While crores of Indians were celebrating the Independence that they got after the battle with British, needless to say, it came after sacrificing lives, somewhere in Hyderabad few were plotting to join hands with Pakistan. But this conspiracy didn’t succeed due to iron man of India, Sardar Patel.
But many Indians aren’t aware of the fact that the smallest state of India, Goa, became a party of India in 1961 and not in 1947. Shockingly, this is the bitter truth. The districts of Goa, Daman, and Diu, Dadra and Nagar Haveli were collectively known as the ‘Estado da Índia’.
- Even after 1947, the Portuguese held this territory under their control but on 27 February 1950, the Indian government made an attempt to solve this issue through the diplomatic channel. But the adamant Portuguese said that their territory on the Indian subcontinent was not a colony but part of metropolitan Portugal and hence its transfer was non-negotiable and that India had no rights to this territory because the Republic of India did not exist at the time when Goa came under Portuguese rule. Fed-up with this, on 11 June 1953 the Indian government withdrew its diplomatic mission from Lisbon, the capital city of Portugal.
A failed non-violent attempt to free Goa from the clutches of Portuguese!
On the day of Indian Independence on 1955, nearly 3000-5000 Indian activists decided to enter Goa from six locations. But the Portuguese resorted to violence as a result more than two dozen Indians were killed. That’s why on September 1st of the same year, India shut its consul office in Goa as a mark of protest.
A few years later on 24 November 1961, the Portuguese fired at a passenger boat passing between the Portuguese-held island of Anjidiv and the Indian port of Kochi. Due to this, a passenger had to lose his life and a chief engineer had to face injuries.
Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh (RSS) gives India its first victory: Successfully conquers Dadra and Nagar Haveli!
Prior to conquering Goa, pro-Indian groups had succeeded in invading and conquering Dadra and Nagar Haveli. Only July 1954, Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh (RSS) and other pro-Indian groups such as the United Front of Goans, the National Movement Liberation Organisation, Azad Gomantak Dal and with the Indian police force carried out an attack.The pro-Indian group succeeded in killing Police Sergeant Aniceto do Rosário and Constable António Fernandes on 22 July and on July 28th, RSS- the same organisation which the liberals call as anti-national- had succeeded in taking Naroli took their control.Later the Portuguese even appealed at the International Court of Justice but couldn’t get what it desired.
Final blow to the Portuguese under ‘Operation Vijay’: India attacks from air, water and land to conquer Goa
By 1954, India had economically cornered Portuguese in Goa. Expecting a war, three light infantry battalions from Portugal, Angola and Mozambique were sent to Goa by the Portuguese. It even started to strengthen its local military presence. Very soon it raised an army of 12,000 men; few reports even claim the Portuguese had 250 men in the naval forces, 600 in the police. Meanwhile, the Portuguese wanted to reinforce its military presence in its African territory, that’s why around 3000 men from Goa were sent to Africa.
Source:Postcard
No comments:
Post a Comment