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