It's Sad alot of our Goan's don't know some of our Own History, am sure alot of them heard the Name of Dr.Jack de Sequeira, but who he really was? what did he do for Goa? to sum up,
Dr. Jack de Sequeira
Joao Hugo Eduardo de Sequeira (20 April 1915 – 17 October 1989), popularly known as Dr. Jack de Sequeira; also known as Jak Siker according to local naming conventions, was a prominent Goan politician and is popularly known in Goa as the Father of the Opinion Poll.
Life
Dr. Jack was born in Burma (now Myanmar) on 20 April 1915. His parents were Mr. Erasmo de Sequeira and Mrs. Ana Julia de Sa e Sequeira. After completing schooling in Portuguese medium at the Lyceum, he studied medicine at Escola Médica de Goa. However, his father died when he was 21, forcing him to discontinue studies in order to look after the family business At the age of 23, he married Lilia Margarida de Gouveia Pinto. They had nine children. Dr Jack expired on 17 October 1989. He was 74 years old.
Political career
Dr. Jack de Sequeira who was the founder president of the United Goans Party. Dr. Jack represented Santa Cruz assembly constituency three times. He lost in the fourth attempt in 1979 and did not contest elections again.
The Goa Opinion Poll and Dr. Jack's role
Main article: Goa Opinion Poll
Goa was liberated by the Indian Army on December 19, 1961. Goa was integrated into the Indian Union in 1962. Goa's first polls were held on December 9, 1963. The two main parties UGP and MGP were formed with two opposing ideologies. The MGP wanted to merge the state of Goa into the newly formed state of Maharashtra whereas UGP wanted to retain independent statehood for the former Portuguese enclaves. The United Goans Party (UGP) was formed in 1962-63 following the merger of three local parties. Dr Jack was its founding president Of the 30 seats in the assembly 28 belonged to Goa, and one each to Daman and Diu. MGP formed the government, having secured 16 seats while UGP secured 12. The assembly of Goa, Daman and Diu convened on 9 January 1964. Dayanand Bandodkar of MGP became the first Chief Minister. The MGP and politicians in Maharashtra were elated at the victory and touted it as a mandate that the majority of Goans were in favor of merger. At the time of Goa’s accession into India, Prime Minister Jawaharlal Nehru had categorically stated that Goa would retain its distinct identity. Following MGP’s victory and the raised pitch for merger. Dr. Jack visited New Delhi along with his MLAs and impressed Nehru about the need of an opinion poll on this matter. However Nehru died before Parliament could take this decision and Lal Bahadur Shastri succeeded him as Prime Minister. A delegation consisting of MGP MLAs and Maharashtra’s leaders went to New Delhi to convince him that a vote on the merger should be conducted in the Goa Assembly. Dr Jack, along with others went to Bangalore where an AICC session was being held and met Shastri. They opposed the move to get the merger voted in the Assembly and impressed on Shastri and Kamraj , the need to put this question before the people of Goa themselves. Dr. Jack shrewdly managed to get the backing of the legislators of Mysore state (now Karnataka). He impressed them that if Maharashtra managed to convince the centre to merge Goa into Maharashra, it would only bolster their case for Karwar and Supa.
However Shastri died in 1966 in Tashkent and this decision was now left to the new Prime Minister Indira Gandhi. Again Dr. Jack and his legislators met the new Prime Minister and submitted a memorandum that such a monumental decision affecting the future of the State could not be left to legislators alone, but should be put before the people to decide. The referendum could be conducted via a signature campaign or by secret ballot. Since a large number of Goans worked outside Goa, and indeed, outside India itself as expats, UGP demanded that these expats should be allowed to vote by postal ballot. Parliament finally agreed to conduct a referendum by means of secret ballot but ruled out postal ballots. Now that the referendum would be conducted, Dr. Jack feared that Bandodkar may use the state’s administrative and law-enforcement machinery to browbeat the anti-mergerists into submission. The UGP demanded that the MGP government resign so that the referendum could be conducted in a free-and-fair atmosphere. On 3 December 1966, the MGP government resigned.
Dr. Jack also traveled extensively exhorting people to vote against the merger. In this cause, he also visited places such as Colaba and Kalyan in Bombay, convincing Goans staying there to support the cause.
The opinion poll was held on 16 January 1967. A total of 317,633 votes were polled. The merger was defeated by 34,021 votes.
Remembrance
On 16 January 2007 a life sized statue of Dr. Jack was inaugurated at Calangute. Another statue was inaugurated on 20 April 2007 at Dona Paula. The cost of the statue was borne by his family and not by the government. A third statue will be installed in Salcette. The road from Miramar to Merces Junction has also been named after him.
A very good article indeed,something we do not get told in our goan schools. It is a shame for Goa that this man is being forgotten . I have never seemed to logically justify naming of stadiums and hospital complexes based on national leaders. We have our own leaders and yet we forget them.
ReplyDeleteAnother thing I have always wanted to ask people supporting the MGP now, if they are still Maharashtrawadi. Even 40 odd years after Goans choose not to merge with Maharashtra, this party still carries the word Maharashtrawadi which I firmly believe to be an insult to Goans.
Taking cues from an article by Dr.Oscar which appeared in herald, he has rightly pointed out that we have not analysed in detail as to why so many people voted for a merger.something we ought to do atleast now.
Obviously, cannot blame some of Goan's specially our children do not know who Dr. Jack Siker is, I myself never new of this great person until I grew up and occasionally heard from people. Because our successive anti-Goan Govt. right from MGP rule never took initiative to include about this man in our school history books. Where as we do have history of all Indian invaders, crooks as well as Maratha warriors and leaders in our hostory books and are thought to our children till now, because these marathi lovers wanted to destroy the real history. And all these selfish and ungreatful politician have forgotten their own leader who fought to regain identity of our beloved motherland Goa.
ReplyDeleteOur current bunch of useless politicians should take a few chapters from Dr. Jack de Sequeira's life and try to half of what he accomplished. They should try to do atleast do some good service to Goa and the Goans. If not the Goans are getting ready today to do the necessary service to them. Viva Goa.. Viva Goenkar.....Viva GRA..
ReplyDeleteVery knowledgeable and it is interesting to note at the end of the article that the government even failed to participate in meeting the expenses incurred but they can definitely spend on filthy film festivals like IFFI which sums up to crores of rupees.
ReplyDeleteGoans should now think of erecting statues of Cowmuth, Monster Rat, Chorchill, Joking and the likes at places of garbage dumps like Bainguinim, Sonsdo, etc so that their statues could be coverd by vulture droppings in no time.
I congratulate Usko Gaonkar on this nice article on Dr. Jack de Sequeira. The new generation of Goans must know about this man. But for him, Goa would have become half a taluka of Maharashtra. This (merger) continues to be the dream of the Maharashtrawadis, both "former" as well as present. By "former" I mean those who were in the MGP but left for better political future, not out of conviction against merger, as they are still "trying hard" to fulfill their dream and continue to be staunch Maharashtrawadis.
ReplyDeleteBut Romulus 102, as also Dr. Oscar Rebelo, are right - we have to analyse in detail why the MGP wanted (and still wants, apparently) merger and why so many people voted for the merger of tiny Goa to be engulfed into a very large State.
Well done Usko Goenkar I did meet Dr Jack de Sequeira in the 1970 when I was at Lar de Estudantes and had heard that he was fighting for Goa to retain its distinct identity and was all for Goans.I hope the GRA follows his example and not the MGP's .
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