DEGOANISATION OF GOA by A. Veronica Fernandes, Kuwait

If Goa remained as Goa till today then the credit for this should surely go to the Portuguese for colonising Goa for 450 years and thus keeping Goa secured for Goans as Goa and to protect the “GOYKARPON” of Goans, I repeat Goanness of Goa and Goans. Because Goa was under the domination of Portuguese, the influx of non - Goans and their FILTHY influence on Goa and Goans was non existent.

When India got independence from the British, Goa was still a separate entity from India. When the constitution of India was framed the interest of Goa was not taken into consideration. Hence, we missed a lot to be Indians. Even when the National Anthem of India was composed, we and our Goa was not taken into consideration as a part of India. When British left India, Indian Government asked the consent of princely states to join the Indian Union but no such consent was solicited from Goa and Goans. With the backing of few tin-pot freedom fighters, Nehru’s Congress conquered Goa as if Goa is his father’s property.

When Portuguese was ousted from Goa in December 1961, Indian Government kept its CRUEL doors opened for CRUEL Indians to invade and absorb Goa the way they wanted. In the bargain most of the third class Indians started pouring into Goa mainly from Kerala and Maharastra in the beginning of Indian Raj. Their entry into Goa was facilitated and made easy by the Maharastrawadi Gomantak Party and their leaders namely Dayananda Bandodkar and later on by his anti-Christian daughter Shashikala Kakodkar. The early Malyalis who descended on Goa following the ouster of Portuguese rule in Goa were the classless Malyalis, not even third class, whom we call as “Rostad” who went on exploiting every segment of Goan community. Many of them were robbers, criminals and crooks of first grade. And as a matter of fact, the first person to be hanged in Goa at Aguada on 28th of January 1978 at 6.00 in the morning was a Malyali, Kumar by name who killed a child and her pregnant mother, cut their bodies into pieces and put them into boxes, at Caranzalem, Ilhas, Goa.

If Goan administration in the first general election itself had to fall into the hands of United Goans, till today Goa would have been much secured and safer place for Goans from every Goan community. But, no, Bandodkar and his MGP proved to be more colonialists then colonial Portuguese by handing Goa and its administration into the hands of Marathiwadi Maharastrians and deputationists from Delhi and other parts of India. According to one source, the then big man of Maharastra, Y. B. Chavan holding strong influence in Delhi due to his being the Defence Minisater of India, deputed especial emissary of Indian Government to oversee the first general election process of Goa with a clear instruction to manipulate the counting of votes, this emissary was from Punjab and since Goans at that time were not expert in the election, electioneering and vote counting process including stacking of ballot boxes, being novices in this election process, there was lot of mischief done thru the chickanery of Punjabi expert election manipulator otherwise UG would surely and rightly come to the power then itself and rule Goa under the able administrators coming from Christian, Hindu and Muslim communities. I still remember as a young school going boy how the trend was in favour of UG then but the Punjabi “chor” robbed Goa and Goans thereby denying Goans of their right to frame their destiny.

It is said in the Bible “Sword Beget Sword” and this is exactly what has happened to Punjabi and Punjab. Under the terrorist and fanatic Punjabi Bindranwale, Punjab was about to get some sort of independence or autonomy. Indira Gandhi sent troops to Golden Temple in Punjab and killed hundreds of Punjabis including Bindranwale. There was chaos not only in Punjab but also all over India. The religious sentiments of Sikh community was hurt by Indira Gandhi and her Congress party. To contain this chaos and to stop secessionist trend going on in Punjab, Indian Government sent an expert Super Cop, a Goan and a genuine hard core Goan, Julius Ribeiro who not only stopped the anti-Indian thinking of Punjabis but also killed the thoughts of having separate entity for Punjab. Sword beget Sword, those who fight with Swords will die with Swords only. A Punjabi tricked Goans into submission to MGP and a Goan used fair means to teach a very good lesson to Punjabis who were aspiring for independence for them. There is a saying in Konkani, “kelem tukam ani zalem makam”. So also, “korta tea mapan bhogta”.

What is the state of Goa now when I saw it with my own eyes a month back? Goa is no more what it was. What during the 450 years of Portuguese rule did not happen in Goa is now happening during the last 47 years of corrupt Bharati rule in Goa. Goa is become free for all Indians having lot of money collected legally or illegally. Every place in Goa not only in the coastal belt but also all over Goa, non Goans are purchasing Goan land, constructing their own houses, small and big and bunglaws and totally changing the demographic set – up of Goa. To one’s neighbourhood one see plots purchased by non-Goans and built their own residential houses. In my locality and in surrounding areas one sees only Ghanttis. Goykars are seen only in the Churches and for Tiatros otherwise everywhere you find non-Goans. They are acting like “dadas”, they are dominating Goa and also threathening Goans. Our “Rostad Bhattkars” are responsible to sell Goa to them and our politicians in the Assembly and Panchayats are equally responsible for promoting the sale of Goa to outsiders for Thirty Silver Coins like Judas Escariot. Good that MGP during its rule promulgated “Mundkar Kaido” making the Mundkar owner of his house and also some metres around his house otherwise the Goan Rostad Bhattkars would not only sell their properties to non-Goans and builders as they are doing now rampantly but along with their properties they would also sell the Mundkar houses along with Mundkars also, like slaves. At least this was something good MGP has done for Goa and Goans. Otherwise, MGP has laid the foundation stone for the destruction of Goa and Goans.

Now after selling their properties, Bhattkars are coming to an end in Goa and in my locality itself one has to take a lighted Lantern in his hand during the daytime only when the sun is directly overhead to see if any Bhattkar is vissible in the market place and all around. The once honourable and respectable word "SENHOR BHATTKAR" IS COMING TO AN END IN GOA.

The Goan Bhattkars have not done anything good for Goa and Goans, they have only exploited their Munddkars and poor Goans. Now their example is emulated by the local Sarpanches and other Panches by allowing builders to build legally and illegally big buildings in our villages against all the ecological considerations. By allowing the builders to construct huge buildings the local Sarpanches are getting as bribe, of course free of charge, One Posh Flat after every building of 10 Flats. In this way almost every village Sarpanch is becoming an owner of innumerable Flats thus acquiring huge illegal wealth. It is a pity that the local village administration is fallen into the hands of Ladru & Pedru type of Goans whose only motto is to make money by all means and thereby destroy the originality of Goa. And regrettably, our local Church leaders like priests and Nuns are supporting these local Rostad rulers. This is the quality of our Goan priests now.

In Goa now there are two types of non-Goan settlers who built their own dwellings, one type are rich who either purchase from builders big bunglaws costing 2 – 5 crores of rupees and they come to stay there occasionally, they don’t want to permanently settle in Goa, they like to come to Goa as tourists and go back. In the other category falls all the Rostad whom we call Ghanttis. They are like bees swarming all over Goa upsetting Goan culture, history, tradition, language and every decent aspect of Goan life. They dont return to their native places. These non-Goans are eradicating Goanness and Goans from Goa. They don’t even talk Konkani but impose their mother tongues on Goans. These non-Goans are having lot of money, from where? Nobody knows. We Goans cannot compete with them financially because we are not as wealthy as they are. We only talk wealthy and act as wealthy otherwise we are “pokou” internally. To stop them from further purchasing Goa we must bring pressure on Goa Government to make a law to prevent non-Goans from purchasing Goan land. Such a law is existing elsewhere in India. It is better to allow Westerners to purchase Goan land but surely not by non-Goan Indians. At least Westerners one day will go back to their countries of origin with their original nationality intact but these Indian Ghanttis will never. These Ghanttis speak the language not of thousands and lakhs of rupees but crores of rupees thereby tempting even for a hardcore Goan to sell his anchestral house for crores of rupees. I cannot understand in what direction we are going. God alone will have to protect us from the onslaught of outsiders and from going into extinction.

While this trend is speedily going on in Goa we the non-resident Goans residing in the Gulf and in the West cannot remain as silent spectators. Our Goan associations especially village based must work hard and try to purchase land and properties from their villages and localities. Land is fixed and gradually it will come to an end. Instead of depositing money in Goan Banks, NRI Goans must start vigorously to purchase any available piece of land in Goa. Land price in Goa is become like that of Diamond price. Goa is getting finished and if we allow to get it finished by non-Goans then we will have no place to live in Goa. Very shortly there will be a Goan convention in Toronto. All Goans gathering there must ponder over this point. It is useless talking of Goa and Goans from outside Goa and having Goan conventions when we are not doing anything to save Goa from extinction. We must not allow even our “Kombiancho ani Dukrancho Gudd” built by our grand parents to fall into the hands of outsiders. Even our “Kumau” we must protect because there is a party in Goa coming from outside Goa which is ready to buy even one square metre of Goan property, even if it is filthy. Can we do something to save us from extinction? Or the prophecy of St. Francis Xavier will come to reality when he said “My Goa nobody will take away but it will come into extinction for Goans”. It is high time now for Goans spread all around the globe to work hard to protect their ancestral land, properties and houses. We must slow down in organizing dances and instead think of how to save Goa. Once again I say that Toronto Goan convention must come out with some solution because West settled Goans can do much better to save Goa. But will they? I have my doubts because during the fight for separate statehood for Goa and language agitation in Goa other than Gulf Goans mainly the Kuwait Goans, all Goans were sleeping. Will they wake up now atleast? Or they will organize empty talk Conventions only? Otherwise expatriate Goan Associations and Goan Conventions “ghalat dobean”.