No nation should try to impose superiority over another

share this story

other stories in section

The ongoing week, celebrated by the Consulate General of Portugal in Goa as the ‘Semana de Cultura Portuguesa’ or the Portuguese Cultural Week is opposed by every freedom fighter who fought against the Portuguese colonial rule in Goa, Daman and Diu, and also by the people who believe that Goa and India should be placed above everything - art and culture, dance and music, food and drinks, and every other form of leisure.

First of all, the friendship between any two countries should be based on equal terms. Both the involved nations should have mutual respect for each other. And finally, one nation should not try to impose upon the other, its superiority.

The so-called Goa-Portugal friendship, to begin with has a weak foundation. Ideally, Portugal should have had political relations with India, as a nation. Now that there exists such Indo-Portuguese ties is a different matter, but the main cause of concern is the focus of Portugal on Goa, which is a part of India. Wouldn’t it be absurd if the Indian government tries to establish links between India and Lisbon, forgetting that Lisbon is a part of Portugal?

The obsession of Portuguese people for Goa, even after they have been forced to leave the region some four decades ago, should in fact not come as a surprise, because unfortunately, there exists large number of Goans, who take a pride in linking themselves with Portugal under the pretext of art, culture, language, and more recent terms like globalisation, liberalisation and so on.

Here, I would like to share an incident, which took place a decade ago, when the Portuguese Consulate had just been opened in Goa. The Consulate had organised some function at its premises, and the then Chief Secretary, Mr Ashok Nath, who incidentally refused to wear the formal attire and came dressed in a Safari suit, was one of the invitees. The function began with the playing of the recorded version of the Indian National Anthem, ‘Jana Gana Mana’, which did not receive the respect it deserved from many of the Goans attending the function. They sat in their chairs and continued to chat. Interestingly, when the Portuguese National Anthem ‘Herois do Mar’ was played, they immediately stood upright.

Such kind of tendencies, which develop through events like ‘Semana de Cultura Portuguesa’ are harmful for the nationalism and integrity of people towards the country. The seeds of the feelings, which make one accept slavery as an integral part of his or her life, should be destroyed before flowering.

The Portuguese Consulate, which invites only a select group of Goans to it’s events, but conveniently forgets to take the freedom fighters and Goans at large into confidence, has till date issued Portuguese passports to over 45,000 Goans, since Liberation. These people have subsequently migrated to Portugal and other parts of Europe, taking benefit of the constitution of European Union, and are employed in various parts of Europe. Fair enough!

However, these new Portuguese citizens have not given up their Indian citizenship and are even eligible to vote in this country. This is a very serious matter. If, in the future, there is a clash between India and Europe or European Union, would these 45,000-odd Portuguese passport holders surrender their passports and show their loyalty to India? Though this is a hypothetical question, there should be a definite and concrete reply to it. We are already experiencing separatist tendencies in North-Eastern states like Mizoram, wherein its natives are demanding that the region should be given an individual status, by allowing it to break away from India. Should we rear such tendencies in Goa?

The supporters of the Portuguese Cultural Week are also speaking about advantages of the event, stating that Goa would benefit from Portuguese investments and Portuguese tourists. I would request these people to name at least one major or minor Portuguese industrial unit that has opened its shop in Goa, since 1961. Again, it would help us a great deal if they supply number of Portuguese tourists, who have come down to Goa, as compared to British, German and Russian tourists.

The fact is that Portugal is poor European country, which has recently improved its financial position thanks to the EU. It has no major industries, and most of the country’s population cannot afford expensive holidays. Unfortunately, Portugal, during its 450-years of domicile in Goa also failed to provide even one valuable philosophical thought or an enlightening view to Goa like the British did to India. Another example of Portuguese self-centred nature can be observed when Vasco da Gama, travelling in search of Christians and spices, forced his way up the East African coast and sought a sailor who could guide his ships to India.

Ahmad Ibn Majid, one of the most famous navigators, who guided Vasco da Gama from Mozambique to the coast of Calicut, in Kerala was never given due credit, like Sir Edmund Hillary did to his guide, Tenzing Norgay, when he scaled the heights of the Himalaya.

After hearing the recent announcement of the Consul General of Portugal, Dr Paulo Neves Pocinho that the gamut of the cultural week held in Goa, would be extended to Portugal from next year, the prediction of the freedom fighters that the cultural week is a curtain-raiser to the proposed five hundred year celebrations of the arrival of Alfonso de Albuquerque in Goa, to be held in 2010, seems to be correct.

The erstwhile Portuguese rule in Goa had been responsible for a number of atrocities on Goans ranging from suspension of civil liberties and inhuman torture of freedom fighters to censoring the newspapers and suppression of human rights. Today, holding the Salazar regime responsible for these atrocities cannot absolve the democratic Portuguese government, and it should acknowledge the same and further apologise to Goans, especially the ‘Bahujan Samaj’, which was not allowed to grow under the colonial rule. The ‘Semana de Cultura Portuguesa’ is a warning to the Goans; a warning about history repeating itself. The acceptance of the superiority of Portuguese over Goans and the justification of the erstwhile Portuguese rule over Goa. The sooner Goans accept this fact, the better.

(The writer is a noted freedom fighter and former IPS officer)