On Sunday, June 18, which is commemorated as Goa Revolution Day by the people of the state, Velim BJP leader Savio Rodrigues, took to Twitter and appealed to the Chief Minister of Goa, Dr Pramod Sawant, and his government in the state, to set up a museum in Goa’s Velim to commemorate the Goa Revolution and the struggles of the leaders of the same.
Rodrigues tweeted, “Dr Juliao Menezes, along with Dr Ram Manohar Lohia, led the ‘beginning of the end of Portuguese rule in Goa’. Dr Menezes was a resident of Assolna, Velim. The freedom movement began at his residence in Assolna”.
“I appeal to Dr Pramod Sawant to set up a museum in Velim in memory of the Goa Revolution, and its struggles which started from Velim in dedication to Dr Menezes and many others from Goa”, he further expressed.
In another tweet, talking further about the Goa Revolution and the contribution of Dr Juliao Menezes in the same, Rodrigues said, “On Goa Revolution Day, we Goans must not forget the contribution of Dr Juliao Menezes from Assolna, Velim. Together with Dr Lohia, Dr Menezes was the fulcrum around which the fight for the liberation of Goa from the brutal Portugal rule took shape. He instilled in Goans, a belief that we must rise to defend our human rights and freedom”.
Dr Juliao Menezes was one of the unsung heroes of the Goa Revolution and the civil disobedience against the Portuguese government, which took place in 1946. Born in Assolna, Goa on August 7, 1909, Dr Juliao Menezes did his early schooling in Panjim and Assolna, and after high school, went to the Berlin University, and completed his MD in Medicine (dermatology).
Back in the days of studying in Panjim, he was influenced by patriotic writings and actions of rationalist writers, especially by those of Luis De Menezes Braganza. In Berlin too, he took courses in Indian History and Indology, and it was there that he met Dr Ram Manohar Lohia. Menezes returned to Goa in the year 1938 and reactivated the Juvenile Club de Assolna to spread rationalist thinking and Nationalist activities. Today, Dr Juliao’s house in Assolna is a historical landmark because it was there that the movement for Goa’s civil liberties was born, with Goan intellectuals and political activists going there to consult with both Dr Lohia and Dr Juliao.
Dr Juliao Menezes deserves to be remembered in a monumental way as his actions made the Goan youth shed fear and awe of the dictatorial rule they were brought up with. He passed away in Bombay on July 2, 1980.
