PANAJI
Did Goa's first Chief Minister late Dayanand Bandodkar sabotage his own campaign by ensuring the defeat of the pro-merger camp during the Opinion Poll in 1967?
Former Deputy Chief Minister and Maharashtrawadi Gomantak Party de facto chief Sudin Dhavalikar, on Thursday, claimed that Bandodkar, through subtle tactics may have ensured the defeat of his own political camp which stood for the merger of Goa with Maharashtra, to ensure that the newly liberated region remained an independent entity in the Indian Union.
Dhavalikar, who with his comments at the launch of a book on the life of the first Chief Minister on Thursday, may have triggered a fresh debate about the politics behind the Opinion Poll, also said that Bandodkar was under immense pressure from then Prime Minister Indira Gandhi to join the Congress and from Congress politicians in Maharashtra to merge Goa with the powerful northern state at the time.
"When the Opinion Poll was conducted in 1967, Bhausaheb gave the issue a lot of thought at the time. Seven to eight eminent persons from Salcete met Bhausaheb and told him that he was swinging an axe on his own foot. He was aware of that. If Goa was merged into Maharashtra, then would Bhausaheb Bandodkar become a chief minister in the future? No one thinks about this issue in totality," Dhavalikar said.
"After he gave this issue a lot of thought, Bandodkar summoned his party workers from every village, when the Opinion poll was scheduled just eight days away. It is not for any reason that fewer people voted in Ponda for the flower (the symbol of the pro-merger group), or else the flower would have won in Ponda. My father, Rohidas and other eminent persons in Ponda were sent a message by Bhausaheb. The message was 'do anything, but the state has to remain ours'," Dhavalikar said.
"This message was sent to all States within eight days. There were no telephones, no mobiles at the time. My father told me this. When this message reached villages, many eminent people took this message to every home. And for this very reason, Goa was saved from being merged into Maharashtra. Everyone should know this. Many people tend to give this a different colour," Dhavalikar said.
The MGP MLA also said that Bandodkar's only error in politics was the position he had adopted during the Opinion Poll, but added there were key political lessons to be learnt in that episode too.
"Even though this was the only issue in which Bhausaheb Bandodkar may have erred, but there is much to learn from this too. This issue reflects the politics of Bhausaheb. When he lost the Opinion Poll, he tendered his resignation and went for fresh elections. Who won after the election, Bhausaheb Bandodkar," Dhavalikar said.
"Where are those now who harassed him then? There were four MLAs who had harassed him. You know who they were. Those who harassed the MGP. Where are they now? Nobody has lasted, we have to remember this," Dhavalikar also said.
Dhavalikar also said that there was pressure on Bandodkar from Congress politicians ahead of the Opinion Poll.
"Nehru had not conducted the Opinion Poll. Indira Gandhi too allowed an election to be conducted without the Opinion Poll. But when in 1963, our government was formed at that time, she pressured Bhausaheb to either conduct an Opinion Poll or join the Congress. He did not listen to her and opted for the Opinion Poll," Bandodkar said.
"He was also being pressured by politicians from Maharashtra. That is why the name of the party continued in the way it was. The name could have been taken out. But finally, a name does not define everything, it is our resolve and principles which do it," he also said.
The pro-merger choice, which polled 1,38,710 votes lost the country's only Opinion Poll to the grouping which demanded that Goa remain a Union Territory which polled 172,191 votes. 81.77 percent of Goa's population cast ballot during the unique referendum.
