Politics and history in Goa

Recently PM took a jibe at Nehru as guilty of leaving satyagrahis in the dismay, refusing to send the Indian Army to liberate Goa, even after 25 of them were shot dead by the Portuguese Army.

Admiral Afonso de Albuquerque defeated the forces of the sultan of Bjiapur, Yusuf Adil Shah, and made goa a Portuguese colony.
In the next four and a half centuries Goa found itself at the intersection of competing regional and global powers.
It received a religious and cultural ferment that lead eventually to the germination of a distinct Goan identity that continues to be a source of contestation even today.
Twentieth-century: Goa had started to witness an upsurge of nationalist sentiment opposed to Portugal’s colonial rule, in sync with the anti-British nationalist movement.

Tristao de Braganza Cunha (father of Goan nationalism): founded the Goa National Congress at the congress’s Calcutta session(1928).
1946: Ram Manohar Lohia led a historic rally in Goa that gave a call for civil liberties and freedom, and eventual integration with India.
Goa was liberated on December 19, 1961, by swift Indian military action that lasted less than two days.

The Supreme Court recognized the validity of the annexation and rejected the continued applicability of the law of occupation.
Under the jus cogens rule, forceful annexations including the annexation of Goa are held as illegal since they have taken place after the UN Charter came into force.

No immediate war: Then PM Nehru felt that if he launched a military operation (like in Hyderabad) to oust the colonial rulers, will hamper his image as a global leader of peace.
The trauma of Partition: The trauma of Partition coupled with the war with Pakistan, kept the Government of India from opening another front.
Internationalization of the issue: This might have led the international community to get involved.
No demand from within: It was Gandhi’s opinion that a lot of groundwork was still needed to raise the consciousness of the people, and the diverse political voices emerging within be brought under a common umbrella.

India’s global image: Nehru was trying to shape India’s position in the comity of nations.
Trying peaceful options: He was trying to exhaust all options available to him given the circumstances that India was emerging from.
Portuguese obsession: Portugal had changed its constitution in 1951 to claim Goa not as a colonial possession, but as an overseas province.
Portugal in NATO: The move was apparently aimed at making Goa a part of the newly formed North Atlantic Treaty Organisation (NATO) military alliance. Hence the collective security clause of the treaty would be triggered.
Weak indigenous push: Nehru saw it prudent to pursue bilateral diplomatic measures with Portugal to negotiate a peaceful transfer while, at the same time, a more ‘overt’ indigenous push for liberation.

Politics needs to be charitable to history, because at some point it would be put to the same scrutiny and judgment as it becomes history itself.
Goa has seen 60 years of eventful liberation and successful amalgamation in the Indian Union.
It is more important for it to look ahead to its future than to rapidly receding, increasingly dim images in the rear-view mirror.