From 50 Years Ago: Portuguese Possessions

While the merger of Dadra and Nagar-Haveli with the Indian Union is a matter for satis-faction, the fact that the bigger Portuguese possessions in India like Goa, Diu and Daman are still suffering under alien tyran-ny, more severe than ever is a source of continuing concern to the nation. Fourteen years have passed since the mightiest imperial power in the world withdrew from India and yet a tiny despotism like that of Portugal is still clinging defiantly to little pockets in this country and brazenly calling them integral parts of Portugal. This provides a strange commentary indeed on Indian forbearance and Indian reluctance to use force to deal with a problem which could be settled in no time on that basis… Events in Angola in West Africa have shown how ruthless the Portuguese oppressors can be in dealing with any attempt at rebellion, and the methods employed by them in crush-ing individual or group demonstrations of resistance over the years in Goa itself have painfully underlined the tragic futility of such protests… Time for Action …Equally encouraging is the realisation in high quarters that the solution of the problem cannot be left to the terrorised people of Goa or to bands of volunteers proceeding from India to the enclave to encounter torture or death and that indeed the only way to end Portuguese obduracy is for Government to take action on its own… This certainly represents an improvement on the old thinking, but the issue still hinges on when time could be considered ripe for taking the necessary action…