After the Liberation of Goa, the possibility of merging Goa with Maharashtra or Karnataka was floated. However, Dr Jack de Sequeira and others pushed for Goa to be a separate State and the Opinion poll gave its verdict. Otherwise Goa would have been merged with Maharashtra and Goans would have lost their identity.
Mumbai would have been the capital and even to get a simple birth certificate Goans would have had to go to Mumbai as it is capital city of Maharashtra. The usage of Marathi would be standard. Life would be very different and our children would have been born into a different world. We have much to be grateful for to the anti-merger leaders like Jack Sequeira, who fought tooth and nail to ensure that Goa remained a separate State.
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Now a senior citizen, I distinctly remember as a young man in 1967 going around with a group of Goans organised by Dr Jack Sequeira at the Casa Bar Barreto in Panjim. We went house to house talking to people and we were also part of the movement that moved by trucks and motorcycle motorcade to Banastarim and Mardol where we ended up in a fight with MGP forces.
We also went around to many areas across Goa appealing to the Goan voters to vote for the two leaves symbol of the United Goans party and to ensure that that the mergerists were defeated lock, stock and barrel. The battle for Goa was never about religion. Dr Jack de Sequeira never directed us to destroy any temple, he only asked us to fight for our identity against merger with Maharashtra.
Goans had a good unity prior to Liberation among all religions.
There is no point blaming the Portuguese on issues of destroying any Hindu temples. It is well known that several Hindu temples were rebuilt by the Portuguese themselves and Sudin has confirmed in the Herald newspaper of Dec 25, 2021 that their Goddess Mahalsa who was in Quelshi, Verna was shifted to Mardol, that Mahalaximi that was in Colva was shifted and rebuilt 400 years ago in Bhandora where Sudin resides, and that Lord Ganesh from Curca was shifted to Nagueshi in Bhandora. Sudin made a strong statement that the Portuguese did not destroy or raze any of the above Hindu temples, but relocated/shifted them to their present sites at the above respective places.
It makes sense that Salcete today is the Catholic heartland and therefore it would be inconvenient as well as expensive for poor Hindus from Ponda taluka to go to all the way in Salcete for prayers and worship.
It may be recalled that the same Sudin Dhavlikar is now posing as a secularist because of his acquaintances with Trinamool Congress.
Election 2022 must centre around economic development of Goa and Goans. We must know that Goa is a world renowned tourism destination which correctly adversely affected to Covid 19 and its virus variants. We must endeavour to promote tourism as the backbone of our economy as mining has destroyed the aquifers and made agriculture reductant in this mining talukas of Goa.
It is also very critical that secular forces like the AAP, Congress, Trinamool Congress, come together to save the State of Goa from saffron onslaught.
