Almost split down the middle, but Goa finally won it
pg2 Opinion poll_Layout 1 1/16/2015 1:02 AM Page 1 2 WhenGoaVotedForGoa Almost split down the middle, but Goa finally won it. FOR GOA GOA, FRIDAY, JANUARY 16, 2015 This is how your village voted on Jan 16, 1967 While the overall numbers are known, it is only Herald, which recorded the votes polled in every village by adding up the votes in booths. 48 years History is hungry. It gets its sustenance not just from chronicling but re- chronicling. While the events that led up to the opinion later, it will be interesting for many of you to look poll – an unique referendum through which Goans decided on their destiny – has been vividly recorded, it is important, in its 48th back, or know for the first time, which way your year, that those who witnessed it then, look back, and those who did not or do not remember do so too. Even 48 years after Goans village voted won the identity battle for themselves and voted to stand out and stand up, it is often at war with its own self as it battles issues of BOOTH MERGER UT Cancara 12 167 526 land and identity. Therefore, it becomes vital that today’s Goans revisit the events of early 1967 and the role played by those who Verem1 Kakoda 1 422 594 484 161 2 3 13 53i9 Verem2 476 200 fought to make Goans in charge of their own destiny ALEXANDRE MONIZ BARBOSA Perhaps the biggest challenge Goa faced after Liberation was ‘what to do with itself’. The ideas thrown about were many – Merger with Maharashtra, merger with Karnataka, statehood, and a miniscule group even advocated independence. The MGP’s election victory gave the pro-merger groups a massive impetus. To many of them the election verdict implied the people saying they wanted to be part of Maharashtra. The resolution adopted by the Assembly on January 27, 1965, seeking the merger of Goa with Maharashtra awakened the anti-merger group to the possibility that the House, with a promerger majority, could at any time allow Goa to be swallowed by its neighbour. Some researchers do suggest that had it not been for the war with Pakistan at that time, the Union government might have acted upon this resolution and Goa could have today been a district of Maharashtra. In order to allow the people to decide their own future, the Centre had to be convinced that the election victory of the MGP in no manner signified that the people had voted for Goa to be merged with Maharashtra. It wasn’t easy, though the Indian government had announced even before Liberation that the people of Goa would be consulted in deciding the future of the territory. Pondicherry that had been a French colony, had already been recognized by the government in New Delhi as requiring special treatment. That a system on similar lines would be made available for Goa was announced by the Centre and the Congress election manifesto for the first Goa elections had made it clear that it would be the people of Goa who would decide the future of their land. Prime Minister Pandit Jawaharlal Nehru had announced that Goa would continue a Union territory for at least a decade before it would decide its future through a referendum. He said this at a public meeting in Goa. Getting it done though wasn’t easy and it was the United Goans Party (UGP) and Dr Jack Sequeira who can mainly take the credit for getting the Opinion Poll held in Goa on January 16, 1967. Dr Sequeira, accompanied by party MLAs, met Nehru in New Delhi and put forth their arguments for a referendum. When Nehru died, the MGP MLAs met his successor Lal Bahadur Shastri and attempted to convince him that merger should be decided by the Goa Assembly and not by a referendum. This was opposed by the UGP which met Shastri in Bangalore at an AICC session. It was finally Indira Gandhi who, after the Father of the Opinion Poll: Dr Jack Sequeira. death of Shastri in 1966, took the decision on holding the referendum. The Goa, Daman and Diu (Opinion Poll) Act was enacted giving Goa two choices – merger of Goa with Maharashtra and of Daman and Diu with Gujarat, or continuance as a Union Territory. There were those who wanted a third option of separate statehood, but this was not provided for in the Act. This led to the UGP breaking up, with a splinter group led by Alvaro de Loyola Furtado emerging onto the scene. Supplementing the UGP force in Goa was the Congress that joined forces against the merger groups. In order to ensure that the poll was ‘free and fair’, and conceding to the demands of the UGP and others, the Union government dismissed the Dayanand Bandodkar government, dissolved the assembly and imposed President’s Rule in Goa. The stage was set for a referendum that would decide not who would govern for the next five years, but the future of Goa for generations and centuries to come. The arguments in favour of merger were that Goa’s historical, cultural and religious ties with Maharashtra went back centuries, that many Goans had made Bombay their home, that the language, script, literature, folklore were common as were social and religious customs. Goa’s tiny size was also projected as a disadvantage for administration and development. Another factor that played a major role in the campaign and vote was the belief by the classes that were oppressed during the Portuguese rule that by voting to merge with Maharashtra they would be breaking loose from the dominance of the Hindu Brahmins and the Catholics, both classes that were seen as having benefitted from the Portuguese rule. On the other hand the antimerger groups put forth their arguments towards retaining Union Territory status. The main issue for this group was identity and language. They convincingly argued that Konkani was an independent language and that the Goan identity was connected to this language. Hence Goa had its own individuality and characteristics, and that these had to be preserved. Merger would result with Goan identity being subsumed by Marathi culture and the land would be nothing but a backwater district of Maharashtra. Countering this, Maharashtra promised that once merged, Goa would be granted special status until it attained the level of development of the rest of the State. Maharashtra leaders promising Goa various sops, as long as it voted to merge with the larger state, bolstered the MGP’s campaign with visits to the territory. Maharahstra’s then chief minister Vasantrao P Naik too campaigned in Goa. The Union Territory campaign was taken to the masses not just by the UGP leaders, but Konkani writers, protagonists and tiatrists. While Dr Sequeira and his UGP spearheaded the campaign, Konkani stalwarts including writers Dr Manoharrai Sardesai, Shankar Bhandari and Adv Uday Bhembre worked hard to retain the Goan identity as did Ulhas Buyão with his songs especially Goenchea Mhojea Goenkaramno, which almost became the theme song of the campaign. The media too played a major role with newspapers either taking a stand for merger or against merger. On polling day, 3,17,633 of the registered 3,88,432 voters queued up outside the polling stations. When the final count was in, crackers, cheers, and music rent the air as 1,72,191 people had voted to retain Union Territory status as against 1,38,170 who voted to merge with Maharashtra. The antimerger lobby had won by 34,021 votes, getting 54.20% of the vote. A decision had been taken and it was respected by all. Even a cursory glance at the voting pattern would show that broadly the people had repeated the way they voted in the 1963 election. Some of the constituencies were so vertically divided that Sanguem, one of the novas conquistas, voted for Union Territory status by a majority of just six votes. Besides Sanguem, the other two constituencies from the novas conquistas that voted to retain Union Territory status for Goa were Quepem and Curchorem. All three constituencies adjoin each other and are located in the eastern part of Goa. Just two constituencies from the velhas conquistas voted for merger, they were Tivim and Cumbharjua, which have large areas that are populated by the majority community. However, without a large section of MGP voters having voted against merger, this would not have happened. The vote reconfirmed what the 1963 elections had shown – that Goa was largely divided on the communal lines and that the Portuguese rule had built a wall between the two communities that would take years, if not decades, to break down. (Alexandre Moniz Barbosa is Executive Editor Herald and an accomplished author. This article is an excerpt from his book ‘Goa Rewound’) THE FIGURES THAT MATTERED; 1,72,191 retain Goa as Union Territory; 1,38,170 merge Goa with Maharashtra GLIMPSES OF THE OPINION POLL 1 2 3 A selection of pages from different issues of Herald in the historic month of January 1967: 1) Directions issued by the Opinion Poll Commissioner for voters. 2) Maharashtra Information Centre was set up at Margao. 3) Kapileshwari, Publicity Officer of Govt of Goa, was accused of helping Bandodkar in the merger campaign. The people of Goa had succeeded in establishing a distinct political identity through the historic Opinion Poll, but Goa has been failing in every field over the years. We have a distinct identity, but we have been failing in improving the life of its people. We had visualised during the Opinion Poll a Goa which becomes an ideal state in the country. But, what we have seen over the years is the failure in every field, be it in the field of education, tourism, water supply, traffic. Take the case of tourism; we are misusing the freedom by promoting casinos, gambling and vices. A day will come when Goa will be known as the capital of vices like Macau, which is the world’s gambling capital. Goa had witnessed two distinct undercurrents since the first election, undercurrents based on religion and caste. Though Goa won the Opinion Poll, the undercurrents continue till date. It is true that the people have not integrated into one Goa. The Opinion Poll was a unique phenomenon meant to resolve the issues of merger as espoused by the MGP. It is unique in the sense that nowhere else in the country has such a step been taken. It paved the way for statehood and allowed Goans to decide for the state in respect of all development activities. The logic at that time was of formation of states on the basis of linguistic and cultural affinity and geographic continuity. Then there was already a demand for inclusion of areas like Karwar, Supa, Halihal and Khanapur into Maharashtra. All these areas are from our eastern and southern boundaries. Therefore it was felt that an entire contiguous area should be part of Maharashtra. That demand was turned down in the Opinion Poll by the people of Goa and the MGP was gracious enough to accept the verdict and give up the demand of merger in the best tradition of exercise of democratic will. Goa may have attained statehood after the Opinion Poll, but it has not developed as per expectations. The status of the common man has not improved. The sons of the soil are lagging behind while the migrants who settled in Goa have developed through various activities. I am not blaming the migrants as all citizens have the right to settle anywhere in India. The Goans have been left behind as they have ego problems and are reluctant to encourage fellow Goans in business activities. We have been lagging behind as the ‘divide and rule’ policy of the British has been followed by politicians. After the Opinion Poll, we never raised this issue as separate statehood was accepted by all. The MGP retained its name as we feared that we could have lost the party symbol by changing the party’s name. Uday Bhembre, writer and anti-merger campaigner Ramakant Khalap, former Union minister and ex-MGP leader Rohidas Naik, freedom fighter and former MLA Cuncoliem Mardol Mardol Priol Velinga Querim Vagurvem Priol Bando Mardol Bandora Bandora Queula Ponda Curty4 Talaulim 8 Queulem Sadar 11 Sadar 12 Borim 13 Borim 14 Durbate 9 Kandeapar 10 Martavadi Kadar 2 Shiroda 3 Sonvale 4 Bazar 5 Siroda 6 Anantwadi 7 Mirankal 8 Darbandora 9 Sancoddem 10 Dabale 11 Molla 12 Siroda 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 Cola Rosaivadde Kurdi Canacona Kodal Dessaivaddo 3 Kola 2 Nagorcem Canacona 3 Canacona 6 7 8 Calnodem 9 Galgibaga 10 11 Sadolelem 12 Canacona 13 Pollem 14 Poinguinim 15 Chauli 16 Naquerim1 Betul 2 Cusman Falorpa Amleali 5 Pale 6 Adoncm 7 Digmual 8 Siranbori 9 Fatorpa 10 Colem 11 Murcolem 12 Bali 13 Parxem 14 Pirla16 Bali15 Chorem 17 Mulgao18 Guirdolim 1 Meloda 2 Chandor 3 Kutambi 4 Assolda 5 Paroda 6 Kundaim7 Auda 8 Keddem 9 Betulvaddo 11 Batmivaddo 10 484 476 420 513 424 496 235 773 583 772 551 600 433 530 711 688 249 340 661 712 664 589 287 115 199 639 282 409 303 337 515 294 223 449 300 159 405 136 421 202 358 340 168 348 172, 108 248 320 457 489 382 414 242 371 350 636 128 248 165 416 234 68 108 111 306 200 584 153 148 194 317 177 229 51 355 127 114 116 89 56 38 7 202 150 275 278 84 156 63‘8 439 161 200 142 93 121 50 48 133 123 91 192 58 444 212 166 165 382 255 263 272 167 300 49 72 162 229 323 313 204 l09 119 82 419 204 58 61 45 17 374 263 231 361 348 460 233 348 460 301 374 150 77 387 301 206 297 115 322 341 351 232 246 211 212 703 302 452 175 153 704 527 15 72 291 186 32 43 5 35 38 755 729 484 351 281 494 247 528 637 181 500 Assolna1 2 Cuncolim 3 Ambali Cuncolim 2 3 Velim Velim 2 Cuncolim 4 Ambalim Velim 3 Cuncolim BOOTH Cuncolim Seazan Benaulim 1 Colvai 2 Sirlim 3 Betalbatim 4 Benaulim5 6 7 Polvaddo 8 Varca9 10 Orlim 11 Carmona 12 13 Benaulim Navel im 1 Sirvada 2 Sinquetim 5 Aquem 4 Navelim 5 Battvaddo 6 Aquem Alto 7 Davorlim 8 Telaulim 9 Aquem Daise Dramapur Sirlim Deusa Sarzora Chinchinim Tiracol Alorna1 Alorna 2 Uguem Torxem Kassarvonnem Ozorim Virnora Pernem1 Pernem2 Koddnem , Tuem Dargal 1 Dargal 2 Querim1 Querim2 Palem Corgao 1 Corgao2 Harmal 1 Harmal 2 Madlamaj Deulawaddo Naikwaddo Maddalwaddo Parsem Agarwaddo Morjim 1 Morjim 2 Morjim 3 Siolim Oxel 1 Siolim Oxel 2 Siolim Marna3 Siolim 4 Siolim 5 Assagao1 Assagao2 Anjuna 1 Anjuna 2 Anjuna 3 Colvale 1 Colvale 2 Arpora 2 Nagoa Parra Guirim 1 167 71 203 15 70 366 25 192 49 77 41 177 MERGER 177 144 24 36 54 49 69 91 30 26 17 47 57 48 42 39 417 411 14 435 547 115 551 107 15 108 20 22 22 39 79 2 327 519 625 598 422 427 363 4l7 312 515 444 570 423 .471 340 534 578 409 641 260 6l6 818 629 561 490 346 461 580 371 . 660 415 326 552 241 552 135 711 338 308 266 485 205 349 408 402 67 808 489 697 686 444 696 665 651 638 851 520 UT 656 5 09 812 891 836 945 890 932 626 748 720 767 605 525 600 462 462 539 420 454 531 633 350 907 811 599 865 557 557 762 469 63 95 111 139 154 165 57 117 476 455 .59 165 87 2*4 49 180 235 224 184 189 389 302 3*9 60 231 60 230 47 355 270 163 211 681 238 257 157 157 133 645 562 276 281 4*4 371 711 284 Constituencywise Results Constituency Pernem Siolim Aldona Tivim Pale Pangim St Andre Marcaim Shiroda Canacona Curchorem Benaulim Margao Mormugao *M *UT 5965 5583 4700 6110 6305 4175 3900 8408 6369 4832 3425 629 3241 7654 2304 5868 7609 3526 3668 6345 7590 1671 4165 4622 6856 10769 7157 8072 Constituency Mandrem Calangute Mapusa Bicholim Satari St Cruz St Estevam Ponda Sanguem Quepem Cuncolim Navelim Cortalim Curtorim *M 7993 4928 5859 7745 4974 4311 6903 8082 4560 3477 1774 3061 1376 926 *UT 3767 8146 5889 2183 4505 8609 4628 3090 4566 4217 9080 20335 10411 12597 (Disclaimer: While we have earnestly tried to capture data from all villages, we may have fallen short and apologise to those Goans whose village voting record in the Opinion Poll of 1967, does not find mention in this chart) * M - Merger * UT - Union Territory
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