15 Jan,2011

Celebrate ‘Osmitai Dis’
On Sunday, Goans ought to celebrate ‘Osmitai Dis’. There is not too much awareness about what a momentous day this was for Goa, and how much of a difference it would have made, had events turned out differently.
On 16 January 1967, the Goa Opinion Poll was held. It was a referendum (the one and only ever held in India) to decide on the future of this territory. The people of Goa had to choose whether they wanted to continue as a union territory or merge with the neighbouring state of Maharashtra.
As things turned out, the people of Goa voted against the merger. Goa continued as a union territory, going on to become a full-fledged state in 1987, after Konkani became its official language. Had they voted the other way, in all probability today Goa would have been one of the most backward districts of Maharashtra, like neighbouring Sindhudurg.
In the first election in Goa on 9 December 1963, the Maharashtrawadi Gomantak (MG) party won an outright victory, defeating the United Goans (UG). The Congress – the party of the freedom fighters – did not get a single seat in Goa, and just one in Daman. Was it then that Pandit Nehru made his memorable remark: “Ajeeb hain Goa ke log.” (Goa’s people are strange)?  The MG was backed by non-Brahmin Hindus, while the UG was supported by the Christians and most Brahmins. Soon after the election, the MG, led by its charismatic leader Dayanand ‘Bhau’ Bandodkar, claimed that the election mandate was as good as a vote for merger with Maharashtra, as that had been the party’s main poll plank. They wanted to merge Goa into Maharashtra by passing a bill in the state legislature.
But the leaders of the UG and the Congress demanded an opinion poll, and took the issue to the central government. The government of Karnataka (then called Mysore), too, opposed the merger. But a decision was delayed, as Pandit Nehru died the next year, followed by Prime Minister Lal Bahadur Shastri two years later. Indira Gandhi, who took over from Mr Shastri, finally gave the go-ahead for the Opinion Poll.
The President of India gave assent to the Goa, Daman and Diu (Opinion Poll) Act on 16 December 1966, after it was passed in both houses of Parliament, and 16 January 1967 was declared as D-day. To ensure that the vote was free from any official influence, the MG government resigned on 3 December 1966.
The symbol for merger was the ‘flower’. Against merger, it was ‘two leaves’. People thought that the Hindus of Goa (minus the numerically insignificant Brahmins) were for merger, while the Christians were against it. But had things been so clear-cut, the mergerists would have won an outright victory. Goans – both Hindus and Christian – obviously had a greater sense of maturity and self-interest.
Campaigning on both sides was vigorous. The pro-merger group was supported by leaders from Maharashtra, across political lines. But the anti-mergerists had their champions too, in Dr Jack Sequeira and his son Erasmo, a veritable army of activists in villages and towns, the tiatrists of Goa, Konkani singers like Ulhas Buyao, and young Konkani writers like Uday Bhembre, Dr Manoharrai Sardesai and Shankar Bhandari. While the Marathi newspaper ‘Gomantak’ was pro-merger, ‘Rashtramat’ a new Marathi daily edited by Chandrakant Keni, asked Marathi readers to vote against merger.
There were 388,432 eligible voters. A total of 317,633 votes were polled. Despite a clear Hindu numerical superiority, Goans rejected merger with Maharashtra by 172,191 votes (54.2 per cent) to 138,170 (43.5 per cent). Obviously, a significant section of the MG’s Hindu supporters had voted against merger…
The results were greeted by great joy. Bhau Bandodkar of the MG announced that he would respect the will of the people and would never raise the merger issue again. And, inexplicably, the MG swept the next election, just like the last.
Had he been alive, Pandit Nehru would probably have repeated: “Ajeeb hain Goa ke log.”