Goa's Accession to the Indian Union

Prakash João Maskaren. 29^th December 2002. Amended 4^th January 2003.
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Dear Friends

Sub.: Goa's Accession to the Indian Union.

I have been trying for some time to ascertain the LEGAL & CONSTITUTIONAL process by which Goa (or to give it its' former legal & constitutional name - the Estado da India Portuguesa) acceded freely, legally & constitutionally to the Indian Union.

However despite my best efforts, I have, till now, not found any such informaton... It is truly amazing how even today in our "information age" this information is not to be found anywhere...

I am absolutely certain that the insinuation made in certain quarters that there was in fact no such legal & constitutional Accession and that the Indian Union has merely occupied Goa in flagrant violation of law and morality is nothing but a malicious lie; and I am fully confident that Nehru has NOT committed / perpetrated any such criminal act of robbery and illegal occupation such as perpetrated by Pakistan in POK but I am certain that he has behaved in a proper and gentlemanly manner and procured the free, legal & constitutional Accession of the former Portuguese India.

Jawaharlal Nehru had this to say of Goa on June 4, 1956: "I want to explain myself. If the people of Goa, that is, minus the Portuguese Government, and when the Portuguese go and the people of Goa deliberately wish to retain their separate identity, I'm not going to bring them by force or coercion or compulsion in the Indian Union. I want them to come, and I'm quite certain they want to come too. But that is not the point. I merely say that my national interest involves the removal of the Portuguese from Goa, not coercion being used in bringing about the union of Goa with India although I wish it, I desire it and it is the only solution...

"That is matter ultimately for the people of Goa to decide.... I want to make perfectly clear that I have no desire to coerce Goa to join India against the wishes of the people of Goa.... But the point is that we feel that Goa's individuality should remain and that whenever the time comes for any changes, internal or other, it will be for the people of Goa acting freely to decide upon them."

(Ref.: Bonny Lubega: Goa: An African Writer's Perspective. I wish to thank Mr. Gaspar Almeida of www.goa-world.net & Moderator for TGF (The Goan Forum) and Gulf-Goans for making me aware of Lubega's five page article. ) Moreover has not Portugal, through a Goan - Dr. Mario Soares, formally acnowledged this free, legal & constitutional Accession by way of the 1975 treaty with India?

If, on the other hand, we admit this "insinuation," then the implications are truly momentuous and unbelievable: the Estado da India Portuguesa remains a legal & constitutional entity that is merely in the illegal and unconstitutional Occupation of the Indian Union!

I am absolutely certain that such cannot be the case and that just as in Hyderabad, Junagarh, Mangrol and Manavadar, Nehru would have had the proper and legal procedures fulfilled.

However I want to see the proof of this...

I would appreciate if anyone will provide me with these proofs:-

The Legal Procedure that the Estado da India Portuguesa underwent in order to Merge into the Indian Union, whether as an integral whole (Goa, Daman, Diu, Dadra & Nagar-Haveli, the Anjedive Islands;

Is the Anjedive Islands a part of the state of Goa or of Karnataka? If the latter, when and how did this change come about?

Text in entirety of the 12th Amendment to the Indian Constitution that incorporated the former Portuguese India into India;

Text in entirety of the UN Resolutions 1541 (XV) and 1542(XV), of the Security Council's motions, discussions, and resolution regarding the question of Goa and its Dependencies, in 1954-1961;

Text in entirety of the International Court of Justice decision of 1960 (?) in the matter of Portugal vs. India;

Basis of the separate accession of the enclaves of Dadra & Nagar-Haveli to the Indian Union and the legal basis and compositions of the interim administrations under the Free Dadra & Nagar-Haveli government;

Text of the enactment of the law which imposes the so-called 'Anti-Secessionist Oath' and the legal basis thereof.

Prakash John Mascarenhas