T.B. Cunha

He was an engineer who learned his politics in Paris. Goans came to call him the Father of Goan nationalism.

He wrote, organised and marched against Portuguese rule. In 1946 he was beaten, jailed and shipped to a fortress in Portugal.

1Who was T. B. Cunha?

Our story begins in the village of Chandor, in Portuguese Goa. A boy named Tristão de Bragança Cunha is born there on 2 April 1891. His father, Ligório de Cunha, is a medical practitioner. His mother is Filomena Bragança.

He finishes school in Nova Goa. Then he leaves for Pondicherry, where he studies at the French College for his baccalauréat. Paris comes next.

He has two older brothers. The eldest, Vincent, is also an active nationalist. Francisco studies in London and later at the Sorbonne. He translates the nationalist views of Rabindranath Tagore into French.

• Born on 2 April 1891 at Chandor, Portuguese Goa.
• Parents: Ligório de Cunha, a medical practitioner, and Filomena Bragança.
• School in Nova Goa; baccalauréat at the French College, Pondicherry.
• His brother Vincent was also an active nationalist.
• His brother Francisco translated Tagore’s nationalist views into French.

2What did he learn in Paris?

In Paris the young Goan studies at the Sorbonne. His subject is electrical engineering. He earns his degree there.

But the city teaches him more than engineering. For a time he shares a residence with the Vietnamese revolutionary Ho Chi Minh. Late-night talk in that house is about empires and how they end.

He joins the Anti-Imperialist League. He also works with the French dramatist Romain Rolland and his Information Bureau, part of its Pro-Indian Committee. He writes a biography of Mahatma Gandhi in French, before Rolland does.

He also writes for French newspapers such as L’Europe Nouvelle and Clarté. His aim is to tell Europe about India’s freedom struggle. He pays special attention to the case of Portuguese India.

• Degree: electrical engineering, Sorbonne.
• In Paris he shared a residence with Ho Chi Minh.
• Member of the Anti-Imperialist League.
• Worked with Romain Rolland’s Pro-Indian Committee and with novelist Henri Barbusse.
• Wrote a French biography of Gandhi.
• Wrote in L’Europe Nouvelle and Clarté about India and Goa.

3How did he start the Goa Congress?

Cunha returns to Goa in 1926. Two years later, in 1928, he sets up the Goa National Congress in Margão. He does so after meeting Subhas Chandra Bose. Its aim is to rally Goans against Portuguese colonial rule.

The Indian National Congress invites the new body to its Calcutta session. It even offers affiliation. But in 1934 the INC changes its mind and derecognises the Goan group. The reason it gives is that the group works in a territory under alien rule.

Cunha does not give up. He renames the body the Goa Congress Committee. In 1936 he moves its work to 21 Dalal Street in Bombay. Even so, the INC does not back his efforts.

He keeps writing. His booklets include Four Hundred Years of Foreign Rule and The Denationalisation of Goans, from 1944. He urges Goans to see themselves as part of greater India. A court then prosecutes him for what he wrote.

He also fights smaller battles. In 1929 he protests against agents of British tea planters. They had been taking Goan kunbis to Assam as indentured labourers. With help from the INC, the workers are repatriated by 1940. In 1941 he raises funds for people hit by the monsoons in Mormugao and Salcete.

• Returned to Goa in 1926.
• Founded the Goa National Congress at Margão in 1928, after meeting Subhas Chandra Bose.
• The INC derecognised it in 1934, as it worked in alien-ruled territory.
• Renamed the Goa Congress Committee; moved to Bombay in 1936.
• Booklets: Four Hundred Years of Foreign Rule and The Denationalisation of Goans (1944).
• 1929: protested forced indenture of Goan kunbis in Assam; they were repatriated by 1940.
• 1941: raised relief funds for monsoon victims in Mormugao and Salcete.

4Why was he arrested in 1946?

Now we reach June 1946. On 18 June, now called Goa Revolution Day, Ram Manohar Lohia speaks at Margão. It is arguably the first and largest mass gathering of the Goan independence movement.

Cunha does not let the moment pass. With his niece Berta de Menezes Bragança, he holds a meeting at the Margão bus stand on 20 June. A second meeting follows on 30 June, at the same maidan where Lohia spoke. The ground is later named Lohia Maidan.

The police beat Cunha badly at that meeting. A listener, Bakibab Borkar, writes a song about it. Its title means “Doctor, sit down, arise and march”.

The Portuguese arrest him on 17 July. He is held in a dark, damp cell at Fort Aguada. He is the first civilian to be tried by a military tribunal. The court martial gives him eight years in Peniche Fortress in Portugal.

• 18 June 1946: Lohia’s speech at Margão, now Goa Revolution Day.
• Cunha and his niece Berta de Menezes Bragança held meetings on 20 and 30 June.
• The maidan was later named Lohia Maidan.
• Police beat Cunha badly at the 30 June meeting.
• Arrested 17 July 1946; held at Fort Aguada.
• First civilian tried by a military tribunal; sentenced to eight years at Peniche.

5How did he escape and how did he die?

Peniche is a hard place. Conditions in the prison are poor. Even so, the Goan prisoners find ways to keep their spirits up.

Cunha is held there with Rama Hegde, Purushottam Kakodkar, José Inácio Candido de Loyola and Laxmikant Bhembre. When Pundalik Gaitonde and his bride Edila arrive on their honeymoon, the prisoners welcome them. They hold a celebration and share a meal with the newlyweds.

His sentence should have ended in 1954. But in 1952 he is freed two years early under an amnesty, on account of the Holy Year. He is not allowed to return to Goa. So he gets a tourist visa to France. From there he escapes to Bombay in 1953.

In Bombay he heads the Goa Action Committee. Its job is to coordinate the many Goan groups that have sprung up. He also publishes a newspaper called Free Goa, with his niece Berta.

Cunha dies on 26 September 1958. He did not see Goa freed. The Catholic Church denies permission for his funeral and burial in the cemetery, because of his atheism. Jayaprakash Narayan is one of the pallbearers at his cremation.

His memory grows after his death. In 1959 the World Peace Council at Stockholm gives him a gold medal, posthumously, for “Peace and Friendship among People”. In 1986 his remains are moved from Sewri, Bombay, to a memorial at Azad Maidan in Panaji. India has issued a postage stamp in his honour. His portrait was unveiled in Parliament in 2011.

• Held at Peniche with Rama Hegde, Purushottam Kakodkar and others.
• Freed in 1952 under an amnesty tied to the Holy Year; barred from Goa.
• Reached Bombay in 1953 via a tourist visa to France.
• Headed the Goa Action Committee and ran the newspaper Free Goa.
• Died 26 September 1958; the Church refused burial because of his atheism.
• Jayaprakash Narayan was a pallbearer.
• Remains moved to Azad Maidan, Panaji, in 1986.

6What are the exam traps?

A few details are easy to mix up. Keep them straight.

• He founded the Goa Congress Committee at Margão in 1928. The Bombay move came in 1936.
• The INC derecognised his body in 1934. It did not back him later either.
• Lohia spoke on 18 June 1946. Cunha was arrested on 17 July.
• He was sentenced to eight years but freed in 1952, two years early.
• He studied engineering, not law, at the Sorbonne.
• K. M. Panikkar first used the phrase “Father of Goan nationalism” in a preface to his writings.
• Read about Ram Manohar Lohia.
• Read about Dadra and Nagar Haveli, 1954.
• Read about Goa’s long road to statehood.