Goa came under the colonial rule in 1510 after Dom Afonso de Albuquerque captured Old Goa the then capital city of Goa. One recalls those yesteryears of peace and tranquillity, cheese and wine, good governance and discipline. Those were our glorious days, say old timers recollecting the past. Somehow, a few patriots, so called freedom fighters, were unhappy with the Portuguese’s presence here and wanted the rulers out of our territory. Considering them to be trouble makers and disobedient to the law, the Portuguese govt had them placed in their rightful positions where they had to be. But after a long struggle for freedom, the colonial rule came to an end in 1961 when the Indian army marched into Goa much to the excitement of of our freedom fighters.
In five decades from then to now, today the friendly nation, Portugal rewrites history with the return of important documents dating back to the 17th century which are vital to the next generations in research and knowing history of an era gone by. After prime minister Narendra Modi visited Portugal to meet Prime Minister Antonio Costa, the president of Casa de Goa, Lisbon, Edgar Valles presented the said document to chief minister Manohar Parrikar, on his recent visit to Goa.
It is a gesture of modern civilised culture, a foresight and matured understanding between the two nations to stand hand in hand with fostered friendship and Indo-Portuguese ties and not to harbour the past with hate and grudges. We are to learn a lot from this European nation to live in love and brotherhood. In the words of Mr Valles: Portuguese needs to be taught to everybody as the language of the ancestrors of all Goans and also all Indians coming and staying in Goa should learn the language.
Lets us therefore work with the same thought as the Portuguese to make India a nation of high repute upholding secular values and respecting each other with human dignity.
