MARGAO
Himachal Pradesh Governor Rajendra Arlekar on Tuesday asserted that courts need not tell whether a citizen should stand up or not when the national anthem or Vande Mataram is being played in cinema halls.
He has also called for uprooting anti-Goa and anti-India spirit and tendencies from the soil of Goa and the country. He exuded confidence that every youth of the country will be a nationalist, who will not hesitate to take to the streets to stand up against those who speak ill against Goa and India.
“Why should the question of whether a citizen should stand up or sit in cinema halls go to the court. What nonsense is this? The courts need not tell us whether a citizen should stand up or sit when the national anthem is being played. I make this statement very responsibly. The court need not tell whether one should stand or not because this is my spirit, this is my country, my culture, I have taken birth in this land. Nobody can tell us to sit or stand up. I will do it myself and when the national anthem is being played, I will stand up. And that spirit should be shown by today’s youth,” he said, while delivering a lecture on “Goa@60” organised by the Department of Information at the Ravindra Bhavan, Margao, to mark the 60th year of Goa’s Liberation.
Recalling the incident in Goa during his stint as Speaker of the Goa Legislative Assembly, Arlekar said, “I was ashamed when a group of people, including an MLA wore T-shirts with the slogan Indian Navy Go back.”
“Why people had to do such things? Has the Indian Navy come from Portugal or Britain?” he questioned and said the armed forces have been protecting the country’s border and sea to safeguard the lives of the people.
He gave a call to the youth to uproot such anti-Goan and anti-Indian tendencies, exuding confidence every youth will be a nationalist, who will come out on the streets to put an end to anti-India spirit.
Underlining the need to showcase history in the right perspective, Arlekar said there is a need to tell in the history books that India as a nation and Goa as a state had existed for years before 1947 and 1961. “There were attempts made to confuse the people saying that Indian Army’s action in Goa was an act of aggression. Goa’s existence is not just 60 years, but the state has been existing for crores of years. History shows we have only been liberated from the Portuguese in 1961. And, Goa’s history does not start from 1510 when Alfonso de Albuquerque came down to India. We should know that Goa existed even before Albuquerque came to Goa,” he said.
Asserting that he does not want to speak against the Portuguese or the missionaries, Arlekar, however, said that it is a fact how they committed atrocities against the locals. “We cannot rewrite history, but need to understand as it is. And, when we try to tell history, then you are dubbed as communal,” he said.
He sought to know why the Cuncolim revolt still does not figure in the history books when it was part of the Liberation movement of the state.
He added: “Why should we have our places named after Vasco da Gama and Alfonso de Albuquerque when there’s documentary evidence to show they had committed atrocities on the local people, including women. Unfortunately, I stay in the city of Vasco”.
