As Goa celebrates the 61st Anniversary of its Liberation just 3 days after the celebration of the 51st anniversary of the Liberation of ‘Bangladesh’, the difference is stark and palpable.

Just 3 days ago a whole nation of politicians and their cheerleaders were into chest thumping and brownie point collecting about how the enemy (Pakistan) was partitioned to carve out Bangladesh and the land was liberated. The newspapers were awash with memoirs and television brimming with debates about how the enemy was decimated to liberate Bangladesh.

3 days later, tiny Goa is greeted by a few tweets, a handful of official parades & flag hoisting for getting united with the rest of India after 450+ years of separation. And the national media obsesses only about Goa’s bikini babes, beaches and booze not even making a worthy mention of a historic moment when the brave Indian Army, Navy and Air Force brought back Goa into the mainland despite threats from all superpowers.

ISN’T THIS IRONIC THAT WE CELEBRATE THE DISMEMBERMENT OF ANOTHER NATION, BUT WE DON’T CELEBRATE THE REUNIFICATION OF A MISSING PART OF INDIA AS A NATIONAL EVENT?

While the Nation gets caught in rewriting its history in a crossfire between left-liberal-neutral historians and right winged correctionists, no one has given a thought to the fact that not only was Goa a proud moment of liberation and reunification but also home to the First War of Indian Independence against Colonials (also called Cuncolim Chieftains Revolt) which was fought on 15th  July 1583, 304 years before what our history books call as First War of Indian Independence (or Sepoy Mutiny).

For an average Goan proud of her/his heritage, these double standards in being treated at par with the rest of the country are not just baffling but downright humiliating. The rest of India seems to wake up to Goa only when there is an election or a Hindutva social experiment. A state that has almost cent per cent literacy and the highest per capita income in India over decades without a double engine Sarkar begs to be recognised for a Liberation that unified it with the mainland after centuries.