On the eve of the anniversary of Goa's historic referendum in 1967, nostalgia has gripped its living witnesses, who are happy that the people of the then Union territory did not opt to merge with Maharashtra. The referendum on whether to merge with the neighbouring state was held on January 16, 1967. When the referendum was held, the then ruling party, Maharashtrawadi Gomantak Party (MGP), was in favour of becoming a part of Maharashtra. But several leaders, led by Jack Sequeira of the United Goans party, were opposed to it. Recalling the day, Uday Bhembre, a well-known local scribe who was among those opposed to the merger, says, "After the first day of counting of votes on January 17, the pro- merger lobby was celebrating. They had a massive lead in all the areas of North Goa. We were virtually on oxygen." The entire Goa was then divided on the basis of two symbols -- "two leaves" (anti-merger) and "rose" (pro-merger). Even after 50 years, Bhembre remembers how sitting at Margao, about 40 km away from the counting centre at Panaji, the opinion poll movement leaders were keeping a track of the results through the All India Radio (AIR) broadcast. "We had almost lost hope when the second day of counting began. But then the tide turned.
As the counting was taken up in the areas of South Goa, specially the Catholic-dominated ones, the anti-merger camp got the upper hand," he said. "The Benaulim constituency in South Goa contributed in turning the tide against the merger," Bhembre added. The Catholic population was by and large against the merger, while the Hindus were divided, he said. Bhembre recalls how five different groups, including two political parties -- the United Goans and a section of the Congress -- and three others, the Konkani protagonists revolving around the now-defunct newspaper, "Rashtramat",the late Ulhas Buyao-led musical group and the late Shabu Desai's "Sanghpradesh Jyot", had advocated against merging with Maharashtra. Victor Gonsalves, the former MLA from the St Cruz constituency, near Panaji in North Goa district, was a child when the anti-merger movement was underway. He remembers that the police had detained his mother, along with others, in their village for their agitation against the proposal to merge. Sequeira had also represented St Cruz in the Goa Assembly and when the veteran leader died in 1989, it was Gonsalves who moved the condolence motion in the House. "The movement in St Cruz was entirely local. There was no influence of any leader from outside. There was no scope for pro-merger sentiments in our village," Gonsalves said. While the elders were busy in the intellectual discourse over the referendum, the kids contributed in their own way to prevent Goa from being a part of Maharashtra "by making the 'two leaves' a part of their collection of toys," he added. Music also played an important role in convincing the people to vote against the merger. The "Jai Gomantak Kala Pathak" group, led by late Ulhas Buyao, penned songs and performed across Goa, telling the people why they should not go with Maharashtra. "There were times when they would not even have a microphone or sound system but even then, the group performed, sometimes standing atop a mini-bus," Siddhanath Buyao, the son of Ulhas Buyao said. The Maharashtra-based musical troupes were filling the air with the pro-merger songs, which were countered by Buyao and his group, who sung in Konkani and Marathi, he added. The songs of Buyao are still performed in Goa, half-a- century after the historic move. Meanwhile, the state government of the day plans to celebrate the Opinion Poll Day in a big way. Chief Minister Manohar Parrikar had last week said Goa would celebrate January 16 as the "Asmitai Dis" (Identity Day) to mark the referendum. The Goa Forward Party, an ally of the ruling BJP, had recently demanded that the opinion poll episode should be included in the state's school curriculum.
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