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THE HISTORIC OPINION POLL
Goa is the only place in India, where the issue of self-identity
was resolved through a plebiscite. Though the tiny state on
western coast was liberated from the clutches of Portuguese
imperialists on 19 December 1961and brought under the Indian
Union as the union territory along with Daman and Diu, a new
issue immediately cropped up regarding its identity.
Two diametrically opposite views emerged soon after liberation.
The Maharashtrawadi Gomantak Party, which won the first Assembly
elections led by late Bhausaheb alias Dayanand Bandodkar,
was of the view that Goa originally belongs to the state of
Maharashtra.
The basis was similarities between culture and traditions of
Hindus in both the states as well as that Marathi is the mother
tongue of all the Goans, like of the people in Maharashtra.
Konkani, they believed, is the 'underdeveloped' dialect of Marathi.
The United Goans Party, which was in the opposition and led
by Dr Jack Sequeira, firmly believed that Konkani is an independent
language and not a dialect of Marathi, but remained underdeveloped
as it was suppressed by the Portuguese rulers initially. Leaders
of this party, which belonged to the Christians as well as upper
caste Hindus at large, were insisting that Goa has its unique
identity of its own and thus cannot be part of Maharashtra.
The controversy also had social overtones as most of the then
feudal lords – known as bhatkars – were backing the UGP,
though the party basically represented the minority Christian
community of the state. On the contrary, Bandodkar's MGP was
supported by most of the tenant class of Goan society, who wanted
to seek second liberation by becoming owners of the tenanted
land they were tilling for generations together.
Going beyond linguistic arguments, the controversy immediately
took a political shape with two divergent views emerging out
of it. The MGP, comprising of mainly the Hindu bahujan samaj
of the state, was of the view that Goa be merged with Maharashtra.
Many of its leaders also thought that it would liberate them
from hundreds of years of exploitation by the upper caste feudal
lords – the bhatkars – if Goa is also brought under the
rule of the Maharashtra Congress.
Bringing to the fore arguments based on linguistic science,
culture and self-identity, the UGP leaders as well as educated
students and youth of those days led a movement against the
viewpoint of the ruling party. In fact, a Marathi daily Rashtramat
was started to propagate its views among the Marathi readers,
who were otherwise influenced by pro-merger Gomantak
– Goa's first Marathi daily owned by House of Chowgules.
It was those days of democratic values when people's opinion
overscored selfish interest of political leaders. Late Indira
Gandhi, the then prime minister of India, decided to resolve
the issue by holding an Opinion Poll, after dissolving the then
existing Assembly.
The Congress central working committee resolved at its meeting
on 3 September 1966 to hold Opinion Poll. The options were two
– either retain Goa as the union territory or merge Goa into
Maharashtra and Daman and Diu into Gujarat.
The Lok Sabha passed a legislation to this effect on 1 December
1966 while the Rajya Sabha approved it on 7 December 1966. The
President of India gave his assent to the legislation on 16
December 1966. It was finally decided to hold the Opinion Poll
on 16 January 1967.
People had to choose between a Flower – for merger and Two Leaves
– for retaining Goa's identity. The pro-merger group was supported
even by veteran leaders of Maharashtra, irrespective of any
party affiliation, from the Congress to Praja Samajwadi to Communist
Party of India. In fact Shahir Amar Shaikh, CPI's prolific singer,
came down to Goa with his Lal Bawata Kala Pathak, performing
in the villages of Goa.
To counter this, Goan youth flexed their muscle. Ulhas Buyao,
led by army of young artists, began a Jai Gomantak Kala Pathak
with Konkani songs written by young writers like Dr Manoharrai
Sardesai, Shankar Bhandari and Adv Uday Bhembre. Response for
these programme was so overwhelming that pro-merger groups began
disrupting Buyao's Kala Pathak in their stronghold areas.
Besides 120 public meetings addressed by Dr Sequeira and several
other young Goan leaders of those days, Rashtramat news
reports, editorials by Chandrakant Keni and especially Brahmastra
– a column written by Adv Bhembre – turned the tables against
pro-mergerists. Lots of educated people from Hindu bahujan
samaj realised that their future lies in retaining Goa's
separate identity and not by merging it into Maharashtra.
The fierce anti-merger campaign, countering 133 public meetings
addressed by Bandodkar and his bandwagon of veteran leaders
from Maharashtra, had finally bore fruits on 16 January 1967
– the historic day for Goa. Overscoring the Flower, Two Leaves
won the elections by 34,021 votes.
Though none of the successive governments have ever observed
this historic day at official level, the young brigade of today
observes the day as Asmitai Dis (self-identity day).
Even after attaining statehood on 30 May 1987, they feel, the
aspirations of a real independent Goa are yet to be fulfilled.
| No |
Constituency |
Voters |
Polling |
Flower |
Two Leaves |
| 1 |
Pedne |
11516 |
8741 |
5967 |
2304 |
| 2 |
Mandrem |
14719 |
12232 |
8993 |
3767 |
| 3 |
Siolim |
12909 |
11681 |
5583 |
5868 |
| 4 |
Calangute |
14341 |
13280 |
8924 |
8146 |
| 5 |
Aldona |
12902 |
12472 |
4700 |
7609 |
| 6 |
Mapusa |
12782 |
11900 |
5859 |
5889 |
| 7 |
Tivim |
11714 |
9930 |
6110 |
3526 |
| 8 |
Bicholim |
11473 |
10242 |
7741 |
2183 |
| 9 |
Pale |
12504 |
9394 |
6305 |
3668 |
| 10 |
Sattari |
12640 |
9475 |
4974 |
4505 |
| 11 |
Panaji |
11137 |
10502 |
4175 |
6245 |
| 12 |
St Cruz |
13971 |
13132 |
4311 |
8609 |
| 13 |
St Andre |
13708 |
11803 |
3930 |
7590 |
| 14 |
St Estevam |
13717 |
11719 |
6903 |
4634 |
| 15 |
Marcaim |
10824 |
10304 |
8408 |
3671 |
| 16 |
Ponda |
11874 |
11395 |
8082 |
3090 |
| 17 |
Shiroda |
12900 |
10977 |
6369 |
4165 |
| 18 |
Sanguem |
12639 |
9525 |
4560 |
4500 |
| 19 |
Canacona |
13340 |
10764 |
5832 |
4622 |
| 20 |
Quepem |
9015 |
7966 |
3447 |
4217 |
| 21 |
Curchorem |
12724 |
12228 |
5425 |
6856 |
| 22 |
Cuncolim |
12524 |
11004 |
1774 |
9080 |
| 23 |
Benaulim |
13661 |
11485 |
629 |
10769 |
| 24 |
Navelim |
15757 |
13575 |
3061 |
10355 |
| 25 |
Margao |
12603 |
10503 |
3241 |
7157 |
| 26 |
Curtorim |
16776 |
13746 |
926 |
12547 |
| 27 |
Cortalim |
13587 |
11962 |
1376 |
10411 |
| 28 |
Mormugao |
21773 |
16000 |
7654 |
8072 |
| TOTAL |
***** |
388392 |
317633 |
138170 |
172191 |
| Percentage |
****** |
***** |
81.78 |
43.5 |
54.21 |
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