TEAM HERALD
PANJIM: Journalist Shekhar Gupta claimed Luis de Menezes Braganca and his legacy for the entire country on Friday. He shot aside the comparison of Menezes Braganca as being the ‘Tilak of Goa’, to say that he was the “Luis de Menezes Braganca of India, not just Goa”.
Delivering the keynote address at the launch of the book ‘Luis de Menezes Braganca – Nationalsim, Secularism and free-thought in Portuguese Goa’ written by Sushila Sawant Mendes, Gupta, the former Editor in Chief of Indian Express and currently advisor to the India Today group said, “Goa is so peaceful that I never came to Goa as a journalist.”
He described Goa as an island of peace and calm, that with “such a small population has left such a large imprint on India” mentioning some of the Goans who have made it big in the country. To that list he added Menezes Braganca mentioning in particular the Goan writer’s liberal thoughts and how the man fought with the foreign establishment, at a time when the freedom movement in Indian had not “infiltrated” Goa as much as it had other states in India.
“Goa is a microcosm of Indian society,” Gupta said and added, “In Indian history, the country has never before been more secure internally and externally” and that is only because “we now are more confident of our diversity”.
Speaking before him, Maria Aurora Couto said, “The book will introduce Luis de Menezes Braganca to many who have not read about him or even heard about him.” She added that it was a timely book for the new generation that knows little of the past.
Saying that today journalists in India are cautious in what they write, and that the country is in need of fearless voices who thunder as did Menezes Braganca, Couto said that caution would have enraged Menezes Braganca.
“I consider Luis de Menezes Braganca as our intellectual heritage and fell that his thoughts must go on,” Mendes said, explaining her work on the man. She said that the nationalism that Menezes Braganca espoused is the same that is enshrined in the Indian Constitution.
