Spotlight
New Delhi, 26 May 2015
Goa Statehood
THE UNTOLD STORY
By Eduardo Falerio
(Ex-Union Foreign
Minister)
Amidst demands raised by various regions across the country,
the protagonists could learn from how Goa ceased to be an Union
Territory and became India’s 25th
State in 1987.
As Goa
celebrates its Statehood Day on Friday (30th May), former Union Foreign
Minister Eduardo Falerio recounts the painstaking backroom behind-the-scenes
manoeuvres that went in to making the State.
Goa’s story
began in December 1961 when it was liberated from colonial rule. But it was
painful freedom as a major controversy arose as to whether this beautiful
region should remain a separate territory or merge into neighbouring
Maharashtra or Mysore.
In 1967, the first and only
referendum in Independent India was held which decided that Goa, Daman and Diu
should remain a separate entity with the status of an Union Territory.
Thereafter, the three major Parties, United Goans Party (UGP), Congress and
Maharashtrawadi Gomantak Party (MGP) sought statehood.
The first to raise the ante was UGP’s AN Naik who moved a
Private Members’ resolution in the Assembly in March 1971. This was not only unanimously
approved but soon thereafter, Congress MP Purushottam Kakodkar introduced a
Bill demanding statehood for Goa in the Lok
Sabha. Not to be left behind, the MGP’s RL Pankar echoed the same in another
Private Members’ resolution in the Assembly in October 1976.
In the ensuing debate with heavyweights like Law Minister
Pratapsingh Rane, Jack de Sequeira, AN Naik, LP Barbosa, Chandrakant Chodankar,
Silverio D’Souza, Jagdish Rao, yours truly etc plugging for Statehood, asserted
then Chief Minister Sashikala Kakodkar, “In the early years after Liberation
the MGP stood for merger with Maharashtra... But the Opinion Poll went against
merger... Goa, Daman and Diu are and should be
what the people of this territory want to make of it.”
“When I got elected to Parliament
in 1977, the then Prime Minister Morarji Desai of the erstwhile Janata Party
was opposed to small States even as his Home Minister Charan Singh supported it
along-with JP patron Jayaprakash Narayan.
“This was underscored by him in
his article in the Hindustan Times in 1969 wherein he called for “breaking up
oversized States such as UP, Bihar, MP and a
few others. The
breaking up of large States, apart from resulting in a more compact, efficient
and close to the people administration, should also go far to mitigate
linguistic jingoism” he wrote.
“In fact I argued for Statehood
from my first speech onwards in the Lok Sabha on 4 April 1977 by recounting
history that Union
Territories came into
existence under peculiar circumstances. Remember, in 1957 the States
Reorganization Commission was formed to re-organise States on linguistic basis.
“It was found that there were
small pockets which for some reason could neither be constituted into separate
States nor be joined or annexed to existing States. Areas like Manipur,
Tripura, NEFA et al. It was understood that after these areas attained a certain
level of economic and educational development they would be merged into a
neighbouring State.
“However years went by and people
of these regions affirmed unanimously that they did not want to be merged with any
of the existing States. This is how Manipur, Tripura, Nagaland and other North Eastern
States came into
existence.
“But the case of Goa and Pondicherry
is quite different. While Goa was under Portuguese rule, Pondicherry was under the French and both joined
the Union of India. Both territories were small but boasted high level of
economic, literacy and cultural development despite the people had been denied
self governance for centuries.
“In my speeches in Parliament, I appealed to the conscience of MPs that
denying people full rights which their brethren enjoy in the rest of the
country should not be allowed to continue in Goa.
I argued it ran against the tenets of our polity and tried arousing the
conscience of the House to grant Statehood to Goa and some other Union Territories.
This is the People’s birthright.
“Specially, against the backdrop that in democratic India no people,
region or creed is deliberately discriminated, however, sometimes unwittingly
when discrimination creeps in it is incumbent on Parliament to correct such
anomalies.
“I gave an example. Unlike in States where the Chief Minister wields
power, in a Union
Territory, the Lt.
Governor is the authority who exercises all the power. The Chief Minister and
the entire Cabinet are at his mercy and disposal. This is a very anomalous
situation.
“In 1980, Indira Gandhi returned as Prime Minister and a
year later I introduced the Statehood of Goa, Daman
and Diu Bill 1981 in Parliament. The then Congress General Secretary Rajiv
Gandhi assured me that the Government would sympathetically consider it.
“When Rajiv Gandhi became Prime Minister, I felt one should get
his assurance vis-à-vis Statehood for
Goa on the floor of Parliament. As I was an
Union Minister in Rajiv’s Government and could not raise the issue, I got my
Goan brethren Shantaram Naik to demand Statehood in the Lok Sabha.
“Thereby, I took Naik to Rajiv’s chamber in Parliament House
who told the Prime Minister that he would raise the issue of Statehood in the
House and requested that he respond favourably. As planned, Naik raised the
issue and a few days later then Minister of State for Home Affairs Chintamani
Panigrahi indicated the Government was favourably inclined. Goa State
was born.
“In the 28 years since inception, Goa
has achieved remarkable progress particularly in core sectors like education, healthcare
and infrastructure development which were plagued by deficiencies. As we
celebrate Goa Day there are multifarious tasks which confront the State, which
need to be addressed with courage, determination and commitment to a value
system anchored on work ethics and the quest for excellence.”
Will Goa live up to its
dreams and expectations? ---- INFA
(Copyright,
India News and Feature Alliance)
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