Panaji: It was Sep 1974. The scars of Estado da India left in 1961 had not yet been healed. The then president of Portugal, Mario Soares, wrote a letter to his counterpart in India, Indira Gandhi, to recognise Goa as an Indian territory. After nearly six months of waiting, a reply to Soares’ letter was sent by Gandhi in March 1975.
With that, a historic treaty between India and Portugal was signed on June 3, 1975, in New Delhi, officially recognising India’s sovereignty over the former Portuguese territories of Goa, Daman, Diu, Dadra and Nagar Haveli. This year, Portugal celebrates 50 years of the restoration of diplomatic ties between the two nations.
“Indira Gandhi had said that our past is our past, and our past is also our history,” said the chairman of the board of directors of Fundacao Oriente in Portugal, Carlos Monjardino.
Under the treaty, Portugal acknowledged India’s sovereignty over the territories that became part of India in 1961 after a military intervention. This formal recognition implied the abrogation of the relevant portions of the Portuguese Constitution that still claimed these regions as part of Portugal.
“Gandhi understood that we cannot just forget about the centuries-old history that we share with Goa. That was the start of a common history, and today, we have to accept it without any drama,” he told TOI.
“It took so many years for the ties to be restored because the two nations were not politically-friendly after the events of Dec 1961. The diplomatic ties were therefore not yet established at the time, until Soares initiated them,” said Goa-based academician Maria Lourdes Bravo Da Costa Rodrigues.
This year not only marks 50 years since the restoration of diplomatic ties between India and Portugal, but also the 30th anniversary of the establishment of the Fundacao Oriente in Goa, which was set up in 1995.
A Portuguese delegation led by Monjardino is currently in Goa to celebrate the two milestones.
“We are the only cultural institution that has great ties with India, and people can see the cultural cooperation between us. We came here even before the Portuguese consul and the Instituto Camoes Goa, soon after the diplomatic ties between India and Portugal were re-established,” Monjardino said.
“By being in Goa, the confluence between us, Goa and the Indian Council for Cultural Relations (ICCR) in Delhi, we are able to establish a strong relationship between India and Portugal,” he said.
English (US) ·