from Maharashtra and even in the late 70s, the SSC examinations were conducted by the Pune Board.

In these schools, the history of Goa was totally distorted and the young Goan students from backward regions were taught about the greatness of Shivaji, Maratha culture and the importance of being a Marathi manoos. Moreover, these gurujis and bhaiis taught the students that the Christians of Goa are good for nothing and are the illegitimate children of the Portuguese. This is the reason for some Freedom Farters and RSS calling the real Goans as “Portugueseache kuttrey” (Portuguese dogs). I wonder why they are not calling Bandodkar a naikinicha mulga (son of a mistress).

Further to prove to the socially and educationally backward classes that a merger with Maharashtra would ensure them a good quality of life, he started the land reforms movement in Goa. He introduced the Tenancy and Mundkar laws and it made those who tilled the lands of the landowners happy.

These laws were introduced with two purposes in mind. 1. Bandodkar wanted to finish the educated and landowning Goan Catholics and Goan Hindus who were opposed to the idea of Goa’s merger with Maharashtra. 2. By granting tenants and mundkarial rights to the tillers of the land, Bandodkar created a vote bank for his future political goal of merger of Goa with Maharashtra.

From 1963 till 1967, Bandodkar and his team of advisers from Maharashtra inundated Goa with Maharashtrians from Belgaum, Sholapur, Kholapur and other areas in order to change the demographic and linguistic balance of Goa. These Maharastrawadis worked tirelessly all these years to impose their agenda as they were armed with money and power.

Maybe because of his low caste as he was a son of a naikin and whose father died in penury, Bandodkar must have suffered from an inferiority complex and hence wanted to wipe out the Goan ethos, culture and way of life. However, our real Goan Hindus, Christians and Muslims did not allow him to succeed in his goal of merging Goa with Maharashtra during the historic Opinion Poll.

If we analyse today all the policies that Bandodkar had formulated during his rule were based on only one agenda – that is merger of Goa with Maharashtra. It has been proved that his educational reforms of starting Marathi medium schools are a failure.

Almost all children now study in the English medium, a demand which the United Goans had made.

His land reforms, especially the Tenancy and Mundkarial law has made the poor workers who used to till the land poorer and till today they are doing the rounds of the courts. Only a handful of them have prospered and became landlords overnight. Furthermore, it killed the sustainable agricultural economy of the hinterlands of Goa and increased our reliance on vegetables from Belgaum.

So whatever Bandodkar had done during his tenure as the chief minister has been futile. He was only a mere puppet in the hands of the Maharashtrians. As such, Goans should not pay him any homage and respect.

Those who adore and worship him should make a demand with Maharashtra to install a life-size statue of Dayanand Balkrishna Bandodkar in Bombay, which is now Mumbai, and in Belgaum, Kholapur, Sholapur and Banda.

He served Maharashtra well and was loyal to Maharashtra till his death, as such Bandodkar deserves to have his statues all over Maharashtra.

As far as Goans are concerned, what better word to describe such a person who relentlessly fought to sell his Motherland Goa to Maharashtra? A traitor I would say. Indeed, A TRAITOR TO GOA AND GOANS.