As we in Goa are nearing the 51st anniversary of the historic Opinion Poll on January 16, 2018, India’s only referendum so far, it would be right to be grateful for those who were instrumental in providing yeoman service for having supported the unique and separate identity of Goa. As far as the Opinion Poll is concerned, without doubt, Dr Jack de Sequeira, whose actual name was Dr Joao Hugo Eduardo de Sequeira should be christened as the architect of Goa’s identity as well as the Father of the Opinion Poll for having fought a relentless battle to preserve Goa’s identity after masterminding the conduct of the Opinion Poll.
On December 19, 1961 Goa, Daman and Diu was liberated from the clutches of Portuguese colonial rule and a new chapter in the history of the union territory began thanks to the untiring efforts of freedom fighters who succeeded in freeing the union territory from the yoke of the Portuguese. After 451 years of Portuguese rule on India having assumed reins of power in Goa, Daman and Diu, a short tenure of military governorship of Lt Gen K P Candeth was installed followed by the leadership of Lt Gen T Sivasankar on June 8, 1962. The government of India introduced on March 12, 1962 in the Lok Sabha two Bills, one the Constitution Amendment (12th Amendment) to include Goa, Daman and Diu in Schedule I of the Constitution as a Union Territory which in future would have two elected representatives in Parliament and a Legislative Assembly consisting of 30 elected members including Daman and Diu. Speaking on the Bill to amend the Constitution, the late Prime Minister of India Jawaharlal Nehru in the course of the speech in the Lok Sabha on March 14, 1962 said “We have made it clear that we want Goa to maintain its separate identity, separate individuality, call it what you will, because in the course of more than 400 years, Goa has had a separate identity and the course of history has imparted it some. We have no intention of changing that or suppressing that identity. In fact some people have advised us to make another change in the Constitution and to recognize the Konkani language as one of the Official languages of India.” This statement formed the cornerstone of later developments which resulted in the decision of the Union government to allow the conduct of the Opinion Poll. The United Goans Party was formed in 1962-63 with the merger of the three local parties with Hand as the party symbol, centred around the brilliance of the physician-turned-politician Sequeira. Simultaneously, the Maharashtrawadi Gomantak Party was formed by Dayananad Bandodkar. These two parties formed had divergent views and had separate agendas. After much political activity in the Centre as well as the then Union territory, instead of a vote in the Assembly as was proposed by the MGP, under the tutelage of Sequeira the UGP managed to convince the Centre that an Opinion Poll be conducted to make Goa, Daman and Diu a separate entity or the Union territory be merged with Maharashtra. Thus the stage was set for the Opinion Poll which was decided by the Union Parliament on December 7, 1966. The MGP and the UGP galvanized support for their stands on the merger with Maharashtra under Dayanand B. Bandodkar with flower as its symbol and the United Goans Party under Sequeira has the two leaves as its symbol. A fierce campaign followed with both sides giving it all to win, the Opinion Poll which was conducted on January 16, 1967 amidst great expectations by both the sides. However, as is known the fluent rhetoric of the charismatic Sequeira prevailed and thus the majority people in Goa voted to remain a separate entity which later on led to Goa having achieved statehood on May 30, 1987. In the Opinion Poll majority voters in 19 of the 30 constituencies voted in favour of a separate identity, while the merger with Maharashtra attracted only 11 constituencies. The final tally of votes was: Total electorate: 3,88,392, Votes cast: 3,17,633, Valid votes: 3,10,361, Rejected votes: 7,272, Anti Merger: 1,72,191, Pro-merger votes: 1,38,170 and the margin of votes in favour of Anti merger was 34,021. The Opinion Poll in its run-up and later received wide publicity from all national and local newspapers. Sequeira emerged as the savoir of the Goan identity with his stellar ability to convince the electorate and thus Goa was saved from becoming just a backyard of Maharashtra and today after statehood we have 40 MLAs and two Lok Sabha MPs, as well as a Rajya Sabha MP. Amongst the UGP MLAs, here we have to mention the names of veteran UGP stalwarts John Teotonio Pereira, Advocate Alvaro Loyola Furtado, Enio Pimenta, J. M. D’Souza, Baburao Karekar, Baba Dhuri, Shrirang Narvekar, Ravindra Prabhu, Shrirang Dubashi, Dattaram Shinde, Yeshwant Sitaram Dessai and Vasudev Salgaonkar. Special mention has also to be made of Uday Bhembre, who was then editor of Rashtramat, an anti-merger Marathi newspaper.
Sequeira received late credit for his yeoman service towards the Opinion Poll and it was only 40 years after the Opinion Poll that his statues, one at Calangute and the other at the NIO Circle, Dona Paula were installed. Also a road from Panjim to Merces was named after Sequeira. Credit for the installations of these statues have to be given in Calangute, to the then Sarpanch, Joseph Sequeira, our late chief minister Dr Wilfred D’Souza for having given the permission to install the statue and the Sequeira family in particular Sequeira’s daughters, Lilia Sequeira Sukhija and Margarida Sequeira Fernandes. Also, the sculptor of the two statues, Ajinkya Chaulkar from Mumbai, has to be mentioned for having crafted the two statues. Last but definitely not the least, the initiator of installation of the two statues, Peter Figueiredo has to be given a prominent mention because were it not for his co-ordination and sustained efforts, the two statues would not have materialized. Now we have been promised by the Goa Forward Party chief Vijai Sardesai that he is making great efforts to install the statue of Sequeira at the Goa State Assembly Complex at Porvorim as well as his promise to include the Opinion Poll as a chapter in the History books to be taught to students in Goa. However, it would also be prudent to install a statue of Sequeira in Salcete, since the Xaxticars were instrumental in providing the major support for the anti-merger forces in the Opinion Poll. Deepak Dhavalikar of the MGP has also indicated that he will make efforts to install statue of Sequeira in the State Assembly Complex at Porvorim. Churchill Alemao has to be hailed for having already decided to install a statue of Sequeira at Benaulim. Michael Lobo has also to be commended for having immediately endorsed the installation of a statue of Sequeira at the State Assembly complex at Porvorim. The government has also decided to hold `Asmitai Dis' on 16th January this year. Hope that all the 40 MLAs will pool together to mark this historic event.
(This writer has researched and edited a book: Dr. Jack de Sequeira-Architect of Goa's Identity.)