They fought to liberate Goa and in return they are being harassed, humiliated and are being persecuted by the Bharatiya Janata Party-led coalition government in the State. AGNELO RODRIGUES speaks to veteran freedom fighters to understand their agony over the present state of affairs.

GOA WAS LIBERATED 43 years ago but over 1,500 Goan freedom fighters are still fighting. Fighting not for freedom from the Portuguese. Not for freedom from some colonial fascist regime. But fighting the systematic campaign to distort and rewrite the history of Goa’s freedom struggle by the current Bharatiya Janata Party-led government in Goa. Which is clandestinely bestowing the status of freedom fighter on its Rashtriya Swayam Sewak (RSS) workers who have no claim to the title.

In flagrant violation of guidelines, the State government last year felicitated 153 non-Goans RSS workers from across the country who had ‘participated’ in the Goa Liberation struggle during 1955-56. A function that was boycotted by the local freedom fighters here in protest.

Justifying the felicitation, Chief Minister Manohar Parrikar said that thousands of people outside Goa had played a role in the state’s freedom movement and their contribution had gone unrecognised. “Their moral support provided the requisite boost to the liberation movement.”

IN MUTE TESTIMONY: Though this memorial is in recognition of the struggle of freedom fighters the government actions suggest otherwise.

Mere moral support cannot be the criteria for bestowing the status of freedom fighter on someone, decries veteran freedom fighter Prabhakar Sinari. In that case most of the Goans within Goa during the freedom struggle should be eligible for the status of Swantra Sainiks, he argues. So who are the fake freedom fighters? Plenty, and the list is growing, discloses Nagesh Karmali, another staunch freedom fighter.

NON-FREEDOM FIGHTERS

WHAT IS A very obvious case of manipulation is the inclusion of people like Arti Dutta, Habib Noor from Madhya Pradesh and Shakuntala Umath who were just just nine, eleven and twelve years old respectively during the 1955 satyagraha, as the list released on occasion of Liberation Day, last year reveals. “Which parent would send their children to the front,” asks Sinari.

But this is not a new phenomena. The fake freedom fighter imbroglio dates back to the tenure of the first chief minister of Goa Dayanand Badodkar, he reveals. During that time, it was V N Lawande who controlled the freedom fighters lobby which displeased Bandodkar. And in order to gain control of the Freedom Fighters Association, he put in a thousand odd fake names of his ‘chamchas’ as freedom fighters. And that is how today we have freedom fighters in Goa who had not even seen the Goan borders during that time, says the very agitated Karmali. If the government probes the matter it will open a Pandora’s box, he ominously predicts.

The guidelines for recognition of Freedom fighters and the extension of Central pension to them are very precise. The guidelines specify that only the person who “has been sentenced to imprisonment for not less than six months, or sentenced to death, or died after release from detention from injuries sustained in detention, or became permanently incapacitated due to such participation,” could apply for the status of freedom fighter.

Shockingly the erstwhile BJP led NDA government sought to confer the hallowed privilege on 4,000 people from neighbouring Maharashtra comprising those who had merely participated in the rallies held in Pune and other parts of Maharashtra or courted arrest for a day. Veteran freedom fighters are appalled that such acts of tokenism which are purely symbolic and marginal should be sought to be equated with those who had made great sacrifices. This sought to belittle the struggle of genuine freedom fighters.

ARBITRARY PENSIONS

IN A LETTER to the Prime Minister, freedom fighters from Goa have described the decision to sanction Swatantra Sainik Samman Pension to 4,000 people from neighbouring Maharashtra as ‘‘arbitrary’’.

Freedom fighters Nagesh Karmali and Prabhakar Sinari believe it is an injustice to the real freedom fighters if they are treated on par with those who had not even participated for a single day in the struggle. The government has decided to grant pension following a demand by Ram Tupe, president of Akhil Bharatiya Goa Swatantra Sangram Sangh, who claimed that apart from these 4,000 freedom fighters from Maharashtra, there were 6,000 others whose cases should be considered. The Sangh is affiliated to the RSS. The petition says the satyagrahis from Maharashtra and other states were prevented from entering Goa due to the ban imposed by the then Bombay state government on the instructions of then Prime Minister Jawaharlal Nehru. None of the 4,000 are eligible as per the guidelines as they did not undergo extraordinary suffering or make any major sacrifices, says the petition.

Contrary to the claims of the saffron brigade, only around 20 volunteers from the RSS had joined for a week or two but they were removed from Nagar Haveli following an incident in which a priest of a local church was assaulted, the signatories said.

While the Parrikar government, in collusion with the erstwhile central government, had been seeking to bestow benefits on pseudo freedom fighters it has grossly neglected genuine ones. The government has been callously indifferent to legitimate demands of the freedom fighters. On the contrary it has chosen to harass and humiliate them.

PAIN AND REGRET

TAKE THE CASE of the Late Dr Jose Francisco Martins who was so frustrated and embittered with the state government machinery for the treatment meted out to him at the Porvorim police station that he is reported to have stated “I regret the day I took up the fight against the Portuguese. I wish I had the sense then to do the opposite”. He was dragged to the police station in his shorts and was continuously ‘harassed’ over a complaint lodged against him concerning a property matter . This shows the extent to which genuine freedom fighters are distressed and pained over the insensitivity of the government.

These remarks by late Dr Martins which were first brought to light by Goa Su-Raj Party President Floriano Lobo, just after the incident, did not evoke any reaction. But recently when Lobo reposted the remarks on the net after the demise of Dr Martins it stirred a controversy. There were angry claims that Dr Martins could never have expressed such a sentiment. Floriano explains that he made Dr Martin’s statement public not to denigrate the Late Dr Martins but to dramatise how badly the Parrikar government had treated such a veteran and respected freedom fighter.

Dr Martins is not an isolated case. Earlier this month the police arrested freedom fighters and their children who were protesting the government’s apathy towards implementing norms of reservations of jobs. “We had gathered next to the Secretariat. After paying our respects to the martyrs on the occasion of Quit India Movement, we voiced our demand for job opportunities for our children. Suddenly some policemen came in a jeep and demanded that we stop agitating and that we could not meet the Chief Minister. Without any provocation all of us were arrested and taken to the Porvorim police station,” complained Vasanta Molio, President of the Goa Freedom Fighters Association. “Our respect is being hurt. What law have we broken?” he asked. Though they were released the same evening, the CM stayed mum on the incident.

It is a stipulated norm both at the centre and the state that the children of those who had suffered in the freedom struggle were to get job reservations in government departments. But when President of the Goa Freedom Fighters Association, Molio alongwith other freedom fighter demanded this legitimate due it was sought to be distorted. An impression was created that freedom fighters were greedy and seeking more and more privileges for themselves.

NEVERENDING DEMANDS

THE TRUTH IS actually the opposite. The freedom fighters are not asking for new concessions but only the implementation of the existing provisions and as a matter of urgency as the children of many of the freedom fighters were approaching the age of 40, which is the cut off age for government jobs. “We are not asking for jobs for our grandchildren as they are making it out to be,” Molio stated.

He was bitter over the fact that out of the 97 government departments only seven of them have followed the guidelines. In Parrikar’s ambitious pre-employment scheme only seven drivers were selected from this category. “We are even being denied by the government what we rightfully deserve,” he added.

Worst still, there are freedom fighters whose contribution is not even acknowledged. Among them is Libia Lobo Sardesai who, along with her husband Waman Sardesai, ran an underground radio station “Voz de Liberdade” (Voice of Freedom) for over six years. While her husband was granted recognition her application is still on wait list. And as she puts it “I am a freedom fighter in my own right and not just the wife of a freedom fighter.” Apart from not being honoured for her contribution she also found herself being disenfranchised during the recently concluded Lok Sabha elections. Is it a case of gender discrimination or another case of the government’s indifferent attitude towards genuine freedom fighters? Libya is not an exception. There are many others who were part of the Azad Gomantak Dal, the militant organization, who are still awaiting recognition.

When asked about the freedom fighters whose applications are still pending before the scrutiny committee for years together, Molio said “that nearly 2275 applications were received by the Home Department as of 1989. Then last year the government discarded the earlier applications and asked for fresh ones. Out of these fresh applications nearly 400 are cleared by the scrutiny committee and Parrikar has promised once agian to endorse it in the next two months.” The credentials of many of the new applicants are suspect.

Like Libia there are scores of others who are angered by the government’s lackadaisical attitude towards genuine freedom fighters while fake freedom fighters are masquerading as genuine ones. The freedom fighter’s list has become  a free for all. State and government pension is all they are hungry for.

Veteran freedom fighter Bonifacio Dias sums it all up. “With the state doling out a pension of Rs 2000 and the Centre over Rs 4100 (the exact amount depends on the percentage of Dearness Allowance), the fakes are taking maximum benefit,” he avers. Along with this come additional perks like medical reimbursement, allocation of government land, free rail travel plus an attendant and of course the authority to nominate a dependant for a government job. It would also make them eligible to apply for a petrol pump or an LPG agency under the discretionary quota.

Going by this its worthwhile being a freedom fighter. The more fake the better. And as the late Dr. Francisco Martins put it in his book In search of self-fulfillment: “With regard to the freedom struggle, the seed of revolt against oppression was planted in my heart early in life, and it grew in proportion to the growth of my patriotism. Today, though my patriotism has not waned, the desire to participate in political action has weakened in course of time. In view of the post-independence scenario in which self-seeking has become the only motive of all those in politics, in contrast with the self-sacrifice which we freedom fighters offered on the altar of freedom. The betrayal by present-day politicians of all those ideals which inspired the freedom fighters in India and even in Goa, pains me very much.

However, as far as my patriotic work is concerned, I am happy that when my country needed me I went promptly to serve her, leaving aside all my personal affairs [....] Though the trends in today’s politics seem irreversible, yet I am not very pessimistic. I hope that a time for reform of our politics will come, when the young generation will reject and wipe out all that the present politicians stand for, and will start the country’s political life with a clean slate.”

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