Julio D’Silva
Against the backdrop of the ‘citizen inauguration’ of the Opinion Poll Square on Monday, ‘Asmitai Dis’ was celebrated on Tuesday at Fatorda, in commemoration of the 51st anniversary of the historic Opinion Poll in the presence of Chief Minister Manohar Parrikar.
It may be recalled that on Monday evening, Town and Country Planning (TCP) Minister and Fatorda MLA Vijai Sardesai had reacted to the citizen inauguration and had said it ‘proved once again that Goemkars haven’t lost their spirit or enthusiasm about India’s only referendum that prevented Goa’s identity from being stolen’.
In view of this, the scheduled inauguration by the chief minister on Tuesday did not take place. Instead, CM Parrikar merely posed for photographs next to the plaque along with those who had participated in the Opinion Poll struggle and their family members.
“As some enthusiastic Goans have already inaugurated the square yesterday we do not want to repeat the act today and instead shall only pose for photographs,” said Vijai.
Fisheries Minister Vinod Palyekar, Minister for Rural Development Jayesh Salgaonkar, Deputy Speaker Michael Lobo and MLA Alina Saldanha also posed for the photographs.
Sardesai who was seen greeting each and every person present and talking to various people about the significance of the Opinion Poll and how it retained the Goan identify. “There has been an attempt to erase the opinion poll from the syllabus and curriculum. We will have to fight for it and work too” added Sardesai while elaborating on the future plans to honour the events of the Opinion Poll.
“The D-Day of the movement for independent Goa happened on January 16, 1967 and independence was complete with identity,” said Parrikar.
“The capital city has to host the next year’s Asmitai Dis celebration in a bigger way. Before the 52nd anniversary, the statue of Dr Jack Sequeira has to be installed in the assembly and we will take the necessary resolutions in the Goa legislative assembly,” said Calangute MLA Michael Lobo.
Subsequently, they walked to the 38 plaques accompanying either the family member or the Opinion Poll stalwarts to unveil them. A photograph of the Opinion Poll warrior along with a brief note on the contribution to Opinion Poll written in English, Devnagiri Konkani and Romi Konkani formed the plaque. The plaques will be there permanently as they are acrylic and the frames holding them are nailed permanently to the wall of the walkway. Uday Bhembre was the only person who boycotted the programme and he was not represented by any family member too.
Former MLA Teotonio Pereira and Gurunath Kelekar were the two stalwarts who were present personally while all others had their family members representing them and Felicio Cardoso was represented by Gulab editor Fausto V da Costa. Teotonio Pereira opined that there is a big difference between the present MLAs and those of his time and added that even the common people are speaking about the degradation in politics. “I am not saying all are bad, but the few rotten apples are spoiling the names of all,” he said.
Ravindra Bhavan had organised various competitions for school children right from 9 am under the theme “Goan Identity”. While 182 students participated in the painting completion in junior category in senior category there were 151 participants. 94 students participated in the fancy dress competition in junior category while there were 38 participants in the senior category. An essay competition was also held on the topic “Goenchi Asmitai” and there were 37 participants in the junior category, 60 in the senior category and 5 in the higher secondary school category. Ravindra Bhavan also had an exhibition where significant photographs of the Opinion Poll era were displayed along with brief notes on various aspects of the poll including pictures of leaders and women campaigners, of the campaign and the counting.
