No
strangers to referenda, even as Brexit is reminiscent of the 1967 Opinion Poll
to Goans, the two are far from being alike.
Indeed, it was just a generation ago that
Goans saw their fate decided by a referendum. The January 1967 Opinion Poll,
which followed the 1961 annexation of Goa by India, allowed Goans to elect
whether their homeland would be merged with the adjoining state of Maharashtra.
My parents’ generation decided that Goa and Goans deserved to preserve their
own cultural identity as reflected by the vote for the region’s geographic
insularity. Nearly a half-century later, the fate of many Goans once again
hangs in the balance as the results of another referendum on another continent
are announced. The Brexit poll has concluded and, by a very slim majority, the
people of the United Kingdom have chosen to leave the European Union.
On the surface, the polls may seem similar
even though five decades separate them. Both the Opinion Poll and Brexit were
about a decision to be part of a union, even if the former was to initiate a merger
while the latter was to leave one. Nonetheless, the Opinion Poll sought to
further undermine the autonomy of Goan people by seeking to obliterate the
geopolitical boundary that, if nothing else, gave Goans a distinct cartographic
location within the Indian union.
![](https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhh3x0BZp0Tu58Wn3vYjBbPBsrQJKpoBf3G3pFRVq1ugSs0yp3-CLLOA3hKPe4qbrDhhiymSEgeDOnnkCeKMQGm9GTBYQHeefEcPC9SrfDFifLrmcbyHoUVOEzWBTq7bBvXhyWPy-orA1Pw/s200/b2.gif)
However, even as these caste fractures
within Goa are obfuscated, what the Opinion Poll further sought to occlude was
that though it was a democratic exercise, it was one within a limited gamut.
Goans were being given a choice in 1967 – a belated one that should have been
theirs in 1961: not whether they should or should not merge with Maharashtra,
but whether they should be part of the now-independent, formerly British India
or not. If anything, the Opinion Poll was a means for India to further
establish its hold over Goa through the charade of democracy.
![](https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjbDW-QLQEjpCg6_rYAEzQ9ubqzGFPfWXD520a243xm_NwNJJRMDw7e0vhWX2nmbPAYs80iV1UwNiOXb-4wNgm2FU1XIQVj7Xv010J2RiCbF8CxbSWYX3jVXwmoiOZOSzPUiyVbteYBespY/s320/b4.jpg)
![](https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj8j94JOuWeKAlZfQSRF-oXDR6cVYBwsmCRnziB9u1iNsDFngCWUg9YhzMoaFz1AQP5Y7EgwuYgv8M1A_IejbWrdPyigEeui7gKS6FgzP207Mt8yjSDrgucUC633L2_WOiRSKAMBz-nrS5l/s200/b3.jpg)
What is to become of those Goans who
continue to be Portuguese citizens in the United Kingdom? What of the many
Goans whose dreams of reacquiring Portuguese citizenship so that they could
better their opportunities may now come to a standstill? Time will tell, but it
will be a worrying wait as Europe and the rest of the world grows more
xenophobic and the labours of the once and still colonised continue to
underwrite the progress of the powerful.
From The Goan.