Sanjeev V Sardesai
On a wet monsoon day, June 18, 1946, 15 years before Goa was set free from the yokes of a colonial regime, a spark of revolt set the entire Goa on fire! The venue was Margao – on a small open hillock, where today the monument dedicated to Ram Manohar Lohia stands. This year, Goa humbly salutes the 75th anniversary of the ember of hope, sown among the people, who later rose as one, to denounce and defy the arrogance of the policies of the then Portuguese administration.
The 435 years of a depreciatory rule, strongly laced with racist and communally tinged dictates, had instilled a feeling of despair in the locals. A feeling of defeat with no leadership had set within the Goan populace. The Indian satyagrahis had brought the British rule to its knees, as they had decided to hand over the reins of India to its own people. Observing these changes in the Indian subcontinent, the Goan people eagerly looked forward to assistance from these leaders to intervene and free them from the shackles of foreign rulers. However, this was not to happen.
A very prominent Goan physician, Juliao Menezes from Assolna had a close friendship with Ram Manohar Lohia during his medical studies at the University of Berlin in Germany. Lohia, a student in the same university was completing his PhD with an interesting topic ‘Salt and Satyagraha’, relating to the Salt Satyagraha by Mahatma Gandhi. Influenced by the thoughts of Lohia, Menezes joined the Indian Students’ Union of the University. They carried out daring protests, and in 1930, even cat-called the Maharaja of Bikaner at a session of the League of Nations in Geneva, where the Maharaja was to speak on ‘peace’, representing India.
After completing their studies, Menezes returned to Goa while Lohia dived into the boiling pot of Indian Satyagraha movement against British administration. He was arrested at Bombay in May 1944 and transferred to Lahore Fort Jail and released only in 1946. A long term in jail had led to the decline of his health and thus Menezes invited him to Goa, for recuperation. Now that the winds of an Indian independence were confirmed, the invitation was accepted and Lohia arrived at Assolna, in Portuguese-held Goa on June 10, 1946.
On his arrival, many Goans met and apprised him about the repressive civil liberties, the censoring and vetting of wedding cards by police, ban on public speaking, etc. Lohia realised that the people lacked a ‘good leadership’! Though having come to Goa for recuperation, he swung into action. His interest to seek freedom for Goa was clearly penned in his letters to Menezes in 1938.
A couple of days after his arrival, at a meeting organised at Damodar Vidhya Bhuvan, Margao, he met a select group of prominent citizens and decided the date June 18 for a token defiance at Margao. On June 15, 1946 he and Menezes left for Mormugao for a stay at the Palace Hotel; and on invitation, left for Panaji, where he addressed likeminded citizens at the residence of Jagganlal Shah, attracting a huge crowd outside the house.
On June 18, 1946, Tuesday, the air in Margao was charged as people started to gather at the allotted site in thousands in the afternoon. A car for these two gentlemen at the railway station was chased away by Portuguese Police. On arrival from Mormugao, and realising the fact, they hired a horse carriage or ‘Victoria’ and reached the site at around 4:15 p.m. On reaching the site, the gathered people shouted pro-India slogans and the Administrator of Margao, Captain Fortunato Miranda came forward and stopped Lohia and Menezes from disembarking, informing them of the rules. Lohia did not respond, but smiled and got off. Captain Miranda pointed a revolver at Lohia, but Lohia calmly held his hand and told him to remain cool and proceeded ahead. Just as he was about to start his speech, they arrested and took him to Margao Police Station. He handed his written speech to V Lawande, who later read it out and was arrested.
The arrest of Lohia led to thousands of people surrounding the police station and hence he was shifted to Panaji Police Station in the dead of night. Being an Indian nationalist leader, the Portuguese did not want to attract the ire of the new Indian Government and the next day, June 19, 1946 he was taken by Frontier Railway to Colem and pushed into Indian territory. Later, Lohia again entered Goa from Colem on September 29, was arrested, jailed in Aguada and thrown into India at Anmod on October 10,
1946.
The fearless and public defiance of the Portuguese on June 18, 1946 by Lohia, within Goa, inspired waves of satyagrahas and armed revolts, culminating in ‘Operation Vijay’, liberating Goa on December 19, 1961.
A single spark of bravery and defiance, ended up with Liberation! The Goans of today pays their tributes on Goa Revolution Day, to Ram Manohar Lohia, Juliao Menezes and to the many freedom fighters, whose supreme sacrifices led to Goan lands breathing the air of freedom. Jai Hind! Jai Goa!