I find the argument in Adv. Radharao Gracias’ recent article entitled “A Goan First” in Herald to be unconvincing and absurd. I point out some of the errors in fact and logic below.
Adv. Gracias says and I quote, “Goans, were the subjects of the Bahamani sultan, until the Portuguese defeated Adil Shah and replaced the Bahamanis on 25.11.1510, at the “invitation” of the local people, under the leadership of Thimaya Naik”. According to this quote, and from the rest of the article the author appears to be claiming that we are Goans first because of political and historical reasons.
But his history of Goa begins with the Bahamani Kingdom and the conquest of the city of Goa on 25.11.1510. But recorded historical facts tell us that Goa as we know it today did not exist as a whole or as a unified state with the current political boundaries either during the Bahamani times or in 1510. Only the city of Goa or the island of Tiswadi was conquered by the Portuguese in 1510. Moreover, if this is the basis for me as a native of Tiswadi to be called a Goan then why can I not be called a Central Indian since the Bahamani kingdom stretched over a vast region of Central India, or a South Indian because before the Bahamanis, my ancestors’ homeland Ela and my father’s and grandfather’s birthplace Chimbel were part of the South Indian kingdom of Vijayanagar?
Indeed Goa with its present political boundaries did not exist before 1788.
Adv. Gracias asks further “Are we geographically Indians?”, and answers “The answer is a huge ‘Yes’. We are part of the landmass that constitutes the Indian subcontinent and all parts obviously come together.” This should settle the question of why most Goans call themselves Indian, but he has conveniently left out an important reason for the fact that we are Indian, namely genetics. Every single one of us is genetically most closely related to other Indians.
Adv. Gracias wraps up his argument by pronouncing with an air of finality by stating “To conclude, there ought to be no doubt that we are Goans first and always and are Indians as a consequence of what the Supreme Court says: “True annexation by conquest and subjugation”. And the legislation that followed.”
Well, in my mind there is plenty of doubt, and what I have said above ought to sow those seeds of doubt in the reader’s mind as well. There is no ancient historical or political precedence that compels us to call ourselves Goans. The only reason we are called Goans is because we come from parts of the Indian subcontinent that were lumped together under the current political boundaries by conquest and annexation by the Portuguese in 1788 when they completed their conquest by acquiring neighboring Pernem, Satari, Sanquelim and Bicholim, and later by conquest and annexation by the Republic of India, reconstituted now as the Indian state of Goa. Please note though that the Portuguese themselves called these conquered parts Estado da India.
So go figure!
