Pre-1961 Goans were employed in all Government Departments in Goa, Over 90% of Goa's administration was in Goan hands, barring a handful of top posts which were manned by the Portuguese. Soon after the "Invasion of Goa" on December 1961 by India, the Indian Government decreed that all persons born in Goa (formerly Portuguese citizens) would automatically become Indian citizens by virtue of the take-over.
Native Goans were treated unfairly after the Indian Invasion of Goa. Many Goans lost their jobs and were replaced by Non-Goans. Leo Lawrence in his book “Nehru Seizes Goa” (1963) describes entire Government departments of hundreds of Goan Government employees which were dismissed and many replaced by non-Goans (no wonder this book was forbidden in India). Eventually Goans were forced to leave Goa and many Goans were heavily penalised when the Law of Evacuees was applied to them and they lost all their properties in their Motherland Goa and all their money which was confiscated by the Government of India (and remains confiscated). A law of evacuees which is a shameful violation of human rights, already abolished all over India except in our own dearest State of Goa.
Those who stayed in Goa Post-1961 were forced to take Indian citizenship. And those who chose to remain Portuguese citizens were forced to register, apply and pay for a visa renewable every so often. It would have been easy to give them permanent residency, given that they were born in Goa, but no, common sense did not prevail and they had to be subjected to humiliation and made to feel foreigners in their own motherland Goa. Those who refused to comply were arrested and subjected to abuse and eventually died as prisoners in their own motherland Goa despite India being a signatory of Geneva Convention!
Remember Fr Chico Monteiro?
It is Estimated 1, 00,000 Goans left Goa after the Invasion of Goa.
8 comments:
Thats really touching...our genuine Padres only encounter pain and suffering while the pseudo Catholic demons posing as priests are probably rolling in wealth.May Padre Chico's soul rest in peace and may he be exalted in the Kingdom to come.
so true, Padre Monteiro, though a small frail man, was a giant...wish we had and find more leaders like him.
Shouldn't have Goa got its own Independence ?
Remember that India in 1961 was facing acute food shortages, and thanks to Nehru's short-sighted 5-year policies which consistently failed to deliver, was also running close to bankruptcy. Prior to 1950, Goa's mines were not much developed, a situation which changed drastically by 1959, when they were producing top-quality ore in demand by Germany and Japan. This changed Nehru's tunes, if you see the trend in his speeches regarding Goa.
Incidentally, even when there was blockade of Goa by the Indian Union, there were no food shortages in Goa, and no-one died of hunger.
Goan people were the least on Nehru's mind when he sent his army to surround Goa, claiming that the "Portuguese were building massive forces on Goa's borders". How massive can a line of poorly-armed less than 3,500 men be? (Krishna Menon appears the be the one who actually ordered the army into Goa). Because Goans didn't matter to him, Nehru condoned the atrocities of the armed forces against Goan Civilians, claiming them to be "collateral damage".
Instead, Nehru's govt quietly annexed Goa to India without a single Goan having a say in the matter. And substituted able Goan officials with corrupt Indian ones, including a very corrupt agent called Handoo. And Goa is still being dominated by corrupt New Delhi Congresswallahs who periodically come to Goa on the eve of elections and go back with, as some have reported, "suitcases full of cash".
Goans have no real control of Goa today. Goa was quite autonomous by 1960. 90% of Goa's administration was in Goan hands in 1960 has been replaced by "Ghantis" appointed from New Delhi. Is this Liberation ?
Yes, the State of Goa still did not abolish the extremely unfair Law of Evacuees whilst the same has already been abolished all over the rest of India. What a shame! A true and shameful violation of human rights right in our motherland and still very much in practice to keep in Goa Government's hands the properties and the money confiscated to the evacuees.
The only problem is that most of these evacuees were not white Portuguese (like it was meant to be as this law was first initiated in India in 1947 to confiscate the properties and money from the British) but true sons of our motherland, ie, brown skinned Goans like you and me.
Law of Evacuees had been initially written by the Union of India to confiscate the properties belonging to the British in the Union of India. India Invaded Goa on December 1961.There was no plebiscite conducted in Goa by the Invaders.Goans were definitely not Indian citizens in 1961. We Goans were force to become Indians. So why is this Law applied on Goans ?
A day will be dawn when MY GOA will be free from the clutches of the INVADERS.
What were the Freedom Fighters doing when all these was happening ? What kind of Liberation is this were Goans were forced to leave Goa and Ghantis brought in Goa. This Proves India never came to Liberate us, they "Invaded Goa" to loot and Destroy our Culture, Language and to Indianise Goa.
Franco a good article and good information
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