Home arrow Archives arrow Spotlight arrow Spotlight 2015 arrow Goa Statehood: THE UNTOLD STORY, By Eduardo Falerio, 26 May, 2015
 
Home
News and Features
INFA Digest
Parliament Spotlight
Dossiers
Publications
Journalism Awards
Archives
RSS
 
 
 
 
 
 
Goa Statehood: THE UNTOLD STORY, By Eduardo Falerio, 26 May, 2015 Print E-mail

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)

< Previous   Next >
 
   
     
 
 
  Mambo powered by Best-IT