The arrest of Tiatrist Francis de
Tuem by the Hitlerian Goa police of Verna is a condemnable act and from Kuwait
I and on behalf of all my likeminded friends and colleagues, condemn it in the strongest terms. It is a rape of freedom of speech given to
Indians by the constitution; such a rape was not done by the Portuguese
government in Goa even though we accuse Portuguese government of being the
government of dictatorship while the democratic system of India is found dead
killed by the Goa government under BJP Parrikar. BJP at the Centre is accusing Uttar Pradesh government
of trampling justice under its feet by undemocratically sacking Durga Shakti
but in Goa BJP does worst undemocratic act.
Portuguese may be bad in some aspects
but it always permitted Tiatrists to criticize anyone from the Stage rightly except
Portuguese government and that also if it was done maliciously and wrongly. The
little restriction lawfully applied by the Portuguese government to Tiatrists
was inflated by the local Goan Regidores to prove their super affiliation to
the ruling regime. When Portuguese government asked the Goan Regidores to bend
down, they stooped down shamelessly. Portuguese government may be bad but
surely our Regidores were the worst who were responsible to create a bad image
of Portguese rule in Goa.
By arresting Francis de Tuem under
the instigation of Mickey Pacheco, the Goa government enhanced the ratings of
Tuem and gave an added booster to the might of the Tiatrists. It is once again proved that how powerful Tiatro
and Tiatrists are become in Goa. During
powerfully aristocratic Bandodkar’s rule
in Goa, Bandodkar was not afraid of 12 Opposition MLA’s of powerful UG but
terribly afraid of Trio Kings of Tiatrists Conception-Nelson-Anthony and to woo
them in his side he was ready to do anything for them but they never bowed down
because they were the real sons of their real fathers.
Singing political songs, reprimanding
Tiatrists and arresting them for criticizing government, its wrong policies and
its leaders is not the first time in Tuem’s arrest. About 80 years back Goa government
imposed tax on “Renders” for the Coconut Trees they used for extracting
Toddy. To oppose this, all the Toddy
Tappers from Agacaim joined together and put a boycott on extracting Toddy any
further. One Render defied this boycott
by refusing to toe the line of his other colleagues. Hence, on one fine evening
he was shot dead while he was extracting Toddy on top of the Coconut Tree. He
was shot dead by one of the boycotters Render but none divulged his name to the
Panjim Police when they were summoned for questioning. Government wanted to
suppress this news from spreading beyond Ilhas but within a week or so at
Anjuna in a traditional “Zagor” one singer rendered a beautiful solo on the
beats of “Gumott, Madyem and Kansaem”.
One verse of this song I quote hereunder:
“JANERACHEA PIRMERAK DHORUN
VHELET RENDRANK,
ANI PONJE VHORON PIREZ KELET
KHUIM TEAM AGXIKARANK,
HE BHAXEN VINCHAR KELO TANCHE
LAGUIM SERKARAN,
KI HI BUDH KONNE DILEA TI SANGAT
MHONON JURAMENTAN
CH
AGXIKARANIM SANGLEM AMI AZIR MHONN
MORNANK
PUNNI ZAMNNO ANINK KEDINCH
GHALCHENAUM MADDANK
AGXI EKLEAN MADD DOVORLOLE TAKA
JITOCH MARLO FARAN,
TACHO DEMAN CHOLTA ATAM PONJE
SERKARAN.
Because of its matter and catchy
tune the popularity of this song spread far and wide. Immediately the local
Regidor summoned the singer to his house and gave him verbal bashing. The effect of this reprimanding was so great
on the singer that thenceforth the poor guy stoped acting in Zagor.
KID Boxer was the first known
professional Tiatrist to be arrested in Bombay by the government of India, somewhere
in 1958 for singing a song against Indian government’s faulty policies towards
Goa. In this song he opposed India’s annexation
of Goa. Immediately he was arrested,
tortured in prison and after imprisonment deported to Goa where he was open
heartedly welcomed by the Portuguese government of Goa and offered a very
lucrative job as a Konkani artiste at the Emisora de Goa for a very handsome
salary of Rps. 400/- which was highest among all the artistes then.
Following the invasion of Goa,
there was a Tiatro at Mapusa, first time under Indian regime. In this Tiatro
there were 2 political songs against Bharat; one from the Trio Kings and the
other from Kid Boxer. Immediately when Tiatro was still in progress they were
arrested, Kid Boxer before the completion of his song in which he curses Bharat
for invading Goa against the wishes of majority of Goans. A few lines of this song I quote hereunder:
“TUM BHITOR SORLAI CHUKON, MORTOLOI SUKON, DUSREACHO
DESH POCHONA, (Referring to Bharat for illegally invading Goa)
TUM PAN POTTI KHATAI ANI POCHHU
KORUN THUKTAI, LOZUI KAIM DISSONA (Referring to Indian Ghanttis)
TUM NESTAI FOKOT VALO ANI KHATAI FOKOT PALO
(Referring to dress code and eating habits of Bharati people).
Then again in mid-sixties Kid
Boxer was arrested in Bombay for singing a solo against wrong policies of government of India
and he was sentenced by the Bombay Court to undergo 6 months imprisonment at
Nashik High Risk Prison where he wrote his Tiatro “Somzonen Zatoch Chukh”. In this Tiatro he rendered one beautiful song
reprimanding Indian government for curtailing freedom of speech. Further in this song he says sarcastically that:
“AUM SOU MHOINE NASHIK CONVETAN RAVON AILAM PUN KAINCH MUDAR ZAUNKNA”.
William de Curtorim was another
noted political singer whose hard hitting political solos directly attacking
the politicians created so much of uproar in Goa that once about 8 years back he
was summoned to Mapusa Police Station for reprimanding him for singing a solo
against Rane. For the next Show William
invited Dayananda Narvenkar as a chief guest at the same Mapusa venue where in
his speech Narvenkar lashed out Mapusa Police for suppressing democratic rights
of Tiatrist William de Curtorim.
Comig back to the unwarranted and
undemocratically arrest of Tiatrist Francis de Tuem, I say it was the malicious
act of Mickey Pacheco and clandestinely supported by Parrikar. Do not except
anything good from Parrikar, he is acting worst than a dictator. He thinks he is too smart, too intelligent
and too educated. My foot! If Congressmen were good, people in Goa would never elect him and his
BJP. Today he is ok playing his "dadagiri" but tomorrow he will face the
consequences of his misdeeds.
Baba Francis de Tuem we are all
with you at this hour of your arrest, don’t think that you are alone, we are
not going to leave you alone into the hands of vultures of Parrikar. Be strong
and remain cool and calm in these crises. You are not wrong, you are right in
all aspects and because you are right they got you arrested. They are afraid of you because you are exposing their misdeeds. Treat this arrest as a joke.
They want to silence your voice by putting you into prison. But remember well, the prison that
they put you will never be a prison Cell for you even though it is built of concrete walls
with Iron Door as long as you have freedom of mind to think free. By putting you in prison they may stop you physically from moving an inch further but they will never stop you from thinking further. This is your freedom even though you are physically imprisoned.
A. VERONICA FERNANDES,
KUWAIT.
