Tristão de Bragança Cunha

Tristão de Bragança Cunha (2 April 1891 – 26 September 1958), alternatively spelled as Tristao de Braganza Cunha, popularly known as T B Cunha[1] was a prominent Indian nationalist and anti-colonial activist from Goa (then part of Portuguese India). He is popularly known as the "Father of Goan nationalism", and was the organiser of the first movement to end Portuguese rule in Goa.

In this Portuguese name, the first or maternal family name is de Bragança and the second or paternal family name is Cunha.
Tristão de Bragança Cunha
Bragança Cunha on a 1998 stamp of India
Born(1891-04-02)2 April 1891
Chandor, Goa, Portuguese India
Died26 September 1958(1958-09-26) (aged 67)
Bombay, Maharashtra, India
Other names
  • T B Cunha
  • Father of Goan nationalism
EducationDegree in electrical engineering
Alma materSorbonne University, France
Known forOrganising the first movement to end Portuguese rule in Goa
Political partyIndian National Congress
Other political
affiliations		Goa Pradesh Congress Committee
MovementGoa Liberation Movement

Early life and education

Cunha was born on 2 April 1891 in the village Chandor in Goa. He hailed from Cuelim, Cansaulim. He completed his school education in Panjim and then went to Pondicherry to French College for his B.A. and then to Paris. There he studied at the Sorbonne University[2] and obtained a degree in electrical engineering. In Paris, Cunha entered the circle of Romain Rolland and helped publicise the Indian independence movement generally, and the case of Portuguese India in particular, in the French-language press.

Role in Goa liberation movement (1926–1954)

After returning to Goa in 1926, Cunha established the Comissão do Congresso de Goa (Goa Congress Committee) in 1928 to mobilize the Goan intelligentsia against Portuguese colonial rule. When pressured by the Portuguese authorities, Cunha moved his operations to Bombay and affiliated his organization with the Indian National Congress in 1938. He continued to publicize the Goan cause through numerous articles and books, denouncing Portuguese rule. Among his published works were the booklets "Four Hundred Years of Foreign Rule" and "The Denationalisation of Goans" (1944). Cunha advocated for Goan identification, both politically and culturally, with greater India.

In 1946, Cunha could not be contacted in those good old days. Communication was poor, to say the least. T B Cunha learned of the "unrest" in Margao and went to the city the next day. Ram Manohar Lohia had addressed what was arguably the first and largest mass gathering yet, setting in motion the Goa liberation movement on the previous day. Cunha was arrested by the Portuguese authorities. He was kept in dark damp cell at Fort Aguada. He was the first civilian to be tried by a military tribunal. He was court martialled and sentenced to eight years imprisonment. He was deported to the Peniche Fortress in Portugal.

After his release from Portugal in 1954, Cunha returned to Bombay. Cunha formed and headed the Goa Action Committee, to help co-ordinate the numerous Goan organisations that had emerged by this time. He published a newspaper called "Free Goa".

Death

He died on 26 September 1958, Loknayak Jaiprakash Narayan was one of the pallbearers. The Government of India issued a postage stamp in his honour.

Legacy

The World Peace Council at Stockholm in 1959 posthumously awarded T. B. Cunha a gold medal for his contribution to the cause of "Peace and Friendship among People."[3]

Cunha's mortal remains are housed in an urn at a memorial located in Panaji's Azad Maidan.[4] A prominent road in the city of Panaji is named as "T. B. Cunha Road".[5] A statue of Cunha has been installed in his ancestral village of Cuelim, Cansaulim.[6] A school in Margao[7] and a government higher secondary school in Panaji[8] are also named in Cunha's honour. The campus in Panaji's Altinho which houses the Goa College of Architecture and the Goa College of Music, is named as "Dr. T. B. Cunha Educational Complex".[9][10]

A sports' complex in Cansaulim, Cuelim is named after him,[11] and his portrait was unveiled in the Indian Parliament[12] in 2011 to commemorate the golden jubilee of Goa's accession to India.

The book The Life & Times of T. B. Cunha by Nishta Desai was published in 2015.[13]

References
  1. Gauree Malkarnekar (19 December 2021). "T B Cunha: Rousing nationalism in 'passive' Goans | Goa News - Times of India". The Times of India. Retrieved 2 September 2022.
  2. Francophilic Goa’s French Connections. The Navhind Times (2016-01-25). Retrieved on 2018-11-28.
  3. T B Cunha: Life in picture. The Navhind Times (June 14, 2015). Retrieved on 2018-11-28.
  4. "Happening in Goa". The Times of India. 7 September 2014. Retrieved 8 February 2017.
  5. "Contact us". Goachamber.org. Retrieved 8 February 2017.
  6. Wonderful Village of Cansaulim. ANF Trust Goa
  7. "Is T B Cunha school safe?". The Times of India. 31 July 2014. Retrieved 8 February 2017.
  8. "Doctor T B Cunha Government High Secondary School". MouthShut.com. 16 April 2011. Retrieved 8 February 2017.
  9. "Goa University Post Graduation, PH.D, B.SC, M.SC, Research Facilities Study India programme". Unigoa.ac.in. Retrieved 8 February 2017.
  10. "Goa University Post Graduation, PH.D, B.SC, M.SC, Research Facilities Study India programme". Unigoa.ac.in. Retrieved 8 February 2017.
  11. "On this stadium, it is a different ball game". The Herald. 12 October 2014. Retrieved 8 February 2017.
  12. "T B Cunha's portrait unveiled in Parliament". The Navhind Times. 15 March 2010. Retrieved 8 February 2017.
  13. "Release of the book, Life and Times of T. B. Cunha". The Herald. 19 June 2015. Retrieved 8 February 2017.
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