One by one, they came, male and female, young and old. Houses shuttered for years were opened, dusted and aired. They moved in. Among them were Carlos Borromeu Pereira his wife Luisa, Santaninho Godinho his wife Flora and their children, my immediate neighbours. College had a deluge of them, so many from Assolna-Velim-Cuncolim, in particular. We spoke Konkani; they hardly knew any. They spoke English; we struggled with it. We played football; they played hockey. They were the repatriates from East Africa. Not all returned to Goa though; some migrated to UK, Canada, Australia and elsewhere; their success instigated more ‘native’ Goans to move. It is the beginning of my tryst, with the Goan Diaspora.
How have the immigrants and their descendants fared? Exposed to a way of life based on the rule of law and merit, a vast majority are doing far better in every field, than their coequals do in their native land. Here are some who have made a mark in politics in UK and Australia.
Sir Ernesto Soares was the earliest Goan (and in contemporary terms, Indian) to win an election to the House of Commons. He was the son of José Luís Xavier Soares, tracing his roots to Ucassaim village. He predates Shapurji Dorabji Saklatvala generally considered to be the first Indian origin member of the House of Commons, by two decades. The family were originally Gaud Saraswats with the surname Gaitonde of ‘Kaushik gotra’ from Quelossim. He is a cognate of General S F Rodrigues the only Goan Chief of Staff of the Indian Army, of Vassudev Gaitonde internationally renowned artist, Dr Pundalik Gaitonde the former Member of Portuguese Parliament and Prof Aloysius Soares celebrated professor from St Xavier’s College Bombay.
He was educated at St John’s College, Cambridge, where he read law. He was elected to the House of Commons in 1900. He served in the government as Junior Lord of the Treasury from 1910 to 1911, before he resigned due to failing health.
Nigel Keith Anthony Standish Vaz served as the Labour Party Member of Parliament for Leicester East for 32 years, from 1987 to 2019, the longest serving British Asian MP. Vaz served as the Minister for Europe between October 1999 and June 2001. He was appointed a member of the Privy Council in June 2006. He was born in Aden, to Anthony Xavier and Merlyn Verona Vaz. He graduated from Cambridge University with a BA first-class Honours degree, later completed MA. After finishing law studies, he worked as a solicitor.
Valerie Carol Marian Vaz has been the Labour Member of Parliament since 2010. She served as Shadow Leader of the House of Commons from 2016 to 2021. She is the elder sister of Keith Vaz.
Valerie was educated at Twickenham County Grammar School and later Bedford College. She attended the University of London, where she completed a BSc (Hons) degree in Biochemistry in 1978. In 1984 she qualified as a solicitor and subsequently worked on legal issues for local government in London.
Sue-Ellen (Suela) Cassiana Fernandes was elected to the House of Commons in 2015 on Conservative Party ticket. She was the Home Secretary under Liz Truss and Rishi Sunak. She was later the Attorney General for England and Wales. Her father hails from Assagao. Her mother is Indo-Mauritian.
She read law at Queens' College, Cambridge after which she studied for a master's degree in European and French law at Panthéon-Sorbonne University. Suela was called to the bar at Middle Temple in 2005
Claire Coryl Julia Coutinho has been the Conservative Party Member of Parliament since 2019. Coutinho was under Secretary of State in both the Liz Truss and Rishi Sunak Ministry later promoted to the Cabinet as Secretary of State for Energy Security and Net Zero.
Claire is the daughter of Dr Winston and Dr Maria Coutinho who had emigrated from Goa in the 1970’s. Coutinho graduated with MA in mathematics and philosophy from Exeter College, Oxford.
Rabi Martins (son of a doctor from Varca) served as a councillor for nine terms and a mayor for two at the Watford Council and contested for Parliament several times on Liberal Party ticket, without success. More recently, Wisdom da Costa (from Cansaulim) a green activist joined the fray as an independent, but voters found no wisdom in his decision to contest!
Zaneta Felice Antoinetta Mascarenhas was elected to the Australian House of Representatives at the 2022 and re-elected in 2025 Australian federal election for the Division of Swan.
Zaneta was born to parents who migrated from Kenya. She studied science and engineering at Curtin University in Perth and worked as an engineer for 15 years. Zaneta is the first woman to win the seat of Swan in its 101-year history and the first person of Goan origin to be elected to Australia's House of Representatives. She is the daughter of Joe and Ethel Mascarenhas of Mungul Margao.
Leon Rebello is a solicitor who was elected as the Liberal National Party member for the division of McPherson in the 2025 federal election in Australia. Leon is the son of Valeriano and Liddy Rebello of Soddovim Verna.
He has Law and International Relations degrees and has studied in Australia, France and the Netherlands. Rebello earlier worked at King & Wood Mallesons, a major international law firm as a solicitor for six years, focusing on foreign investment.
Each of these MPs is highly qualified unlike their peers back home. Each has won from a constituency where Goans form less than half a percent of the voters. Could any of them have won if the number of Goan voters was higher? Perhaps not, considering the crab mentality historically displayed by Goans! I believe it is the inherent Goan faculty to merge flawlessly with the local socio-cultural environment that enables them to fit into any jacket, political or otherwise. Today, there are more Goan MPs in the House of Commons than in the Lok Sabha and as many in the Australian Parliament as in the Lok Sabha! And this, when the population of Goans abroad, is far less than the population of Goans at home! Mind you, Goa was not even part of the British Empire! Truly, Goans have to go out, to go on.
(Radharao F Gracias is a senior Trial Court Advocate, a former Independent MLA, a political activist, with a reputation for
oratory and
interests in history and ornithology.)