PANAJI
The 14 years separating the liberation of Goa from Portuguese colonial yoke from the 1947 Independence of India became a subject touched by Union Law Minister Ravi Shankar Prasad and Chief Justice of India S A Bobde in their speeches.
The two however had different perspectives on the issue which the ruling Bharatiya Janata Party including Chief Minister Pramod Sawant have often raked up in an attempt to blame it on 'weak leadership' of India's first Prime Minister Pandit Jawaharlal Nehru.
Prasad in his speech called for "appraisal" of what was behind the Goa's delayed liberation in 1961.
Bobde on the other hand responded by pointing out that Goa may have been liberated years after India's independence but the most significant issue was that Goa's freedom was virtually bloodless.
"One question has baffled me always. India became free in 1947. Why did Goa have to wait till 1961?," Prasad said in his speech adding that an honest appraisal of it was needed.
Insisting that the relationship with Portugal is a matter of great pride and must stay, Prasad added: "But there has to be an honest appraisal. I thought today I must flag that concern..."
Bobde, responding to the topic of Goa's delayed liberation raked up by Prasad said: "It may be later than the rest of the country, but the most significant thing I think about the liberation of Goa is that it was completely bloodless. No shots were fired, no corpses carried away, when the Liberation took place."
"A few incidents did take place, but basically it was not a conflict between the two armies, which is very different from the liberation in other places like Hyderabad," he added.
