For Goans, Goa is the place to be

We have the old slogan ‘Goa for Goans’. From it another truth follows: “Goans should be in Goa”. You cannot claim Goa by sitting elsewhere. Emigration has removed the very gut of our land, society and community. There were different waves of Goan emigration. I do not propose to chronicle them.

It is supposed to have started in the early 19th century when Goans were discovered by the British as suitable people to serve in different parts of their empire. Later around 1839, Goan students went on scholarships to study in Portugal. The migration to different parts of the British Empire continued throughout the 18th and 19th century. In the mid 20th century with the Gulf boom, Goans started to migrate to the Gulf. When British East Africa became free, many Goans did not come to Goa in the 1970s but many, often their children, went to UK and other parts of the English speaking world.

Soon after liberation, hordes of Goans, mostly Government servants resigned their jobs and with their families went to Portugal, thereby changing the entire face and configuration of the Goan bureaucracy and society, particularly of Panaji.

After the Governor General and the Secretary General (Secretário Geral), the latter being a Goan, there were left the senior most government officials holding the next higher ranks who stayed back. Likewise, many Goan judges educated in Portugal, stayed back, though they had a fully assured career in Portugal. They all knew that Goans belong to Goa and Goans should stay in Goa. Another striking example is Dr Wilfred de Souza, a double FRCS from London and Edinburg with his English wife returned and settled in Goa in 1963; the rest is known to all.

There are many reasons for leaving Goa. The most common one is that there are no opportunities here. My answer to that is: “What are 8 lakh non-Goans doing here? Not only they have opened all types of businesses but they have taken up all types of jobs from the highest to the lowest. There are also many sections of Goans themselves who continue in Goa, particularly in government service. I have seen and heard from the horse’s mouth, the grievances and the work my fellow Goans are doing elsewhere.

It is better to earn less with honour and dignity in your own house, village and land, then to earn more in another man’s country. England is for the Englishman, Portugal is for the Portuguese, Canada for Canadians and Australia for Australians. For Goans, Goa is the place to be, with her heat, dust, bad roads and 'rogue' politicians. If things are wrong here it is your duty to stay here, alongwith the others who are fighting with their back to the wall.

Goans are Indians; not Europeans. Many have retired and are receiving their pension, comfortably settled in foreign countries. Why can't they return? Many want to run, govern, correct, criticize and rectify Goa by whatsapp or email. Sorry! Its not possible and not morally permissible. You have no right to issue directions and corrections in respect of the land you have deserted. There are thousands of unsold flats in Goa, please buy one, surrender your foreign nationality, whatever it is, regain your Indian nationality, get yourself enrolled in the electoral roll of your village, vote for the right party, then only call yourself a Goan.

Persons who give up their nationality and have their names struck off the electoral roll are committing a very grave act. It is disowning of your identity. It is denationalization of Goans at the highest and at the worst.

Goa is without Goans. Goa is dying, Goans have become ‘locals’. This is because of shameless migration. Many come here in a hurry to put their ancestral documents in order…for the purpose of selling their property to outsiders.

Some say their children are no longer interested in coming here. What else do you expect? You have made it that way. Some people have seen their children grow into atheists. They don’t go to church and marry people of the strangest races. I don’t know if anybody has become a homosexual or lesbian. Of course, I know of people living together without getting married.

One thinker has defended the great migration as being a search for social mobility. Indeed it is. But, I dare say, after 1961 tenants became owners of their landlords’ land, mundkars became owners of their houses and adjoining land. The common man has taken over the Fabricas and Confrarias of the churches, local bodies (Panchayats) and the Assembly. Every government job, teaching, commercial employment, and every other kind of occupation (including priest and nun) is open to everyone. What more social mobility is required?

Some people say they are going for higher education. Today in India we get the highest and best education in each and every area, there is no need to go abroad. One can understand if somebody goes to Oxford, Cambridge, Harvard and Yale, but not to some third rate university in a foreign country. Still I can understand somebody studying and coming back to Goa or at least to India. Many studied abroad in the past to live in and serve their land.

Don’t cry for Goa with crocodile tears if you are not prepared to stay in it.  There could be a law like the Evacuee Property Act, to take over properties of Goans who left. In the West, Europe and other countries, right wing movements are already on, targeting immigrants.

Giving up ones nationality is a profound act of denial. No Indian should do it. Everyman belongs somewhere according to his race, culture, religion, language and so on; and everyone knows where he belongs. A passport is just an official document, nationality is in the heart.

Closer home we have the story of Bombay, a city of Englishmen, Parsees, Gujaratis, and people from all parts of India including Goans. Maharashtrians were not in control of the city, but in the last 50 years, the Maharashtrians fought their way and took control of the city at all levels and finally changed its name. It is not possible to claim, reclaim, or save Goa from abroad.

The Portuguese Consulate should restrict itself to issuing visas and must be forbidden from handling Portuguese nationality applications. This should have been done 30 years back, otherwise the said Consulate should be closed down.