MUKTIDIN THOUGHTS: MARCH FOR A FREE AND SECULAR GOA
December 19 -- a glorious day in the history of the Indian subcontinent, a day when colonialism finally came to an end and paved the path for democracy in the tiny land of Goa. The political independence of Goa was a culmination of the popular aspirations of the Goan people’s long battle for freedom; it was a long-awaited dawn.
But did the dawn break into a new day? Where the diverse peoples that make up Goa could see a ray of hope? Where people irrespective of sex, caste, creed, religion, sexual orientation, language, used script, community, would feel liberated from all the bonds that bind them? Where we would feel liberated enough to be involved in the process of building up a Goa of OUR dreams?
We, the people in Goa, have been toiling long and hard even as we have also been singing and dancing. We have traditionally lived a peaceful and harmonious life sharing our small joys and sorrows. We have survived. But at times under pressures that are getting more and more acute.
Pressures on our land, water, natural resources, pressures on our lifestyles, pressures of intolerance, pressures of power. Pressures of populist politics that only knows the language of vote-banks and of “divide and rule” that is not different from the politics of colonialism that we the people in Goa fought against.
Today the colonialists have a different garb. Today it is powerful money-bags, many of them multi-national, with active local agents in the form of our own politicians, for whom again the politics of ‘divide and rule’ is a central theme.
Communal forces are trying to break the unity of the Goan people, and divide them along lines of community and religion. If they do not divide and rule, they will not be able to loot and plunder. Because if we are united, we the people can stop them. And not only stop them, but also build the Goa of our dreams.
We still have a long and hard battle to achieve the liberation that we aspired for. We are hard-working. We have the capacity for hard work. We have varied skills amongst us. We are each differently abled. All the natural resources have not been plundered yet, nor has our communal harmony been irreparably damaged. We can all be visionaries, and build on what we have to build a free and secular Goa.
We can fight the forces that are dividing Goa, We can fight the obstacles that prevent us from building Goa as a land of peace and harmony. On this liberation day of 2006, we can pledge to take Goa into our hands collectively and strengthen the economic, social and political fabric of Goa in a just manner and celebrate its rich and diverse culture—to move towards a genuinely free and secular Goa.
Since the past few years, concerned citizens and organizations in Goa have been coming together to celebrate December 19, the anniversary of Goa’s liberation. Let us once again come together on this, the 45th anniversary of Goa’s liberation and share our vision of justice, equality, freedom and secularism in a festival—towards a free and secular Goa.
Join the rally through the streets of Panjim, starting from Azad Maidan at 9.30 am on December 19, 2006. Take an oath to build a Goa where everybody’s dreams have space. And then partake of a cultural programme at Azad Maidan on December 19. See the art exhibition at Menezes Braganza Hall from December 17 afternoon to Dec 19, 2006.
Organised by the Citizens’ Initiative for Communal Harmony.
Ramesh Gauns and Albertina Almeida, Co-Convenors. Contact
persons: Albertina Almeida 9326137682
albertina.almeida@gmail.com Ramesh Gauns 9270085105
ramguans@yahoo.co.in Vidyadhar Gadgil 2293766 vgadgil@gmail.com
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