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dated August 19, 1955: President warns Portugal

The President, Dr.Rajendra Prasad, said in Kurnool on August 17 that if the Portuguese Government understood the modern trend, they should not be in any doubt as regards the future of their territory on Indian soil. "Happen what may, they cannot stay in Goa for long, whatever they might do to prevent it. If they imagine that by resorting to firing they can put India in the wrong, or make her take any wrong step, they are entirely mistaken. We claim to have some experience of these matters. And we had to challenge the British along these very lines. I have no doubt in my mind that very soon the Portuguese Government will have to review the situation and meet the demands of the people of Goa and hand it over to India." The President, who made the reference to Goa in the course of his reply to an address presented to him by a committee of hosts representing the citizens of Kurnool at the Osmania College, said: "Although India became independent some eight years ago, one small part of our territory is still under foreign domination. It is Goa, which is still under the Portuguese. It sounds amazing in the year of grace 1955, that any country or group of people should be made to face bullets or threatened with imprisonment for making a demand for independence.''

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