Golden Jubilee of Goa Liberation from Portuguese celebrated

Panaji (Goa, India), Dec 19 (PTI) Goa today celebrated its golden jubilee of liberation from Portuguese rule with Chief Minister Digambar Kamat of the western Indian state unfurling the national flag at Campal Parade ground here this morning. Thanking freedom fighters and the Indian Army for their efforts in throwing away the yoke of the Portuguese rule, Kamat said, commemorative functions would be held in Mumbai and Pune to felicitate the freedom fighters from those areas who fought for the cause of Goa. Goa was liberated from four-and-a-half centuries of Portuguese rule on December 19, 1961. In a popular referendum in 1967, Goa opposed its merger with the neighbouring state of Maharashtra. In 1987, it was upgraded from the status of a union territory to a full fledged state of the Indian Union with Konkani as the official language of the state. PTI