MARGAO: May 30, 1987, is one of the most important dates in Goa’s history as it was the day when Goa became a full-fledged 25th State of Indian Union.
The journey towards official language status for Konkani and Statehood for Goa is an integral part of the region’s history. One of the key figures in this movement was former Chief Minister Luizinho Faleiro, who documented his reminiscences in the book ‘The Battle for Konkani and Statehood’, released last year at the Raj Bhavan.
In a conversation with O Heraldo, Faleiro recounted pivotal moments from this people’s movement that could not be stopped until Goans achieved their aspirations. The book’s 18 chapters provide a detailed account, including a chapter on Faleiro’s first discussion about Goa’s Statehood with former Prime Minister Indira Gandhi. This took place during a courtesy call after the 1980 elections.
“My initiation into the Statehood and Konkani movement began on an early, cold and foggy morning of January 1980, in New Delhi,” reads an extract from his book.
“In one short conversation with Prime Minister Indira Gandhi, I realised that for Statehood to become a reality, Konkani would first have to be made the Official Language of the Union Territory,” Faleiro added.
“At that time a young politician in a hurry, spoke up and informed her that the popular aspiration of Goans was Statehood and that the Goans were awaiting Statehood, the promise given by her father Pandit Jawaharlal Nehru,” said Faleiro.
He recalled after the former PM had finished meeting the others, she returned to where he was standing and asked him to repeat his question.
“I had got an opportunity that I had never expected. I immediately said that in the elections that had just taken place, Statehood had been the main aspiration of the people. Indira Gandhi was point blank in her reply. “You first decide your language, then we will give you Statehood,’ was all she said,” read another extract of that chapter.
“It was just one, short sentence, but that statement changed perspective of the issue completely. The 1956 reorganisation of States had been done purely on linguistic basis, and if Goa was to ever get Statehood it would first have to decide its Official Language,” Faleiro added.
“Born from the meeting with Indira Gandhi were the twin aspirations of Goa – Official Language status for Konkani and Statehood for Goa. These took firm root in me. For me, despite the Congress having come to power and the Maharashtrawadi Gomantak Party (MGP) having been defeated, the Damocles Sword of merger still hung over Goa by just a fragile hair. I knew that as long as Goa remained a Union Territory, that threat would remain,” Faleiro added in that chapter.
Faleiro details the subsequent phases of the journey, highlighting how the 1967 Opinion Poll, while settling the question of Goa’s merger with Maharashtra, neither protected Konkani nor granted Statehood. It was over 25 years after Liberation that Konkani gained Official Language recognition and Goa achieved Statehood, thanks to the unwavering determination of the people.
It may be recalled that it was rejection of Faleiro’s Private Member’s Bill on Official Language status for Goa that sparked the movement for Konkani, with him leading it from the front.
“As a young MLA, I was thrust into the Konkani movement, assuming, along with the Konknni Porjecho Avaz, the leadership of the movement, with me handling the political side and the writers, artistes, poets doing the rest. Yet, the movement would not have been successful, had not the people responded to the call in the manner they did,” Faleiro added.
“Many will remember that period for the bandhs that brought Goa to a standstill, for the arrests that put many people behind bars, for the meetings that drew hitherto unimaginable numbers of people and the deaths that cast a pall of gloom over the land. But the movement went beyond all that,” he recounted further.
“During that period, between mid-1985 and early-1987, my house turned into the nerve centre of the battle. It was from here that plans were made and then executed. Anybody walked into my house in those days, and there was always an army of advocates prepared to draft and file bail applications or other legal applications required to release those arrested by the government. I was witness to it all, I was in the midst of it all and, I reiterate, I don’t believe that what happened at that time will ever repeat in Goa,” read another extract.
Faleiro’s book serves as a powerful testimony to the decades-long struggle and the indomitable spirit of Goans that ultimately led to the recognition of Konkani as the official language and the granting of Statehood, marking a significant chapter in the region’s journey towards self-determination.
