Setembrache ecvissaveri
Camarachim fodlim daram
Titlean soldad aile Moddgonvam……
Concluding lines being:
Xi…xi..Raza…
..tujer poddum maldisanv
Elections today are like festivals….but elections in Portuguese Goa also led to bloodshed! Many satirical mandos were composed which explained the turbulence of the times in Goa like Setembrache ecvissaveri, Rogtacho Batisms, Kitem re zata Konnom re Khobor and Partidcho Chief-i Mukar Sorlo. Two elections were commemorated in the mandos.
The municipal election of Diwar of November 1854 witnessed a mestizo, Capt Joaquim Pereira Gracez Palha, being beaten to death in the Church Square of Nossa Senhora da Piedade. He was alleged to have rigged the vote to favour the government backed candidate. This incident has been described in the mando, “Luizinha, mujea Luizinha”.
The other mandos lament the election of Salcete in 1890 when the soldiers of the Governor Vasco Guedes de Carvalho e Menezes fired at an unarmed crowd.
On Friday, September 21, 1890 there was firing in the Church Square in Margao, which claimed 23 lives. In the words of a mando, “Vasco Guedes dug graves, turning Morhgoum (Margao) into a pool of blood”. Protest meetings took place in Goa and outside, like in Bombay, Poona, Karachi and Zanzibar. The Canadian and the American press of that period carried news on the “Goa revolution” and condemned the brutal act.
It is a narrative that the Catholics of Goa, especially the bhatcars supported the colonial rule, while the Hindus were victims. Some Goan scholars argue the absence of national consciousness in Goa in the late 19th and early 20th centuries. These two myths need to be redefined while examining the circumstances that led to the event of 1890. With Portugal having a constitutional monarchy in 1820, it resulted in the growth of political consciousness, seen in the form of political writings, political parties, poems, editorials, speeches by local leaders and popular writings that were critical of the Portuguese colonial regime.
Elections in 1890 were contested between two political parties – Partido Ultramarino (Overseas Party) led by Bernardo Francisco da Costa, considered a supporter of the government, while the Partido Indiano (Indian party) led by Dr Jose Inacio de Loyola of Orlim, Salcete was looked upon to be against the policies of the government. The Goan elite now came together to demand their political rights, despite the persistent efforts of the Portuguese government to ensure victory for their official candidates.
Dr Jose Inacio de Loyola edited the newspaper, Á India Portuguesa. Joao Constancio Roque da Costa, a deputado (elected member) in the Portuguese Parliament was the editor of
O Ultramar, the mouth- piece of the Partido Ultramarino. Each newspaper levied charges against the ‘other’. The contemporary caste politics was reflected in the composition of these two political parties. The Partido Indiano of the chardo bhatkars (Catholic Kshtriya landlords) and the other comprised brahmins. The Partido Indiano had retained their domination in municipal elections in Salcete for almost two decades and adopted the resolution, “Never again official candidates”. All is fair in love, war and elections!
The Partido Ultramarino alleged that delimitation of areas was done on the basis of caste to continue their victory in elections and that “elections were used as bargaining counters to secure privileges, employment and full control of the municipality and electoral committees; to clinch offices and that there were no real elections all these years”.
Four parliamentary and two municipal elections were held between 1889 and 1892. The year 1890 faced two elections, a parliamentary and a municipal election. There were rumours of an understanding between the new Governor and the Partido Indiano before the election. The Governor had been intimated by a letter that the highest tax-payers had passed a resolution that the candidate for Parliament should be selected from the roster of tax payers. The Governor’s positive reply dated November 6, 1889, affirmed the proposal as ‘just and sensible’. This underlying alliance has been discussed by Mario Bruto da Costa in the book, ‘Elections in Goa during the Portuguese Constitutional Monarchy’, published in 2017.This is a contrarian yet important view to understand the election politics of those times.
The Parliamentary election of April 1890 for Salcete was declared null and void for irregularities. Fresh elections were announced for April 1891.This could happen only if a duly elected municipal chamber was in place. These elections were then fixed on September 21, 1890, so that the Parliamentary elections could follow. On that fateful day nearly 4,000 supporters of the Partidio Indiano gathered at the Camara Municipal de Salcete to participate in the elections. Several polling stations like Benaulim, Colva, Navelim, Seraulim and Betalbatim were pooled together in Margao. It was alleged that the venue was shifted to prevent the people from voting. The military was kept informed.
At 9.00 am the officials like the administrator of Salcete, the President of the Municipality, the administrator of the comunidade and members of the Partido Ultramarino entered the Camara. As members of the Partido Indiano were not permitted to enter the Camara, they retaliated by stoning the building, along with the people snatching the guns and bayonets of the police. There was tension in the air as the administrator sent a telegram to Panjim asking for soldiers to be deputed to Margao. Accordingly 400 soldiers were despatched. The army started dispersing the crowd with kicks and bayonets. Many sought refuge in the church.
Others sought refuge in the house of Salvador Filipe Alvares, near the Church. In response to a stone flung at an official, another official fired two rounds on the people who had gathered in the balcony. Thereafter the administrator ordered to ‘open fire’ and the army shifted to the Cross at the centre of the Church Square from where the firing started and continued for almost twenty minutes which not only led to the death of 23 persons but also injured hundreds of others. One of them, Ram belonged to the family of Datta Damodar Naik of Comba, Margao. The members of the Partido Indiano were accused as ‘drunken voters’, even at 8.00 am. This was questionable since as per the Akbari regulations alcohol was not easily available to the people.
Innocent people became victims of this firing. The Cidas Almas Chapel next to the old Municipal building was built in the memory of those killed. The Alvares house has preserved the bullet holes on the façade of their house with the date September 21, 1890 inscribed around it .The leaders of the Partido Indiano like Dr Jose Inacio de Loyola, Roque Correia Afonso, Jacinto Correia Afonso, Salvador Filipe Álvares and J Vitorino Barreto Miranda, among others fled to British India to seek refuge. After many protests and telegrams to the King of Portugal, a delegation was formed to inquire into the incident. Thereafter these elections were nullified and new municipal elections were ordered in the same year.
The leaders were able to return to Goa by the September 1891. Governor- General Vasco Guedes was replaced by Francisco Maria de Souza. Elections then were shrouded with liberal thought but unfortunately resulted in the dynamics of competitive nationalism, of Goan versus Goan, each accusing ‘the other’ to be an agent of Portugal.
(Prof (Dr) Sushila Sawant Mendes is an author and Professor in History,
Govt College of Arts, Science & Commerce, Quepem)
