PANAJI, Jan 27: Goa Governor P S Sreedharan Pillai on Monday paid a visit to 100-year-old freedom fighter Libia Lobo Sardesai here and said the Padma Shri award given to her is a fitting tribute to her dedication for the country.
Sardesai had cofounded an underground radio station — ‘Voz da Liberdade’ (Voice of Freedom) — in a forested area in 1955 to rally people against the then Portuguese rule in Goa.
Responding to the governor’s praise, Sardesai humbly said she had not put in any extraordinary effort and did whatever came her way.
She was awarded the Padma Shri, the fourth highest civilian honour, by the President on the occasion of 76th Republic Day on Sunday.
When Goa was liberated on December 19, 1961, Libia Lobo Sardesai and her husband Vaman Sardesai travelled over Panaji and other parts of Goa in an Indian Air Force plane that had a radio transmitter onboard and a loudspeaker fitted to it.
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They made announcements in Portuguese and Konkani and dropped leaflets, informing people that Portuguese rulers had surrendered, and Goa was free after 451 years of colonial rule.
Governor Pillai on Monday visited Sardesai’s house in Panaji and congratulated her on behalf of the Goa government and the Centre, wishing her good health and strength.
During his half-an-hour long visit, Pillai expressed pride in Sardesai’s recognition by the central government, stating the award was a fitting tribute to her dedication to the nation.
Responding to the governor’s gesture for her contribution to Goa’s liberation movement, Sardesai said, “I don’t think I did anything extraordinary; I simply did what came my way.”
“I thank God for this good fortune in my lifetime, even at this stage. Without God’s grace, none of this would have been possible,” she said.
The governor acknowledged that for six years, from 1955 to 1961, in the backdrop of the suspension of all civil liberties in Goa, Libia and Vaman Sardesai had set up an underground ‘secret’ radio station in a forest on the outskirts of Goa to counter Portuguese propaganda.
They would broadcast news, speeches of Indian leaders in Parliament, and updates on the nationalist movement and anti-colonial struggle.
The radio stations — ‘Goenche Sodvonecho Awaz’ (Voice of Freedom of Goa) for Konkani broadcasts and ‘Voz da Liberdade’ for broadcasts in Portuguese — also supported the Indian Army in setting up a transmission centre to send messages to the Portuguese rulers to surrender.
Libia Lobo Sardesai’s husband, late Vaman Sardesai, was also a diplomat and awarded the Padma Shri in 1992.
Vaman Sardesai had played a pivotal role in the struggle against the Portuguese colonial rule. (PTI)
