PANAJI
Former journalist, politician and author-chronicler Valmiki Faleiro (67) breathed his last after a massive cardiac arrest leaving several if his friends, relatives and associates shocked and grieving.
Faleiro, who recently released his latest book ‘Goa, 1961: The complete story of nationalism and integration’ which chronicles the events leading to the Liberation of Goa in 1961 and shortly after, is survived by his wife Daisy.
He made a mark and excelled in three distinctive fields: journalism, politics and non-fiction literature.
In politics, he was elected councillor and then president of the Margao Municipal Council in 1985, months after he helped script the defeat of then political stalwart the late Anant Narcinva Naik alias Babu in the 1984 general assembly election. He was the election agent cum campaign manager of Uday Bhembre who won that election as an Independent.
Later as MMC president, Faleiro was hailed for his administrative acumen in the nearly two years he held the post until he quit owning responsibility for the unsavoury incident of disrespect to the national flag involving former chief minister Churchill Alemao at the height of language agitation. Faleiro and Alemao both belonged to the regional Goa Congress at that time.
In journalism, Faleiro was a prolific exponent having covered Goa in the 1970s and early 1980s for the West Coast Times and national media namely the Free Press Journal group, Current and the Indian Express.
In the more recent years, including as recently as last month, Faleiro made the news for authoring non-fiction books. His ’Patriotism in Action: Goans in India’s Defence Services’, which chronicles Goans who served in the Indian defence forces and the recent ‘Goa, 1961: The complete story of nationalism and integration’ have evoked widespread interest among the Goan diaspora.
Meanwhile the Goa Union of Journalists has mourned the passing away of Faleiro.
"Faleiro was a prolific writer and history researcher. His popular books include ’Patriotism in Action: Goans in India’s Defence Services’, Soaring Spirit: 450 Years of Margao’s Espirito Santo Church (1565-2015) and the latest ‘Goa, 1961: The complete story of nationalism and integration’," GUJ said in a statement.
