When Goa was forcibly annexed by Bharat on 19th December 1961 it was done by Nehru’s Government without taking into consideration the opinion of Goa based Goans though some Goans in the garb of Freedom Fighters were making big noise to drive away Portuguese from Goan soil. All the freedom fighters wanted Portuguese should leave from Goa but all the freedom fighters were not of the opinion to allow Goa to be a part of “Pochpochit” and “Choranchem” Bharat. I spoke to many Goan freedom fighters asking their view on their decision on Goa after Portuguese left Goa. They only wanted help from “Bharat Serkar” to drive away Portuguese from Goa and retain Goa for Goans independent of Bharati jurisdiction, just like what Bharat did for Bangladesh. Secondly all the freedom fighters were not genuine freedom fighters, many of them were criminals and robbers for this reason Goan Freedom Fighters are still not enjoying good respect in society. Besides many of them were communal, they wanted Goa to be a Hindu Raj. Now since Goa is magnetised to Bharat I am sure it will be impossible for independent minded Goans to detach Goa from Bharat unless there is a Tsunami type of calamity or Earthquake in which case many of the Indian states will lose their identities and geographical location and resurfaced as something else at somewhere else.
Many of our Goans are making a big noise in favour of independent Goa. These are mainly oldy Goans who are disgusted with the corrupt Bharati ruling system in Goa. The number of such oldies is diminishing and the current generation of Goans are not much interested in Goa. Their view is this “Bhor Ga Potta ani Sor Ga Dissa”, Goa and Goan identity go to hell for them. By sticking to the statement ‘Something is better than nothing’, at least staunch Goa lover Goans worked extremely hard and avoided Goa from getting into extinction when we Goa lover Goans won the Opinion Poll. Our enemies by all means want to degrade us the genuine Goans and to defeat their purpose we had to fight for Konkani language recognition to get Separate Statehood for Goa. During this time we had to fight a solid battle and finally we won and got separate Statehood, though proper justice for Romi Konkani was not done because our enemy was and still is within us who played the dirty tricks against Romi script Konkani.
KONKANI movement in Seventies and in Eighties got solid support and booster from Gulf Goans only, especially Kuwait Goans, among global Goans. These Goans were Indian Passport holders, they were not dual Passport holders having a choice to settle in the West with the backing of their second Passports, that is the Portuguese Passports. If it was not for Kuwait Goans in particular Konkani movement in Goa would never receive the booster it received. We sent lakhs and lakhs of Rupees for this cause from Kuwait to our brothers and sisters in Goa to fight for the cause of Konkani. But during that critical period what was regretting was the silence of global Goans from coming to the aid of Konkani movement in Goa. In the absence of Internet facilities, I as a correspondent of Goa Today Monthly Magazine, exhaustively highlighted this critical issue for our global Goans who were keeping in touch with Goa thru Goa Today Magazine. But the Global Goans were deaf to my pleas and appeals. Their contribution in any form to this cause was NIL, if I am not mistaken. For this reason I have no trust in them for protecting Goa from getting further degoanised. They are lost to Goa.
During the last so many years I hear the words Global Goans, these Goans are now making a big noise in favour of Goa. But are these Global Goans capable of doing something for Goa or just because they got opportunity of free of charge Internet that they are making noise in the name of global Goans? Do these global Goans faithful to their land Goa? Most of the global Goans settled in the West have sold their land and properties for very high price not only to non-Goans but more than that for our enemies. In my neighbourhood one global Goan and holder of Portuguese Passport settled in UK with his wife and 2 children even sold his old type of Goan Toilet – Kumao – for a Ghantti Mason for 50 thousand rupees, this Ghantti went a step further and constructed a big room by demolishing that Kumao, of course illegally, forcibly annexing more area from the poor Goan neighbour.
If Goa is getting degoanised at fast pace it is mainly because of the global Goans who are on high spree of selling their ancestral land, properties and houses to non-Goans and our enemies. When I hear the big noise made by global Goans in support of Goa, I feel like laughing at their love for Goa. By acquiring foreign passport and settling down in the West one will never be able to love Goa genuinely. The global Goan conventions are become a big joke foisted on ignorant Goans suffering from ancestral inferiority complex for his own selfish ends by Eduardo Faleiro, the commissioner of NRI. What this NRI forum can achieve? It is become just like a Lions or Jaycee Club. NRI Forum under Eduardo Faleiro is a big joke and some of the NRI awardees including from Kuwait are also become a big joke when they were undeservingly awarded NRI Awards by corrupt and ignorant Eduardo Faleiro who does not know anything what is happening among Goans in Kuwait. Recently Global Goan Convention was organised in Kuwait – I was not officially invited – hence I refrained from going there. Some global Goans it seems were enquiring why I am not there. This global Goan convention was organised by one of the many Goan Associations mushrooming in Kuwait. This Association is not the representative of Goans in Kuwait and nobody has given a mandate to this Association to represent Kuwait Goans either.
What has been achieved for Goa it was done only by Gulf Goans mainly the Kuwait Goans where none of the Kuwait NRI awardees contributed. Eduardo Faleiro and his NRI Forum are big “Chor”, they have robbed the NRI Awards from deserving Goans by giving the same to some undeserving Goans whose contributions in the service of Goans are NIL. Can you imagine a Goan doctor who is just a “Mutrologist” and also a “kalcho porcho potto” in Kuwait receiving a NRI Award when there are better Goans whose contribution in the community service is much more? Can you imagine a Sexologist, a Chor who was involved in fund scandal of the community receiving a NRI award? Worst part of this whole scenario is this that these undeserving awardees have no marbles to turn down politely these awards saying “we are not worthy of these NRI Awards”. These are shameless Goans who are friends of shameless Eduardo Faleiro.
Hello, Eduardo Faleiro, NRI Forum under your supervision is a big joke. Since its inception NRI Forum has not achieved anything substantial for expatriate Goans especially for those Goans who are returning back to settle down in Goa.
During the next election this topic of NRI Forum will be raised openly to tell the public how the Goa Government is wasting public money after this Forum. I am assured all the help by the Non-Congress Parties to make this as an election issue for them to fight the Congress Party of Sonia Gandhi. NRI Forum is nothing but just like Tips to the waiter. NRI Forum is formed by Goa Government only as a charity to Eduardo Faleiro for him to float alive otherwise he will be drowned into the sea. But this charity at whose cost? At Public cost?
A. Veronica Fernandes,
Kuwait.
