A recurring debate which erupts on Goan cyberspace is about who speaks for Goa? The popular thinking is, NRI Goans have no right to speak on matters relating to Goa because they left and abandoned the mother-country. Called any number of names from anti-nationals to toilet cleaners, the NRI Goan is almost disenfranchised voice.
To assume that Goans living abroad have no stake in Goa is counter-productive. Just last month, it was reported that bank deposits made by NRI Goans ran over Rs 14 crores, evenly split between North and South Goa. Goans can just as easily choose to shelter their money elsewhere but the Goan is an upholder of tradition, and traditionally those abroad have funnelled money into the economy since the time they left to work in British India or set sail for East Africa and then the Arabian Gulf.
But NRI Goans are not just banking statistics. It’s important to understand this issue from a historical perspective. Goans abroad have shown remarkable courage through the centuries; they have been fundamental in shaping political opinion, particularly at a time when stringent Portuguese censorship ensured muzzling of dissent within Goa. When on September 21, 1890, Portuguese armed troops shot at protesting Goans at the Municipal building in Margao, killing a number of people and wounding up to fifty, it was left to Goans living in Bombay to protest this grotesque misuse of power. The Times of India Overland Summary of September 1890 reported, ‘the dead were left for hours to lay where they fell.’
Large crowds gathered at the Framjee Cowasjee Institute in Dhobitaloa, spilling onto the street, condemning the action, with this statement: ‘We are here because our killed and wounded brethren cry to us to seek for redress. We are here because their blood appeals to our hearts for pity.’ The Goan living outside of Goa, never stopped feeling the pain of his fellow countrymen.
It was from Bombay, that Goans ran a number of presses, to counter Portuguese propaganda. And it was from the ranks of Goans in Belgaum and Bombay, that some coherent Liberation movement emerged. Nationalist Tristao Braganza Cunha, became the chief publicist for the liberation movement through his paper ‘Free Goa’, printed first in Belgaum and then from Bombay. It was from the kudds, clubs and docklands of Dhobitalao and Mazagaon, that one of the leading figures of the liberation movement, Peter Alvares, gathered support for public meetings.
In Kenya, barrister and Queen’s Counsel, JM Nazareth formed the East African Goan National Association to give voice to the Goa Liberation movement. In 1955, Narazeth tried to register the organisation in Kenya but the Governor objected, stating its intentions to be ‘clearly inflammatory’ and hostile to a friendly colonial power, Portugal. In London, lawyer Joao Cabral solidified the Goa League, mustering support from Britain’s Labour party.
It was not just Goa’s political aspirations that found a voice in the diaspora, but also its literary and artistic. Dr Andre R. Fernandes tells us in his book, ‘When the Curtains Rise,’ that on Easter Sunday, April 17, 1892, the first modern-day tiatr, ‘Italian Bhurgo,’ was staged at the New Alfred Theatre in Bombay. Lucasinho Ribeiro and Pai Joao Agostinho Fernandes who engendered this seminal art form were both living in Bombay at the time. Doubtless, tiatr is an amalgam of influences which include the khell and zagor, but both these men wanted to create a form which was distinct and progressive. Tiatr appealed directly to Konkani-speaking audiences in Bombay, and became a medium for social reformation as well as protest. Plays by Pai Agostinho such as ‘Batkara’ and ‘Kunbi Jacki’ sought to address flagrant imbalances in Goa’s economic and caste equations.
Goans living outside of Goa have shaped the very progressive ideologies that we embrace today and take for granted. Goan communities, particularly in Bombay but elsewhere in Karachi and the frontier towns of East Africa as well, embraced education, welfare and healthcare. They left behind a rich legacy of schools such as St. Xavier’s School and College (Bombay), Dr Ribeiro School (Nairobi) and Norman Godinho School (Kampala) which live on and serve people to this day. The enthusiasm for education filtered back to Goa, as English-medium schools mushroomed in the early twentieth century overtaking the popularity of Portuguese schools. This being the great age of Goan public philanthropy, ingrained in diaspora Goans was the egalitarian idea that even the poorest amongst them should have the opportunity for a stellar education. The children of impoverished Goan families became the recipient of subsidised or free education, and altruistic Goans sponsored the higher education of other struggling families back in Goa. This great shift in thinking enabled Goans to compete internationally as well as making them one of the most literate societies within the Indian sub-continent.
The very idea that NRI Goans should not have a say on matters relating to Goa, is myopic at best, and betrays a complete lack of understanding of how instrumental they have been in shaping Goa’s trajectory of success.
(The writer is the Author of Goan Pioneers of East Africa)
