50 years of opinion poll that gave Goa an independent identity

MUMBAI: Alliance to the founding instrument of a state would seem to give a political party some serious advantage. And when a key anniversary falls during poll season, it might be imagined that more than one party would try to capitalise on it. And yet Goa’s Opinion Poll, which was held exactly 50 years ago, on 16thJanuary, 1967, has barely featured in the state’s election politics.

The Opinion Poll is the reason Goa exists as a separate state. Actual statehood happened on 30th May, 1987, when Goa gave up its union territory status (and appendages of Daman and Diu). But this would not have happened if Goa had not voted in the 1967 Opinion Poll to keep its separate status and not become absorbed into Maharashtra.

“It is strange that we celebrate Statehood Day, but not the Opinion Poll that allowed that to happen,” says Parag Parobo, professor of history at Goa University.

One reason might be the complexities of Goa’s politics. The Portuguese colonial state was dominated by Catholic elites, who spoke Portuguese and Konkani, yet the state also had a large Hindu population that spoke Marathi. After India’s takeover in 1961, the latter came to power in Goa’s first democratic elections through the Maharashtrawadi Gomantak Party (MGP) headed by Dayanand Bandodkar.

Sections of the MGP were close to politicians in Maharashtra who argued that on grounds of language and the greater efficiency of large states, Goa (and Karnataka’s Belgaum district) should be absorbed in the larger.

They encouraged a growing movement for merger, much to the alarm of Catholics and other Konkani speakers of Goa. Under the leadership of Jack Sequeira of the United Goans Party, they argued that Goa’s history and culture meant it should be kept separate Crucially, the Congress Party in Goa supported this separate status, despite the Maharashtra Congress being a strong supporter of merger.

When Sequeira gambled by asking for a referendum to settle the issue, the Goa Congress urged the new Prime Minister, Indira Gandhi, to allow it. This was the position that ultimately won, and it would seem to give the Congress a strong selling point in the current Goan elections, considering that over time Sequeira’s United Goans became a marginal player.

Yet the Congress seems to have missed the chance to use the Opinion Poll. Pratapsingh Rane, the Congress chief minister of the state multiple times and current leader of the Opposition, answered ET’s query with the cryptic response: “Sorry I was not there at that time.”

The state party president Luizinho Faleiro did not respond to queries. “I am really surprised that the Congress has not used the anniversary of the Opinion Poll,” says Parobo.

Rane’s response could, perhaps, be explained by the fact that before joining the Congress he was a prominent member of the MGP. That party had little reason to celebrate losing the Opinion Poll, even though Bandodkar’s personal popularity ensured he continued as CM until his death in 1973. Over time though, Goan politicians like Rane have switched parties and started new ones so many times that there is little real link between what the parties stood for in 1967 and where they stand today.

There is also the rise of the Bharatiya Janata Party, currently in power in the state, but barely present in 1967, in its earlier Jan Sangh avatar.

Its position then was strongly promerger – Deendayal Upadhyaya, the party ideologue much cited by the BJP today, even suggested that a referendum be ignored. In an interview with Times of India he insisted: “…if the opinion poll in Goa resulted in a 100 per cent victory for the protagonist of a separate state, the territory should be merged with Maharashtra.

“It was easy then for the BJP to ignore the history of the Opinion Poll. And given the general lack of history in Indian politics, except when it can be manipulated to suit current needs.

The state has done precious little to commemorate the Opinion Poll and the seminal event has fallen out of memory. Goa has prospered as a separate state, but almost nothing has been done to honour the event and the people who made it possible. A couple of local communities have put up statues of Sequeira but the state has not.”

One party that wants to change this is a new one. Goa Forward claims that all previous parties in Goa have ignored the actual needs of Goenkars. Remembering the event that ensured Goa’s separate status fits their programme.

Durgadas Kamat, the spokesperson of Goa Forward, says they deliberately chose to have their candidates file their papers on January 16th in honour of the Opinion Poll.“We want to remember this special day. And when we come to power we will ensure that this history is treated properly.” Fifty years on, it remains to be seen if the Opinion Poll still retains any latent emotive power in the state that was formed because of it.