Goemkarponn Desk
PANAJI: PANAJI: Chief Minister Pramod Sawant said on Tuesday that Operation Vijay, which the central government launched in 1961 to free Goa from Portuguese domination, was necessary as a result of intense pressure from the independence fighters.
Speaking on the occasion of Goa Revolution Day, Sawant added that the state would have advanced far more quickly if Goa had been freed along with India. Otherwise, we would not have missed the three financial commissions.
Goa was freed fourteen years after India gained its independence, he recalled. Following the placing of a wreath on the Martyrs’ memorial at Azad Maidan in Panaji, Sawant addressed the assembly in front of liberation warriors, Governor P S Sreedharan Pillai, and Minister of State for Power Shripad Naik.
Dr. Ram Manohar Lohia, a renowned nationalist and freedom warrior who bravely opposed British control, arrived in Goa on June 18, 1946, and declared the state’s demand for independence from colonial administration.
“India was freed from British domination, but Goa remained a victim of Portuguese rule for the next fourteen years.”
The rate of development would have been substantially faster if we had to be freed concurrently with India,” he remarked.
Sawant brought up the fact that Goa failed its first three finance commissions, which prevented the state from developing in its early years.
“The central government had to use Operation Vijay only after facing tremendous pressure from the freedom fighters,” he stated.
The chief minister claimed that the state has seen enormous human and infrastructure since last 10 years after double engine government came to power in the centre and in Goa
