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HT This Day: August 18, 1955 -- Beginning of the epic march
News was available here today that Goans, including prominent citizens, inside Goa repeatedly offered satyagraha on August 15 despite the imposition of martial law there and that there were also large-scale demonstrations by the people.
News was available here today that Goans, including prominent citizens, inside Goa repeatedly offered satyagraha on August 15 despite the imposition of martial law there and that there were also large-scale demonstrations by the people.
This disclosure was made by the Prime Minister in the Lok Sabha and the Home Minister in the Rajya Sabha.
According to the statements, which were by and large identical about 70 Goans, who offered satyagraha in batches of six, were arrested and released later, but not before they had been given severe beatings. They were, of course, apart from the hundreds of satyagrahis who crossed the border in the teeth of bullets and batons.
Great importance attaches to the disclosure inasmuch as the Portuguese authorities have been tr)4ng to mislead world opinion by saying that the people inside Goa are not behind the freedom struggle. Dispatches appearing in some of the foreign papers have also been referring only to satyagraha by persons from outside.
Reports of the demonstrations inside Goa also give some details of the fast-moving scene there.
According to a P.T.I. message received late tonight from Belgaum, Portuguese police opened fire on villagers of Hedus, about half a mile inside Sasoli border, because they co-operated with Indian satyagrahis who entered the village on August 15. The satyagrahis occupied the village for seven and a half hours hoisted the Indian Bag and declared the village’s merger with India.
Fire was also opened on Tuesday by Portuguese police on the people of Ibrahimpur who had hoisted the Indian flag and declared themselves free from foreign rule.
A message from Karwar says 36 Goans offered satyagraha in batches in Margao, chief commercial centre of Goa on August 15. A batch of seven took out a procession from the Margeo railway station to the cloth market.
A crowd of over 3,000 witnessed the batches of satyagrahis who shouted anti-Portuguese slogans and attempted to hoist the Indian Bag at various places. The satyagrahis were arrested and severely beaten during and after arrest.
The statements by Mr Nehru and Pandit Pant said the Goans offered satyagraha in and around Marmagoa, Goa’s capital. They carried the Indian flag. They were beaten severely, both before and after the arrest.
SATYAGRAHA DETAILS
There were demonstrations throughout the day and satyagraha was repeatedly offered in the market place, near the municipal hall, near the model school and in the public maidan, they added.
Indian flags were put up by the citizens at many places. Posters and handbills saying “Jai Hind” and “ Viva Goa “ were distributed widely.
The statements, it was pointed out, were based on lengthy, telephonic reports received by the Government of India from the Bombay Government.
The Prime Minister and the Home Minister also gave fuller details regarding the satygrahis who had entered Goa on August 15.
According to information received, 1,711 persons had entered Goa on that day. The total number accounted for was 1,601, including a few bodies of those who had fallen. The total number of the missing was 20 some of whom had perhaps been shot down. Others were detained, or in hospital in Goa.
On the Daman border, 1,249 persons had gone in and 1,244 had come back, including seven injured. There were four persons missing and one dead. The most authentic information reaching the Government showed that 14 persons had died in all. They presumed that six or seven more had died although there was no authentic information about it. Thirteen persons were severely wounded and 24 missing.
MISLEADING REPORTS
The Home Minister also referred to reports spread by interested parties that Indian troops were on the border. He said: “It has been reported, presumably on information given by the Portuguese authorities that the Indian Army has assembled on the borders of Goa. This is utterly false and unfounded. The report, I am afraid, has been circulated deliberately to mislead world opinion.”
A report in one of the London papers said on August 15 that “reaction here (in Goa) to the Indian blockade, which is having a serious effect on the economy, is becoming increasingly bitter.” Comments in the lobbies were that if the Government of India had not imposed on economic blockade so far it was because of their concern for the people there and that if trade relations had almost come to a standstill it was because of the actions of the Portuguese administration.
Reference was, for instance, made to the circumstances under which the train services had to be suspended and the reaction of the dock workers when they knew that some of the ships they had to clear also touched Panjim port. It was stated that the people of Goa were aware of these and that the repeated satyagraha by them on In, dependence Day showed their true reaction.
