MARGAO
Recognising the sacrifices made by the Chieftains of Cuncolim to stand up to the Portuguese to protect their religion and culture, Chief Minister Pramod Sawant on Friday asserted he and his government will not allow any religious conversions in the State.
Saying the government is committed to protecting and preserving the history of Goa’s Liberation struggle, including the 1583 Cuncolim Revolt, for posterity, the Chief Minister announced that the government has taken up the renovation work on the Patradevi memorial and the Hirve Guruji memorial, adding that the foundation stone for the Pinto memorial is getting ready.
Paying rich tributes to the 16 Chieftains of Cuncolim on the occasion of the commemoration of the historic 1583 Cuncolim Revolt at Cuncolim on Friday, the Chief Minister said his government has taken the historic revolt at the national level by observing July 15 at the National War memorial in Delhi.
“The Cuncolim revolt should occupy an important place in history as the country’s first war of Independence since it was for the first time in India that people had revolted against the colonial powers. They had fought against the Portuguese to protect their country, religion and culture. If not for the revolt by the people of Cuncolim, the Portuguese would have converted the local people in other parts of the State as well,” he said.
He added: “Last few days, we have heard of conversions in the State. In 1583, the Portuguese were ruling the State, but now our government is in place and is committed to protecting the religion and culture. There will be no more religious conversions.”
Complimenting the Cuncolim Chieftains Trust for commemorating the 1583 revolt every year, the Chief Minister said the government will hold an official function to commemorate the historic event.
In his address, Minister for Archives and Archaeology Subhash Faldesai made a plea to the Chief Minister to support the production of a commercial film on the history of the 1583 Cuncolim revolt to take the historic event to the nook and corner of the country.
“The Cuncolim revolt was the first war of Independence against colonial powers in entire Asia. Since Goa is celebrating 60 years of liberation, a commercial film needs to be produced to take the message to the corners of the country,” he said.
Cuncolim MLA Yuri Alemao thanked the Chief Minister for giving due recognition for the Cuncolim revolt, known as Asia’s first non-cooperation movement against colonial powers.
“I have tabled a private member’s bill on the inclusion of the Cuncolim revolt in the history books, which will come up for discussion in the House,” he said.
Yuri took the platform to make a fervent plea to the Chief Minister to liberate the Cuncolim Industrial Estate from pollution, set up an urban health centre in Cuncolim and ensure jobs in the National Institute of Technology (NIT) Cuncolim campus for the local youth.
The Chief Minister laid a wreath at the Chieftains memorial in the presence of Cuncolim Chieftains Memorial Trust Chairman Oscar Martins, Ministers Nilesh Cabral and Subhash Faldesai, MLAs Yuri Alemao and Ulhas Tuemkar, high-ranking government and police officials, besides citizens.
Senior government officials Sanjit Rodrigues and Sanjeev Gadkar, district Collector Jyoti Kumari, and police top brass led by DGP Jaspal Singh also attended the official function. The Goa police performed the Shok parade as part of the commemoration ceremony.
