• President Droupadi Murmu tweeted her greetings to the nation on 19 December, marking Goa Liberation Day. The day is celebrated annually to mark the success of ‘Operation Vijay’ undertaken by the Indian armed forces to defeat Portuguese colonial forces and liberate Goa in 1961.
• “On Goa Liberation Day, I convey my greetings to all fellow citizens, especially the people of Goa. We pay homage to the freedom fighters who fought for liberation of Goa from colonial rule. We salute our armed forces for their valour. My best wishes to the people of the state,” Murmu tweeted.

What is the history of Goa’s colonisation by European powers?

• The Portuguese colonial presence in Goa began in 1510, when Afonso de Albuquerque defeated the ruling Bijapur king with the help of a local ally, Timayya, and subsequently established a permanent settlement in Velha Goa (or Old Goa).
• Over the following centuries, the Portuguese fought frequent battles with the Marathas and the Deccan sultanates. During the Napoleonic Wars, Goa was briefly occupied by the British between 1812 and 1815. In 1843, the capital was moved to Panjim from Velha Goa.
• Goa was Portugal’s most prized possession in India and the biggest territory in Estado da India Portuguesa or the Portuguese empire in India. Portuguese colonial rule also saw the advent and growth of Christianity in Goa. Over time, the Portuguese lost most of the territories in the Estado but retained Goa until well after India itself had thrown off the yoke of the British Raj.

What was the movement for Goa’s independence?

• By the turn of the twentieth century, Goa had started to witness an upsurge of nationalist sentiment opposed to Portugal’s colonial rule, in sync with the anti-British nationalist movement in the rest of India. Leaders such Tristão de Bragança Cunha, celebrated as the father of Goan nationalism, founded the Goa National Congress at the Calcutta session of the Indian National Congress in 1928.
• In 1946, the socialist leader Ram Manohar Lohia led a historic rally in Goa that gave a call for civil liberties and freedom, and eventual integration with India, which became a watershed moment in Goa’s freedom struggle.
• On the other hand, the Azad Gomantak Dal, co-founded by Prabhakar Sinari, was willing to try more aggressive methods. But a variety of factors prevented Goan independence from happening immediately.
• “The trauma of Partition and the massive rupture that followed, coupled with the war with Pakistan, kept the Government of India from opening another front in which the international community could get involved. Besides, it was Gandhi’s opinion that a lot of groundwork was still needed in Goa to raise the consciousness of the people, and the diverse political voices emerging within should be brought under a common umbrella first,” Prof Rahul Tripathi of the Department of Political Science in Goa University, wrote in The Indian Express earlier.

How was independence achieved?

• Post-1947, Portugal refused to negotiate with independent India on the transfer of sovereignty of their Indian enclaves. Prime Minister Jawaharlal Nehru was keen that Goa should be integrated by diplomatic means. After Portugal became part of the US-led Western military alliance NATO (North Atlantic Treaty Organisation) in 1949, Goa too became part of the anti-Soviet alliance by extension. Fearing a collective Western response to a possible attack on Goa, the Indian government continued to lay stress on diplomacy.
• In his 1955 Independence Day speech, Nehru was critical of the satyagraha movement in Goa. However, the Indian government reacted sharply to an incident of firing on satyagrahis, and snapped ties with Portugal. Scholars have pointed out that as India aggressively championed the Non-Aligned Movement, decolonisation, and anti-imperialism as pillars of its policy, the continuation of colonial rule in Portugal became increasingly unsustainable.

What was ‘Operation Vijay’?

• The Indian government finally declared that Goa should join India “either with full peace or with full use of force”. 18 and 19 December 1961 saw a full-fledged military operation termed ‘Operation Vijay’, which was carried out with little resistance and an instrument of surrender was signed, leading to Goa’s annexation by India.