‘There are times when madness reigns
And then it is the best who hang’– Albrecht Haushoffer – [7 January 1903 – 23 April 1945, German geographer, diplomat, author and faced martyrdom for his resistance to Nazism]
Uday Bhembre, the 87 year old widely respected Konkani writer – son of a legendary freedom fighter Laxmikant Bhembre- who has been a Sahitya Akademi Awardee- is a worried man these days.
What he has discovered to his dismay that his courage to speak the truth and challenge a narrative being peddled by the ruling dispensation – especially its Chief Minister – regarding well established facts of Goa’s own history would lead to protests, led by rightwing formations and many among them trespassing his house at night and pressurising him to issue public apology. (1)
Not very many people outside Goa know how this great writer – was even a MLA – Member of Legislative Assembly (84-89), had neglected his literary career – to fight for rights of Konkani language and also against attempts to merge Goa into Maharashtra itself, to preserve its culture.
Thanks to the existence of powerful voices of resistance and a vibrant civil society in Goa, (2) significant number among them have publicly condemned these attempts to intimidate him and demanded strict action against these perpetrators and exposed the collusion of these rightwing formations with people in power. Many even went to meet the noted writer to express solidarity with him. (3)
It all started with Shiv Jayanti celebrations in Goa and Chief Minister making debatable claims about Chhatrapati Shivaji Maharaj, where he supposedly claimed that not Portugese but Shivaji Maharaj ruled over most parts of the state and Portugese rule was limited to merely three talukas. (4) he further underlined that Goans were saved from being converted to Christianity as Shivaji Maharaj ruled over most parts of the state (-do-)
What was pertrubing that it was not for the first time that such unfounded claims were made by the Chief Minister.
Few years back he had similarly claimed – incidentally during Shiv Jayanti celebrations only – that Shivaji Maharaj had been close to conquering Goa in the mid-1600s (which was a century-and-half into Portuguese rule, when the colonisers held parts of Goa territories). Had he done so, Goa would have been spared the atrocities of colonial domination ( -do-) In fact, ‘O Heraldo’ a very respected newspaper from Goa had exposed this penchant for ‘reinvention of history’ reporting the incident. (5)
As per this report itself these claims did not go unchallenged then also , with likes of Damodar Mauzo – Jnanpith Awardee literateur and Uday Bhembre himself questioning the Chief Minister’s ignorance “..[o]f the historical facts” and understanding of the issue. Underlining the greatness of Shivaji Maharaj, they had talked of RSS tactics to appropriate the Maratha leader and ‘portray him as anti-Muslim’ emphasising ‘no religion was involved in Shivaji’s actions’.
Understanding the gravity of these attempts to ‘rewrite history’ Uday Bhembre had provided details of Shivaji’s foray into Goa then, how he was known to have ‘courted hostilities as well as woven alliances with the Mughals, the sultans of Bijapur and Golconda and the colonial powers as was common of rulers and chieftains of the day,’ in an extensive interview to the reporter. He had based his arguemnts on historian P S Pissurlencar’s monograph on ‘Portuguese Mahratta Relations’ (6)which has been translated into English from its original in Marathi called ‘Portugese Marathe Sambandh’ and has been published by Maharashtra State Board for Literature and Culture ( June 1983)
As per this monograph Shivaji was after ‘Desais of Kudal’ and he resented that the Portuguese — they occupied Ilhas, Bardez, Salcette and Mormugao at the point — had provided them protection. “His quarrel was not with the Portuguese, but the Desais, who he wanted to capture and punish.”
The Portuguese resisted the attack (an interesting account of it is provided in Pissurlencar’s book: “The Ranes of Rewade, Nanode and Peirna, villages under Portuguese control on the outskirts of Bardez, were used by the Portuguese as bases against the Mahrattas.”) and Shivaji had returned to Bicholim.
Pissurlencar writes:
“…Narba Savant, a nephew of Lakham Savant, Desai of Kudal, one of those Desais who had come to Goa, having taken fright at Shivaji’s movements, went to Vengurla on 15 September 1667, caused a riot and molested the Dutch. He was accompanied by some Portuguese. The Dutch of Vengurla protested against this to the Portuguese and probably complained to Shivaji also. These Desais who were sheltered in Bardez often returned to their original seats of power (vatans) and terrorised people in the neighbouring territory controlled by Shivaji. In order to capture them and also punish the Portuguese who had harboured them, Shivaji dispatched an army of 1,000 cavalry and 5,000 infantry to Bardez on 19/20 November 1667.”
Underlining the overwhelming attempts to present Shivaji as a nationalist icon, Bhembre in his very interview had said that Shivaji was more a “guerilla warrior” more interested to expand his reach and territories.He also talked about Shivaji’s pragmatism in ‘striking up military alliances’, in fact, soon after this attack, in December of 1667 he had signed a treaty with the Portuguese, committing to return “all that he has carried away from Bardez”. asking for Portuguese help to build his navy. (all references based on the above mentioned”O Heraldo’ article )
It may appear incomprehensible to scholars and activists to unpack the ‘intimidatory tactics’ adopted by the Hindutva formations this time when there is no qualitative difference between how Chief Minister Sawants unfounded claims to carve out a ‘suitable’ Shivaji as per convenience of Hindutva’s worldview did not go unchallenged then also. May be it has to do with the growing audacity of the larger Hindutva Parivar and plethora of its affiliated organisations, after the ascent of a Hindutva Supremacist formation at the Centre for third consecutive third time ( albeit with a reduced majority)
Coming back to the protests targetting Uday Bhembre this time it need be mentioned that these protesters allegedly associated with Bajrang Dal were targetting his You Tube presentation this time (7) In this presentation Uday Bhembre had underlined many of those things which he had mentioned earlier discussed in Dr Pissurlekar’s book
One, Shivaji never ruled over Goa. He never conquered any territory in the state.
Two, Shivaji, at least outwardly, had good relations with the Portuguese because they had a common enemy. So much so that when Shivaji decided to build his Navy, he requested the Portuguese to give him craftsmen. The Portuguese gave him the craftsmen, who built 20 ships
Third, on the claim that Shivaji stopped the conversions, he was more forthright, emphasising that it is wrong to assume this.The conversions started in 1540, whereas Shivaji was born in 1630. I asked ‘how much time will it take [for conversions] in only four talukas, where the population was less than 2 lakhs?’ So, Shivaji never interfered with that and if Shivaji had done that, he would not have approached the Portuguese for craftsmen…The conversions continued even after Shivaji’s death,”
It remains to be seen whether Goa’s Chief Minister would be ready to take action on the police complaint filed by Uday Bhembre against these tresspassers or at least stick to facts – not unverified claims – in future meetings while talking history.
What was obvious that in a hurry to push this narrative chief minister did not even bother to look at websites / blogs which are associated the government itself, which themselves seem to counter CM Sawant’s outlandish claims, further presenting him in rather poor light
Here is one website which is associated with Department of Information and Publicity (8) tell us :
..In 1510, the Portuguese defeated the ruling Bijapur kings with the help of a local ally, Timayya, leading to the establishment of a permanent settlement in Velha Goa (or Old Goa)… On 19 December 1961, the Indian army with Operation Vijay resulted in the annexation of Goa ..(-do)
The North Goa district administration tells its readers (9) a similar story :
Goa was under Portuguese rule for about 450 years. Afonso de Albuqureque, first portuguese attacked Goa and occupied it. Due to Portuguese rule over Goa, here Christian religion spread very fast.
One can similarly look at more such websites and blogs to discern the links further.
The likes of Pramod Sawant’s undue haste in ‘rewriting history’ – which (as mentioned earlier presents them in poor light’) – also prohibits them to look at the much more nuanced history which unfolds around us.
Such people would be rather shocked to know the ‘Portuguese contributions to Peshwa might.’ The well documented monograph by Pissurlencar titled Portuguese Mahratta Relations’ throws light on it also. (10)
By 1788, ..there were about 100 Portuguese and over 200 Goan Catholic soldiers enlisted in the Peshwa army. They were recruited for their knowledge of artillery, something the Marathas had failed to master, and gunners in the army were handsomely rewarded in comparison to other soldiers. “In the seventeenth century, every European in India was supposed to be an artillery expert,” writes Romesh C Butalia in The Evolution of the Artillery in India. Dom Noronha, a prominent Portuguese officer born in Goa, is said to have been behind Madhavrao’s gift.[-do]
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Any close watcher of the Goa situation knows that attempts to silence the courageous voice Uday Bhembre are no exception. Merely one and half month back another Sahitya Akademi winner Datta Naik, who was similarly in the crosshairs of the Hindutva formations who charged him with ‘hurting religious sentiments [11] or how names of Damodadar Mauzo and few others were found in the hit list prepared by Hindutva terrorists who were nabbed few years before (12) The targeting of renowned writer Uday Bhembre and the intimidatory tactics being adopted to silence him also demands that voices across the country and the entire subcontinent should also unitedly condemn such moves and pressurise the government to nab the perpetrators.
Subhash Gatade is a left activist associated with New Socialist Initiative
Ref
- [https://www.thegoan.net/goa-news/hindu-activists-lodge-complaint-against-datta-naik/124248.html#google_vignette ; https://www.newsclick.in/Jnanpith-Award-Damodar-Mauzo-Right-Wing-Extremism]
- 7. [https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QFPEYXvAHHw ; ZAGOR E32: Shivaji Maharaj and C.M.’s Ignorance by Uday Bhembre].
- 10 (https://scroll.in/magazine/861503/the-225th-anniversary-of-a-pune-church-is-a-reminder-of-a-forgotten-portugese-peshwa-connection)
12. https://www.newsclick.in/Jnanpith-Award-Damodar-Mauzo-Right-Wing-Extremism]
