TEAM HERALD
PANJIM: A group of activists have requested the government to officially declare Dr Jack de Sequeira’s birth centenary, to be commemorated later this month, as Goa Unity Day. They said the issue is non-political and their idea is to create awareness about separate identity and that the people of the State would not be Goans today, if not for him.
April 20, this year, will be the hundredth birth anniversary of the father of the Opinion poll, a fact that must be well acknowledged social activists said.
“The two statues of Dr Sequeira that are erected at Calangute and Dona Paula were both built with his family’s money and no intervention from the government whatsoever,” women’s activist Jennifer Miranda said.
Miranda along with Swati Kerkar, Avinash Tavares and other activists plan on submitting a memorandum to the government to declare April 20 as Goa Unity Day. “It is because of Dr Sequeira that we can call ourselves Goans today. We plan on taking the issue to schools and colleges as well as students and youth who are not aware of the work he put in to retain Goa as separate entity,” Kerkar said.
Tavares on the other hand insisted the matter was not a political one and the intention was only to create awareness in the form of speeches and debates about the Opinion poll and the importance Dr Sequeira to Goa.
