Page 58 - NIS English 16-30 June 2022
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India@75 Azadi Ka Amrit Mahotsav
PURUSHOTTAM KAKODKAR: BALA RAYA MAPARI: THE
A TRUE KONKANI HERO FIRST MARTYR FOR GOA'S
INDEPENDENCE
Born on May 18, 1913; Died on May 2, 1998
urushottam Kakodkar Born: January 8, 1929; Died: February 15, 1955
Pis a prominent figure
in Goa's liberation oa's freedom fighter, Bala Raya Mapari,
movement and post- Ga member of the Azad Gomantak Dal,
independence history. He was a Goa freedom fighter who gave his
led underground activities life for Goa's independence from the
during the Quit India Portuguese.
Movement. Kakodkar was He is regarded as the first martyr of
imprisoned for his participation in Mahatma the Goa freedom struggle. Mapari, who
Gandhi's civil disobedience movement. He was born in Asonora, Bardez taluk in Goa,
was a Gandhian freedom fighter, social was an active member of the revolutionary
activist, and a true Konkani hero. He also organisation Azad Gomantak Dal, whose
lived at the Gandhi Sevagram Ashram in goal was to free Goa from the clutches
Wardha, making him one of the few Goans of the Portuguese. Revolutionaries once
to have had direct contact with Gandhi. stormed the Asonora police station,
When Dr. Ram Manohar Lohia founded the kidnapped the cops, and looted their
Goa Liberation Movement in Goa in 1946, weapons and ammunition. The Portuguese
he joined it and was imprisoned. In 1943, he police identified Bala Raya Mapari as the
and other supporters of Goa's independence, main suspect in the attack on the police
formed the Goa Seva Sangh. Through this, he station. He was eventually apprehended
installed a new spirit in the Goans and began in February 1955. Mapari was subjected to
preparing them for the liberation struggle. severe torture during his arrest. Mapari, on
In June 1946, Purushottam Kakodkar the other hand, was not one to break up and
and Vasant Kare first met Dr. Ram Manohar refused to give the police any confidential
Lohia at Juliao Menezes' house in Assolna. information about other freedom fighters.
This meeting on June 18th sowed the seeds He was brutally tortured in jail and was
of Goa's civil liberties struggle. On August martyred on February 15, 1955.
9th, 1946, he was arrested by Portuguese The Goa Liberation Movement is
police for his hyperactivity regarding Goa's assumed to have claimed the lives of 68
independence, and he was court martialled people. Maya Raya Mopari was the first of
on September 27th, 1946. Purushottam these people to be martyred, and he was
Kakodkar, known affectionately as "Bhau," the youngest at the time. Even today, Bala
was then deported to Portugal. Raya Mapari is remembered with pride in
In 1956, he was released from a Goa's independence history, and his name
Portuguese prison. Not only that, but his is held in high regard. On the occasion
love for Goa can be seen in the fact that of Goa Liberation Day celebrations on
when he thought Goa could be merged with December 19, 2021, Prime Minister
Maharashtra, he raised the issue of opinion Narendra Modi remembered Bala Raya
polls. Because of him, the Center was forced Mapari and said, "The sacrifices of youth
to conduct an opinion poll in Goa in 1967, like Bala Raya Mapari, how many of our
preventing a merger. Purushottam Kakodkar fighters agitated even after independence,
was also the founding president of the Goa suffered pains, sacrificed, but did not let
Konkani Academy in 1984. Kakodkar died in
Mumbai on May 2, 1998. this movement stop." g
56 New India Samachar June 16-30, 2022
