Goa liberated in 1961 after freedom fighters pressured govt: CM Sawant

Panaji: Chief Minister Pramod Sawant on Tuesday said it was after immense pressure from freedom fighters that the then central government took up 'Operation Vijay' and Goa got liberated from the Portuguese rule in 1961.

Had the state got liberated when the country attained independence, its pace of development would have been much faster, Sawant said on the occasion of the Goa Revolution Day.

Goa Revolution Day is celebrated on June 18 to commemorate a public meeting held at Margao in 1946, during which freedom fighter Ram Manohar Lohia gave a clarion call for liberation.

Sawant was addressing a gathering after laying wreath at the Martyrs' memorial at Azad Maidan here in the presence of Governor P S Sreedharan Pillai, Union Minister of State for Power Shripad Naik, freedom fighters and other people.

The coastal state was liberated 14 years after India's independence, the CM noted.

"India got freedom from the British rule but Goa continued to reel under the Portuguese rule for next 14 years. If we had got liberated along with India, the pace of development would have been much faster," he said.

Sawant said Goa missed the first three finance commissions due to which the state lacked development during initial years.

"It was only after immense pressure from the freedom fighters that the then central government resorted to Operation Vijay," he said.

Goa has witnessed massive human and infrastructure development in the last 10 years after the double-engine government came to power, the CM said, referring to the BJP-led regime at the Centre and in the state.