PANJIM: 18 June 1946 marks a historic day in the Liberation struggle of Goa, Daman and Diu.
Though the freedom struggle started a few decades after the Portuguese conquest of Goa in 1510, the 1946 meeting a Lohia Maidan, before which Ram Manohar Lohia was arrested and Dr Juliao Menezes addressed the people, gave an added surge to the freedom struggle.
Senior statesmen, political analysts, advocates and activists have reasserted the necessity of agitation (within the ambits of law and the constitution) to save Goa from the degradation of governance and civil liberties.
Let's start with the BJP media department in-charge Premanand Mhambre, who asked “Who needs second revolution? In and every sector there is proliferation of illegalities and you cannot blame the government alone. Different people have different reasons as per change of time. For some it is selling Goa. People are grabbing land of fellow Goans, who are living outside the country or abroad. This is going on rampantly."
Former MLA Adv Radharao Gracias argued, “We do need a revolution, but it’s a misnomer to call it a second revolution. Now it is really too late to have a revolution, because Goa is no longer Goa. Revolution had to come from Goans. But now Goans are a small minority. Goans are ready to sell themselves to the highest bidders," he said. He added, "There has never been a revolution in Goa. And Goa’s freedom did not come because of a revolution or a movement. It came because the Indian Army marched into Goa and evicted the Portuguese. Something which even the Supreme Court of India confirms by its judgment of March 1969,” Adv Gracias said.
Adv Cleofato Coutinho opined, “Today, I find that in the entire country there is a scorn for intellectuals. The civil society is suppressed. The press is become an appendage of the government. In such a situation, a people’s movement is required.”
“The revolution has started in some way with the results of the 2024 General Election which has curtailed the power of the government,” Adv Coutinho said.
Goenchea Ramponkarancho Ekvott (GRE) general secretary Olencio Simoes said, “ From 2016 people are opposing the Port expansion. More than 90 village panchayats passed resolution that they don’t want coal transportation and nationalisation of rivers. Even then the Centre and the State are not listening to the people.
When we protest, cases are filed against us. he said.
"So the question is whether absentees want a second revolution or those who are grabbing their lands,” Mhambre said.
Political analyst Trajano D’Mello said, “People are frustrated on many issues. There is no trust in the leader who spearheads any agitation on any issue because people believe that all leaders have a hidden agenda for their political motives."
Social activist Swapnil Sherlekar said, “We desperately need second revolution. It was Tuesday when 18 June 1946 revolution started at Margao. It was on Tuesday when Goa was liberated on 19 December 1961. So Tuesday, (18 June 2024) is auspicious to start second revolution.”
Crores of rupees in legal battle are being spent on defectors who betrayed the people: Uday Bhembre
PANJIM: Senior public intellectual and former MLA, Uday Bhembre on Tuesday lamented that crores of rupees of people’s money is being spent over the last nearly two years to fight the case of the eight rebel Congress MLAs, who switched over to Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP).
“These defectors betrayed the trust of the people and made a mockery of the Constitution.
“Eight MLAs who had won on the nomination (ticket) of one party defected to another party. There is a disqualification petition filed on this issue. It is pending before the Goa Assembly Speaker for nearly two years. There is no need for nearly two years to decide this case. It can be done within a few months. But this is not happening,” Bhembre pointed out.
“In last nearly two years, so many crores have been spent on them. Whose money is this? This is public money. People’s money is being spent on those who have made a fool of them, who have betrayed and made a mockery of the Constitution,” he argued.
Referring to the question whether there is a need for a second revolution in Goa, Bhembre said, “When those in authority don’t listen even after people raising this issue, then agitation is the only way out.”
He further said, “This is what Ram Manohar Lohia had told us on June 18, 1946.”
Then people have to rise up, come out on the streets to correct the wrongs. Lohia’s 18th June Revolution took place because there were no civil liberties. Lohia and 2,500 leaders and people came out to fight for these liberties in Margao,” Bhembre declared.