Tuesday 22 February 2011

PORTUGUESE STREET NAMES by Joaquim Correia-Afonso

We have read about the committee led by Flaviano Dias that has demanded cancellation of Portuguese names given to several roads and their renaming after national heroes and eminent personalities loyal to this State.  There are some roads in Panjim, Margao and other places, named after true Goans with Portuguese names. The committee owes it to Goans to explain clearly their stand on the names of Goans. Flaviano himself has a Portuguese name, and so do I, while being a Niz Goenkar.
There have been many Goans who were loyal to our tiny Goa, lovingly called “nossa terra” (OUR motherland), prior to “liberation”, during the days of the monarchy and through Salazar’s dictatorship, some of them suffering hardships inflicted by the colonial masters, and even after.
Among the great Goans who have been loyal to our motherland, who gave much, if not their all, for Goa and Goans or who brought honour to Goa by their hard work and dedication to their profession or avocation, there were A. B. de Bragança Pereira (who already has a road named after him in Panjim), Propercia Correia-Afonso de Figueiredo, Ramachondra Shankar Naik (father of the former Principal Engineer of PWD Balkrishna Naik), Dr. Froilano de Melo, Francisco Luis Gomes, José Inácio de Loyola, Dada Vaidya, Bhau Daji Lad (Ramakrishna Vithal Lad), Mons. Rodolfo Dalgado, Kashinath Trimbak Telang, Tristão de Bragança-Cunha, Shennoy Goembab, B. B. Bokar, Valerian Cardinal Gracias, Dr. Ernest Borges, Prof. Damodar Dharmanand Kosambi, Dr. Jack de Sequeira, Dr. Manoharrai Sardessai, Ravindra Kelekar, to name just a few, all eminent personalities of their time, who held the welfare of Goans at heart. There is also Dom Matheus de Castro, born circa 1594, described as “a great Goan revolutionary and pioneer freedom fighter, who almost single-handedly fought the Portuguese and the Padroado”. All of them deserve, and should be given, due recognition.
We have a sufficient number of “eminent personalities” from Goa to keep the “national heroes”, even the so-called “freedom fighters”, out of the renaming project.
It will be a pity, nay, a real shame if the so called “freedom fighters” have not heard of the personalities of the times gone by, whose names I have mentioned above.
We have also read that the committee, apparently composed only of so-called “freedom fighters”, with no representative from any other “section of the society”, proposes to carry out programmes in various villages “to create awareness about Goa’s freedom fighters”. They should, first, explain to the people how they qualified to be called “freedom fighters”. One hears and reads about many people who were involved in major and minor crimes – petty thefts, larceny, forgeries and other criminal activities – and were convicted and jailed during the Portuguese regime, like the robber of his bhatkar’s coconuts that one has heard about. Came “liberation”, and they were out of jail as “freedom fighters”.
It is claimed by some that “the so called freedom fighters of Goa did nothing for the liberation of Goa”. That Goa was not “liberated”, but “conquered by the Indian Defence Forces, at the behest of the late Prime Minister Jawaharlal Nehru”. The Navy (or a former FOGA) has claimed possession of the Dabolim airport “by right of conquest”. To the best of my knowledge, no politician and no “freedom fighter” has ever objected to the claim, or the use of the word “conquest”. The so-called “freedom fighters” should, therefore, explain what is their claim to, or what part they played in, the “liberation” of Goa or its “conquest”.
What about those people, all across Goa’s villages, who are fighting to free Goa from corruption, illegal mining, illegal mega-constructions, illegal sand extraction, destruction of natural resources, destruction of ecology? Fighting to protect residential houses and commercial buildings of locals from being razed and their villages from being partitioned in order to accommodate highways connecting two neighbouring States? People who fight for the provision of proper infrastructure – roads in good condition, uninterrupted electricity and water supply, accessibility to remote villages, proper health services? Aren’t they, too, freedom fighters? Rather, the real freedom fighters?

13 comments:

  1. Mr. Joaquim, this freedom farter Flaviano should change his name like somebody said on one of the comments to Gangaram Das that is a better Indian name for him whose ped dog he is. The present name that he is holding is Portuguese name. He is purely bull shit. All these freedom farters must be shot in the arse so that they forget the word freedom which of course they do not know at all.

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  2. Alcantro Carneiro22 February 2011 at 14:23

    I do not think these so called freedom fighters alias freedom farters deserve any credit or name. Naguesh Karmali s the first one who should be paraded naked in the streets. Farter Kenkre should be tied to a donkey. Farter Gangaram Das (ex-Flaviano Dias) should be tied to a mule, Farter Sinari should be painted in black paint and so on all the fake freedom fighters should be paraded and hanged to a tree or drowned in the river Mandovi. Can Naguesh Karmali tell us the Goans what he has done for Goa? The ba....t....d went to jail by mistake and took the advantage of registering as a freedom fighter. Kenkre was a common thief and so was Gangaram Das alias Flaviano Dias. The common thieves became freedom farters. I would really like somebody to fart on these freedom farters of Goa.

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  3. Degoanisation was started by the filthy Indians since 1961. I fully support the views of Mr. Veronica on this. The occupiers of Goa are ruthless animals who have destroyed Goa. Today our country Goa is IOG Indian Occupied Goa just like Indian Occupied Kashmir. I hope China carries on invading India piece by piece and grab all Indian states slowly against whom India has no chance of standing.

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  4. Chandrakant Kankonkar22 February 2011 at 14:48

    I think the Goans should approach the United Nations and file a case in the International Court against India. The stupid Indians are loathed round the world whereas the Goan are not. Indians are considered as low quality human beings but Goans are not. Thank God that the Portuguese still love the Goans and have kept open their nationality to the Goans.

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  5. This is a clear message to Flaviano Dias. Now we should force him to change his name before his next move. This is pure and mere noise to tell us that he is alive and living on doles at our cost.

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  6. Vicente E. Do Rego22 February 2011 at 21:38

    It would be great honour if anyone among Niz-Goenkar or true Goans who love Goa dearly may be any part of the world and influential towards UN to come forward for the sake of our beloved Goa and put forth Goa's case with UN. Not only UN, including Supreme court of India has ruled out the word "Liberation" and mentioned as 'Conquest".
    If I am not wrong, there are many Goans around the world who are very influential not only by wealth but also Politically. And I wish these people to take note of this small writing and will surely help Goa to retain it's past glory and towards the goal of Independence. And I am very much positive, if the revolution starts people of Goa will come together and put in their great effort because people are fedup and frustrated with the current Governance and in fact our Goan brethern are not aware of this word 'Conquest", they were only put in their mind about "Liberation" from childhood inlcuding myself until Niz-Goenkar came into picture and opened up the pandora's box.

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  7. Absolutely true what you wrote. These F farters should first explain how they qualified to be freedom fighters and if they ever raised their voice against all the wrongs we see..the invasion of goa, the corruption all around, the filth, the ghattis...today we niz goenkars are becoming the endangered species in goa. The F. Farters are dumb, blind, deaf spectators to all this destruction and only want to change names of streets, etc, thinking its an easy way to revive their fallen (false) glory. If not for these traitors, the present politicians and the ghantti influx, goa would have been a far better place.

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  8. Tulshidas Shirodkar23 February 2011 at 01:33

    This idiotic freedom farter Gangaram Das alias Flaviano Dias has no other work, along with Farter Karmali and Kenkre and others. Why don't they come up on the street to fight corruption. Have they any guts to fight the 40 robbers of Goa? Have they got any teeth to clear out the ghanttis? If these freedom farters march through my village, I promise the real Goans that I will buy lot of dettol bottles and purify the streets and houses where ever these dirty freedom farters go in our village, purify it from their dirt. All these freedom farters are pests.

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  9. These dolts Freedom Farters and living at our cost. Any real freedom fighters fighting for freedom does not take money and salary as a reward for that. And after all these are fake freedom farters, the biggest FARTER being Naguesh Karmali. All they have done is replaced Goa with another bad occupying country which has corrupted our beautiful and honest and serene Goa. Why are these FREEDOM FARTERS not raising their voice against the occupying Indian Navy who is out to grab land to build luxury resorts for themselves and their families. Why don't they demand the ouster of Indian Navy from Goa and shift them on the border with Pakistan and China? Donkeys are after the names on the street, instead of doing something for Goa.

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  10. This comment has been moderated at the request of the commentator Mr. Shyam Sawant as it contained some spelling mistakes. It was done on the site itself hence the message of moderation has appeared there.

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  11. Excellent article Mr Alfonso, The so called freedom fighters should at least tell the present generations how and what all they have done to get the benefits that they and their generations anre getting. In this 50th year of invasion of Goa by Indian forces the freedom fighters should have a tale to tell about their struggle and how they landed in the jails. There will be many genuine goans who have laid down their lives for us but not recognised as freedom fighters as their records are not found. These so called living freedom fighters should come out with a sovinier with all the names of the people who worked against the portugues and their work in attaining the freedom, that will be a best seller in the state and also will get their name cleared if they tell the young generations the work they carried out during those years of portugese rule.
    http://goaviews.blogspot.com/

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  12. Flaviano Dias Should change his name ASAP, He can pick his name and God parents from the RSS. Also strip him of his shirt and pants too as it,s a European invented costume. He should first wear a Kashti before wearing anything else.

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  13. @Vicente E. Do Rego

    You're 101% correct, we were all fooled by the Indian Invaders, they thought us bullshit and we like donkies swolled it.

    I'm sure many would support anyone financially who would bring our cause to the UN. (Why not NG!!)

    Thank you NG for opening our eyes. Now I feel more Goenkar.

    Mog assundi.

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