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GOA MUST BE GOANS FIRST!By Dr Olav Albuquerque
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GOA MUST BE GOANS FIRST!By Dr Olav Albuquerque

Feb 07- Feb 13, 2026, LAW February 6, 2026 , by

THE fact that Goans who have made it big abroad, when they may have languished with poorly paying jobs in their home state, was brought home with a bang when the European Union (EU) boss, “Babush” Antonio Costa, flaunted his Overseas Citizen of India (OCI) card recently in the presence of Prime Minister Narendra Modi.
 Costa is the archetypal Goan Catholic who emigrated to Portugal, rose to become the President of the European Council (as of Dec 2024–2026), is of Goan origin, with his father, writer Orlando da Costa, born in Goa during Portuguese rule. He holds an Overseas Citizen of India (OCI) card and has expressed pride in his roots, often referred to as “Babush” in Goa. A nickname he shares with another Goan Catholic leader, “Babush” Monserrate, who is also in the public eye, sometimes for the right and not infrequently, for the wrong reasons as well.
DURING the announcement of the India-EU trade deal, Costa, who was the former prime minister of Portugal, spoke about his pride in his Goan roots, flourishing his OCI card and recalling childhood memories that were linked to Goa. Costa’s ancestral house remains in Margao, and his family ties to Goa continue through his extended relatives and the benign influence of Goan culture in his father’s literary works.
What emerges from his personal life, is that “Babush” Costa is a family man, because his father was born and raised in a Goa which was at that time a colony of Portugal. He emigrated to Portugal when he was just 18 years old. Antonio Costa was born in Portugal and speaks fluent Portuguese, though it is unsure whether his Konkani equals that of his fluency in Portuguese.
Unlike Kamal Harris who does not flaunt her Tamilian roots, Costa is just the opposite. What is lamentable is that when he visited Goa in 2016, when asked about the desire expressed by the BJP-led alliance government to felicitate Mr. Costa, in the Goa Legislative Assembly last week, the RSS leader, Subhash Velinkar, said he was not saying he should not be felicitated, “but if they want to felicitate him it should be on the pre-condition that he apologises for all acts of trying to destroy Goan culture and identity during dark history of Portuguese rule in Goa for 451 years.”

ULTRA-NATIONALIST LINE
THIS so-called ultra-nationalist line is wrong, because Antonio Costa is not responsible for the excesses committed in the distant past by Portuguese clerics, who had the support of the local people. That thinking has drastically changed and today, there are no forced conversions in Goa. A few random incidents cannot be equated with a trend, so what is the exception is used by propagandists to lie that it is a rule.
Leaving that aside, the continuing emigration of Goans, who seek Portuguese passports to work in the EU countries continues unabated, so that Goans have now been replaced by impoverished Kannadigas, those from Maharashtra, Bihar, Uttar Pradesh, Madhya Pradesh, Jharkhand and elsewhere. These migrants have already settled in Goan villages, built houses, sent their children to schools run by churches or other authorities and made Aadar cards with permanent addresses in Goa.
The fact that the population of native Goans will soon be eclipsed by migrants from other states was foreseen by the late Mathany Saldanha, who wanted to introduce a Constitution amendment bill. He died in alleged suspicious circumstances but his wife, Alina Saldanha, is carrying on his legacy. This is why Captain Viriato Fernandes has already introduced a private member’s Constitutional amendment bill in the Lok Sabha, which will preserve Goa’s traditional heritage and culture.
THE former Chief Justice of the Allahabad High Court, Justice Ferdino Inacio Rebello, has also placed a list of ten demands before the Goa Chief Minister Pramod Sawant. But in the so-called hyper nationalism of the saffron brigade, which has the unproven sinister motive of ensuring the majority overwhelms the minority, it seems unlikely that the inward influx from other states will be stymied.
Like Antonio Costa, Suella Braverman, born Sue-Ellen Cassiana Fernandes in 1980, has Goan roots through her father, Christie Fernandes. of Goan Catholic origin. He migrated to the UK from Kenya in the 1960s. Her ancestry traces back to Sokolwaddo, Assagao, and Calangute in Goa.
Unlike António Costa, whose ancestral mansion still stands in Margão, Suella Braverman has not visited Goa. She is a practising Buddhist who swore her parliamentary oath on the Dhammapada, a sacred Buddhist text. Raised by a Hindu mother and Goan Catholic father, she believes in karma. Unlike India, and Goa, where religion is used in politics to divide and rule, politicians in the European Union countries keep their religion a strictly private affair.
What we can conclude from all this, is that Goa must be preserved for Goans who have no other home but their beloved Goa, Goemkar and Goemkarponn to return to when they near the end of their working lives abroad. Those who preserve their OCI cards as a link to their Goan identity, like Antonio Costa, must be welcomed when they choose to return to their homeland. Whether their ancestral houses will still be in their family name is a moot point.

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