Panaji, July 19 (PTI) Celebration of Opinion Poll Day on January 16 to mark the 1967 referendum through which the people of Goa chose not to merge with Maharashtra would be restarted, Chief Minister Pramod Sawant said on Friday.
He was responding to a resolution moved by Leader of Opposition Yuri Alemao in the legislative assembly.
The state should commemorate January 16 as “Asmitai Dis” or Identity Day to mark the landmark event in its political history after the liberation from Portuguese rule in 1961, the resolution demanded.
An opinion poll was held in Goa on January 16, 1967, where the people were asked to vote in favour of or against a proposed merger with neighbouring Maharashtra. The majority of people voted against the merger and favoured continuing as a Union Territory. Goa became a state in 1987.
During the discussion in the House, Goa Forward Party’s Vijai Sardesai said that then chief minister, late Manohar Parrikar started the official celebration of Opinion Poll Day, but it was discontinued after Sawant took over.
The chief minister said his government was sensitive towards various days including Goa Statehood Day and admitted that it had “forgotten” about Opinion Poll Day.
“Now, since you all have brought it to our notice, the state government will celebrate the day by organising a state-level function,” Sawant said.
Agriculture minister Ravi Naik, who was part of the anti-merger movement back then, said Goa would have been reduced to a mere district had it become part of Maharashtra, and administered by a deputy collector sitting in the Raj Bhavan. PTI RPS KRK
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