MUMBAI: PM Narendra Modi on Sunday said that Goa would have been liberated from Portuguese rule much earlier had Sardar Vallabhbhai Patel lived for some more years.
“Had Sardar lived a little longer, Goa would have been liberated much earlier,” Modi said. He was speaking at an event to commemorate the Goa Liberation Day, observed on December 19 annually to mark the day Indian armed forces freed the coastal state from Portuguese rule in 1961.
Modi also lauded freedom fighters, including those from outside Goa, who fought for the state’s freedom. When India got Independence, they still continued the fight to liberate Goa, he added. “They ensured that the struggle to liberate Goa did not end after India’s independence,” he said.
Modi on Sunday inaugurated multiple development projects in Goa, including the renovated Fort Aguada Jail Museum, the super-speciality Block at Goa Medical College, the South Goa District Hospital, an aviation skill development centre at Mopa Airport, and a gas-insulated substation at Davorlim in Navelim. Earlier, he felicitated Operation Vijay veterans and offered tribute at the martyrs’ memorial in Azad Maidan, Panaji.
Modi said, “Goa came under Portuguese rule when a major part of the country was being ruled by the Mughals. But even centuries later, neither Goa has forgotten its Indianness, nor India has forgotten its Goa…Some time ago, I went to Italy and Vatican City. There I also had the opportunity to meet Pope Francis. I invited him to visit India, to which Pope Francis said, ‘This is the greatest gift you have given me.’ This is his love for India’s diversity and our radiant democracy.”