{"id":156272,"date":"2026-05-17T16:45:35","date_gmt":"2026-05-17T23:45:35","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.lankaweb.com\/news\/items\/?p=156272"},"modified":"2026-05-17T16:45:35","modified_gmt":"2026-05-17T23:45:35","slug":"india-stopped-celebration-of-500-year-anniversary-of-portuguese-entry-to-goa-on-ground-that-it-was-an-insult-to-indias-freedom-fighters","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.lankaweb.com\/news\/items\/2026\/05\/17\/india-stopped-celebration-of-500-year-anniversary-of-portuguese-entry-to-goa-on-ground-that-it-was-an-insult-to-indias-freedom-fighters\/","title":{"rendered":"India stopped celebration of 500 year anniversary of Portuguese entry to Goa on ground that it was an insult to India&#8217;s Freedom Fighters"},"content":{"rendered":"<h2><span style=\"color: #0000ff;\"><em>Senaka Weeraratna<\/em><\/span><\/h2>\n\n\n<p>India stopped celebration of the 500 year anniversary of Portuguese entry to Goa on ground that it was an insult to India&#8217;s Freedom Fighters and the Indian Resistance movement against&nbsp;foreign aggression<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>The Government of India has consistently opposed and cancelled attempts to celebrate the Portuguese colonial arrival, specifically regarding the 500-year anniversary of Vasco da Gama&#8217;s landing in 1998. The Centre withdrew funding for the celebrations after pushback from freedom fighters and anti-colonial organizations, stating that the event celebrated imperialism.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><strong>The 1998 Rejection:<\/strong> The arrival of Vasco da Gama in 1498 is viewed by the Indian government as the start of European subjugation. The central administration cancelled cultural delegations and refused to officially endorse or fund any &#8220;Gama party,&#8221; with leaders criticizing Portugal&#8217;s colonial legacy.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\">\n<li><strong>Historical Friction:<\/strong> Portugal&#8217;s 450-year colonial rule over Goa only ended in December 1961 when India launched Operation Vijay to integrate the territory. The event is celebrated within India as a liberation from colonial occupation.<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li><strong>Contemporary Discourse:<\/strong> The Goa state government continues to observe Goa Liberation Day on December 19. While state officials note the cultural and historical impact of the colonial era, official Indian policy treats the Portuguese arrival and subsequent occupation as a historical chapter characterized by subjugation, rather than an anniversary to be commemorated.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n\n\n\n<p><strong>&#8230;&#8230;&#8230;&#8230;&#8230;&#8230;..<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><strong>see also<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><strong>The Government of India cancelled federal funding and diplomatic backing for the 500th anniversary of Vasco da Gama\u2019s arrival in India<\/strong>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>This cancellation took place ahead of the planned <strong>1998 anniversary<\/strong> of Vasco da Gama&#8217;s 1498 landing in Calicut (Kerala). While the Portuguese government sought to frame the anniversary as an &#8220;encounter of cultures,&#8221; massive domestic protests from Goan activists, historians, and nationalist groups condemned the event as a celebration of colonial invasion and the birth of European imperialism in the subcontinent. Consequently, the Indian government withdrew its support, forcing the cancellation of the joint grand tourism and cultural programs. [<a href=\"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/PeepulTreeStories\/videos\/portuguese-surrender-of-goa\/988822151783028\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">1<\/a>, <a href=\"https:\/\/www.indiancurrents.org\/article-open-letter-to-goa-cm-how-will-you-wipe-off-450-years-a-j-philip-1715.php\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">2<\/a>, <a href=\"https:\/\/www.tandfonline.com\/doi\/pdf\/10.1080\/03064229908536508\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">3<\/a>]<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><strong>Key Historical Clarifications<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\">\n<li><strong>Arrival vs. Invasion of Goa<\/strong>: Vasco da Gama first arrived in Kerala in 1498. The actual Portuguese military invasion and conquest of Goa occurred later, in <strong>1510<\/strong>, led by Afonso de Albuquerque.<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li><strong>451 Years of Colonial Rule<\/strong>: Portuguese rule in Goa lasted from 1510 until December 19, 1961, when the Indian Armed Forces annexed the territory through <strong>Operation Vijay<\/strong>.<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li><strong>The Official Stance<\/strong>: The Indian government and the state of Goa officially reject any commemoration of the colonial occupation. Instead, Goa formally celebrates <strong>December 19 as Goa Liberation Day<\/strong> to honor the end of Portuguese rule. [<a href=\"https:\/\/www.tandfonline.com\/doi\/pdf\/10.1080\/03064229908536508\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">1<\/a>, <a href=\"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/PeepulTreeStories\/videos\/portuguese-surrender-of-goa\/988822151783028\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">2<\/a>, <a href=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/watch?v=-sJhk8qscSs&amp;t=1\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">3<\/a>, <a href=\"https:\/\/www.pelago.com\/activity\/pkwt23g1c-old-goa-heritage-walk-by-make-it-happen-goa\/?utm_medium=ttd&amp;utm_source=google&amp;utm_surface=%7Bsurface%7D&amp;utm_funnel=%7Bfunnel%7D&amp;language=%7Blang%7D&amp;currency=%7Bcurrency%7D&amp;product_id=%7Bproduct_id%7D&amp;option_id=%7Boption_id%7D&amp;GOOGLE_ADS_CLICK=%7BGOOGLE-ADS-CLICK-SOURCE%7D\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">4<\/a>, <a href=\"https:\/\/www.livehistoryindia.com\/story\/eras\/goa-liberation-portuguese\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">5<\/a>, <a href=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/watch?v=M0gf5fsMGIE\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">6<\/a>, <a href=\"https:\/\/bharatdocs.com\/goa-liberation-day-operation-vijay-history\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">7<\/a>]<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n\n\n\n<p>see also&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><strong>Portuguese Encounter with Ceylon<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>The 2005 &#8220;Portuguese Encounter&#8221; was an international conference held on December 10 and 11 in Colombo, Sri Lanka, which sought to critically re-examine the colonial legacy of the Portuguese arrival in \\(1505\\). It aimed to highlight historical atrocities and generated public debate regarding demands for an official apology and compensation from Portugal. [<a href=\"https:\/\/www.sundaytimes.lk\/051204\/plus\/1.html\">1<\/a>, <a href=\"https:\/\/mahawansa.wordpress.com\/2006\/02\/10\/portuguese-encounter-in-retrospect-by-bandu-de-silva\/\">2<\/a>, <a href=\"https:\/\/mahawansa.wordpress.com\/2006\/01\/09\/different-encounter\/\">3<\/a>, <a href=\"https:\/\/www.lankaweb.com\/news\/items\/2016\/04\/05\/the-portuguese-encounter-a-reign-of-terror-1505-to-1658\/\">4<\/a>]<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>The conference was widely reported by <em>The Sunday Times<\/em> (Sri Lanka), with key coverage detailing the following: [<a href=\"https:\/\/www.sundaytimes.lk\/051204\/plus\/1.html\">1<\/a>, <a href=\"https:\/\/mahawansa.wordpress.com\/2006\/01\/09\/different-encounter\/\">2<\/a>]<\/p>\n\n\n\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\">\n<li><strong>Conference Aims:<\/strong> Organized by the Portuguese Encounter Group, the gathering featured local historians, archaeologists, lawyers and intellectuals. Its goal was to raise awareness about a heavily criticized period of Sri Lankan history (1505\u20131658) that participants felt was often overlooked.<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li><strong>Historical Atrocities:<\/strong> Speakers highlighted the destruction of prominent Buddhist and Hindu temples (such as those in Devundara, Kotte, and Kelaniya), forced conversions, and mass violence, framing the Portuguese era as a &#8220;reign of terror&#8221;.<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li><strong>Reparations and Apology:<\/strong> A central case made at the conference\u2014and reported in the press\u2014was a demand for an official apology and restitution from Portugal for historical crimes against humanity, cultural piracy, and the plunder of temples during their nearly 160-year presence on the island. [<a href=\"https:\/\/www.lankaweb.com\/news\/items\/2016\/04\/05\/the-portuguese-encounter-a-reign-of-terror-1505-to-1658\/\">1<\/a>, <a href=\"https:\/\/mahawansa.wordpress.com\/2009\/01\/24\/repression-of-buddhism-in-sri-lanka-by-portuguese-by-senaka-weeraratna\/\">2<\/a>, <a href=\"https:\/\/mahawansa.wordpress.com\/2006\/06\/13\/the-portuguese-encounter-a-reign-of-terror-1505-to-1658-by-mallika-wanigasundara\/\">3<\/a>, <a href=\"https:\/\/mahawansa.wordpress.com\/2006\/01\/09\/different-encounter\/\">4<\/a>, <a href=\"https:\/\/mahawansa.wordpress.com\/2006\/02\/10\/portuguese-encounter-in-retrospect-by-bandu-de-silva\/\">5<\/a>]<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n\n\n\n<p><strong>&#8230;&#8230;&#8230;&#8230;<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>The December 2005 &#8220;Portuguese Encounter&#8221; conference in Sri Lanka, extensively covered by The Sunday Times, aimed to critically examine the 1505\u20131658 colonial era, focusing on its brutal impacts including forced conversions and temple destruction. Papers presented at the event, which drew significant public interest, highlighted both this violence and the complex, manipulative role of local elites during the period. Read the full story at <a href=\"https:\/\/www.sundaytimes.lk\/060101\/plus\/7.html\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">The Sunday Times<\/a>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Portuguese encounter:<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Getting to know and coming to terms with the past<br>The interest aroused by the island\u2019s Portuguese encounter was demonstrated by the spate of articles in the print media and programmes on the visual media that appeared recently on what was popularly imagined to be the 500th anniversary of their first arrival. The definitive event however to mark the anniversary, 499th really, was the International Conference organized by the Portuguese Encounter Group and held on December 10 and 11.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>The brain-child of Dr. Susantha Goonetilake, this was a group of like-minded researchers who had come together for the express purpose of exploring all aspects of the Portuguese presence and to present their findings as an unbiased and objective study from an entirely non-colonial perspective of the whole of the island\u2019s Portuguese experience.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Setting the tone and the whole rationale of the Conference one of the chief speakers at the inauguration emphasised that if the past was being raked up it was not as an exercise in religious fanaticism or pseudo-nationalism. But that did not mean either, he was careful to explain to a burst of spontaneous applause, that they were going to run away from the past. What they aimed at doing, he said, was to know the past and expose the past, expose it unemotionally and dispassionately so that by knowing the past we come to terms with it.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>The plenary session of the conference was held at the BMICH on December 10. The cyclonic weather conditions that prevailed that morning delayed the arrival of two of the many international participants and even the inauguration itself, but despite the pouring rains the hall was overflowing when the proceedings commenced.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>The opening session was devoted to presentations on the global overview of Portuguese colonialism. Making the opening address, Dr. Susantha Goonatilake spoke on The Shadow of 500 Years\u201d and was followed by D. G. B. de Silva who spoke on Portugal Prepares for Expansion\u201d and Gaston Perera on The Ideology of Violence\u201d.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>The presentations in the afternoon and evening sessions dealt with the destruction caused to religious sites by the Portuguese.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>The technical sessions were held the following day, the 11th, December 2005&nbsp; at the Sri Lanka Association for the Advancement of Science. The wide spectrum of papers presented that day was the clearest indication that the work of the Group was in no way slanted or biased but also of the width of the range of interests of the Group. Certainly religious and historical issues were dealt with but presentations were not confined only to those issues. Some dealt with the naval and military aspects of the Portuguese occupation and included presentations on military strategy and weapons. Others dealt with the Portuguese influence on the island\u2019s music, architecture, languages, coins and the transfer of plants. The technical sessions concluded with presentations on issues related to Apology and Compensation.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>It is intended to publish a consolidated edition of all the papers on which presentations at the technical sessions were based.&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/www.sundaytimes.lk\/060101\/plus\/7.html\">https:\/\/www.sundaytimes.lk\/060101\/plus\/7.html<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\">The Portuguese Encounter \u2013 A Reign of Terror \u2013 1505 to 1658 By Mallika&nbsp;Wanigasundara<\/h2>\n\n\n\n<figure class=\"wp-block-embed is-type-wp-embed is-provider-wings-of-time wp-block-embed-wings-of-time\"><div class=\"wp-block-embed__wrapper\">\n<blockquote class=\"wp-embedded-content\" data-secret=\"OYHKc1OPwz\"><a href=\"https:\/\/mahawansa.wordpress.com\/2006\/06\/13\/the-portuguese-encounter-a-reign-of-terror-1505-to-1658-by-mallika-wanigasundara\/\">The Portuguese Encounter &#8211; A Reign of Terror &#8211; 1505 to 1658 By Mallika&nbsp;Wanigasundara<\/a><\/blockquote><iframe loading=\"lazy\" class=\"wp-embedded-content\" sandbox=\"allow-scripts\" security=\"restricted\" style=\"position: absolute; visibility: hidden;\" title=\"&#8220;The Portuguese Encounter &#8211; A Reign of Terror &#8211; 1505 to 1658 By Mallika&nbsp;Wanigasundara&#8221; &#8212; Wings of Time\" src=\"https:\/\/mahawansa.wordpress.com\/2006\/06\/13\/the-portuguese-encounter-a-reign-of-terror-1505-to-1658-by-mallika-wanigasundara\/embed\/#?secret=9cGTuZoTgq#?secret=OYHKc1OPwz\" data-secret=\"OYHKc1OPwz\" width=\"500\" height=\"282\" frameborder=\"0\" marginwidth=\"0\" marginheight=\"0\" scrolling=\"no\"><\/iframe>\n<\/div><\/figure>\n\n\n\n<p>It was a scholarly odyssey into the past of Portuguese murder and terror,genocide, brutality, destructiveness, cultural rape, religious bigotry, arson, including the burning of books, and absolutist suppression for the annihilation of Buddhism, Hinduism and Islam in Sri Lanka.This massive massacre of \u2018unbelievers\u2019 pagans, heretics and infidels and the destruction of non-Catholic places of worship was carried out by the Portuguese conquerors of Ceylon between 1505 and 1658 in the name of the service of God and the love of Christ.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>2005 marks the 500th year after the arrival of the Portuguese in Sri Lanka.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Buddhists, Hindus and Muslims look on this date [1505] as the beginning of the darkest era of Sri Lankan history. The Portuguese record of violence,bloodshed, and use of force is catholic in magnitude and was spurred on by the reigning pontiffs of Rome, the Catholic church, the Inquisition, the kings of Portugal and state power.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Driven by \u2018Papal Bulls\u2019 the imperialistic arrogance of the kings of Portugal knew no bounds in their crimes against humanity.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>For two years fifty professionals of many disciplines, eminent academicians, scientists and scholars, historians and researchers and around 150 others delved into past records to unearth Portuguese depredations.Meticulous keepers of records, Portuguese writers like Queyroz, Trinidade, Perniola, Barros, do Couto provided much information. Sandeshaya poems, Sinhala literature such as the Rajavaliya were researched for other details.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>It took researchers to some of the sites of destruction of places of worship resulting in a illuminating book of photographs.The team would need several tomes to adequately record their findings. On December 10 and 11 2005 a conference was held in Colombo to reveal the findings to the public. It was called The Portuguese Encounter and was sponsored by the Sri Lanka Association for the Advancement of Science, the Royal Asiatic Society and the Archaeological Society.Credit must be given to Dr Susantha Goonatilake ,scholar, researcher and writer and Dr Hema Goonatilake for the indefatigable effort put in by them to make this conference a success.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>The core of the assault was to subjugate and reduce to slavery the so-called non-believers by appropriating their lands in perpetuity for the church.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Orders went out from Portugal and Goa that all idols, images, pictures and even trees be reduced to fragments and this was done with gusto. Even children who had lost one parent were forcibly taken and given to Catholic organizations.Humans were put to the sword, children bayoneted, women raped and hacked, and 100s of temples and monasteries, Hindu kovils and mosques were pounded to the ground. Churches were built on those lands.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>The investigating team has done an invaluable job for future generations to know and remember, and avoid the mistakes their ancestors made.The names of the presenters of papers and the places of worship are too many to record here, but a few can be mentioned.A huge mass of evidence and information was presented by scholars such as D G B de Silva, former ambassador, Gaston Perera writer, Prof. M U de Silva, Dr Susantha Goonatilake, Padma Edirisinghe, Prof Mendis&nbsp;Rohanadeera, Senaka Weeraratna, K D G Wimalaratne, Dr Hema Goonatilake, Ashley de Vos, and two speakers from Goa Vigyananand Swami and Shrikant Y Raman and many others.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>A few of the places of worship were:the Sacred Temple of the Tooth , Kotte,the Vehera Kande vihare, the Kotte Raja maha vihare, the Attanagalle vihare, the Nawagamuwe temple and vihare,monasteries of learning such as the Thotagamuwe temple and pirivena, the Sunethradevi temple and pirivena, the Kelani vihare, the Devinuwara temple and devale, the Maha Saman devale, Ratnapura, the Munneswaram kovil, the Madampe Thanivelle devale, the Naga vihare Kotte,the Kali kovil, Kalutara, the Tondamannar kovil, the Mannar kovil, the Beruwala, Kalutara , Weligama and many other mosques. It is recorded that as many as 500 kovils were destroyed in Jaffna alone.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>All the ports from Colombo to Chilaw were burnt and all places of worship from Colombo to Kosgoda were destroyed. Churches were built on these lands and temple lands expropriated for the Catholic church by the Fransiscan monks.No non-believer or pagan was entitled to own land .<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Thousands of idols, images, pictures and religious items were smashed to powder and temples and devales plundered of their gold, ornaments, jewellery, clothes before they were destroyed. In Goa the speakers said that what was left was only in museums and memoirs.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Forced conversions took place in the fear of death. Rites, rituals, processions were banned. There were no yellow robed bhikkhus, only white-clad militant \u2018ganninnanses\u2019[observers of the ten precepts] who kept the lamp of the Dhamma burning in secret. There was no chanting of pirith, no Hindu prayers, no call to prayer from mosques or reciting of Holy Quran..But criminals who converted were given plenary remissions by Papal bulls and many who committed transgressions and crimes escaped by conversion.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Scholars and historians recalled the grim record of temple lands seized by the Catholic church even before the benighted King Dharmapala stupidly bequeathed the kingdom of Kotte, the palace, the temple of the Sacred Tooth and all temple lands to the king of Portugal and the Catholic church.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>But the people kept on resisting. As many as seven rebellions created heavy disruption in Portuguese power and on one occasion they were driven to their fort in Colombo. Thousands were killed including thirty bhikkhus who were shot in one go.With the annexation of the Kotte in 1594 the Muslims were ordered out of Portuguese territory, perhaps a first instance of ethnic cleansing.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>By 1594 there was no royalty and no leaders. Leadership came from Lascoreen mudaliars and minor headmen. These gruesome events were recalled dispassionately and without venom by several speakers.It was Gaston Perera who said that their aim was not to target or condemn anybody but to expose these events dispassionately and not sweep them under the carpet.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>The question of an apology,restitution of our assets and whether Sri Lanka has a claim for compensation was discussed by speakers such as Senaka&nbsp; Weeraratna and KDG Wimalaratne. These matters would be based on crimes against humanity, cultural piracy,destruction life and property, mass genocide, plunder of temples, forced conversions, channeling of revenue to the church,slavery, abuse of women.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Senaka Weeraratna said: There is a Jewish proverb which says: A child that does not cry dies in the cradle. We are not appealing for voluntary charity,but for simple justice.Restitution must be made of unjust gains , and repentance must lead to such restitution.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>It was necessary for present and future generations to learn from past mistakes. The Portuguese became advisers of kings such as Bhuveneka BahuV11 and he gave official sanction for missionary work and passed on the responsibility of making his grandson Dharmapala king of Kotte to Portugal.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Here then was the beginning of a religious conflict, where the population turned angrily against the Portuguese and continued their resistance.The populace living in a country where there was religious freedom, tolerance and co-existence was unable to stomach the religious oppression and the suppression of intellectual and spiritual learning.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Religious conflict was a new thing in the country where harmony had prevailed.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>One interesting point noted was that Portugal was established in 1139. It is ironic that at this time Pollonnaruwa was at its peak. Portugal was a small coastal nation which developed like an anthill in a 100 years into an empire.It was Father Manuelde Morais who said in 1552 that Sinhala Buddhist pagodas&nbsp;were richer than the richest churches in Lisbon.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>(<a href=\"http:\/\/www.christianaggression.org\/\">http:\/\/www.christianaggression.org\/<\/a>)<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>see also<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Portuguese Encounter in Retrospect&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Bandu de Silva&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<figure class=\"wp-block-embed is-type-wp-embed is-provider-wings-of-time wp-block-embed-wings-of-time\"><div class=\"wp-block-embed__wrapper\">\n<blockquote class=\"wp-embedded-content\" data-secret=\"8YiTp7oSxU\"><a href=\"https:\/\/mahawansa.wordpress.com\/2006\/02\/10\/portuguese-encounter-in-retrospect-by-bandu-de-silva\/\">Portuguese Encounter in Retrospect by Bandu de&nbsp;Silva<\/a><\/blockquote><iframe loading=\"lazy\" class=\"wp-embedded-content\" sandbox=\"allow-scripts\" security=\"restricted\" style=\"position: absolute; visibility: hidden;\" title=\"&#8220;Portuguese Encounter in Retrospect by Bandu de&nbsp;Silva&#8221; &#8212; Wings of Time\" src=\"https:\/\/mahawansa.wordpress.com\/2006\/02\/10\/portuguese-encounter-in-retrospect-by-bandu-de-silva\/embed\/#?secret=8lTKdriyUk#?secret=8YiTp7oSxU\" data-secret=\"8YiTp7oSxU\" width=\"500\" height=\"282\" frameborder=\"0\" marginwidth=\"0\" marginheight=\"0\" scrolling=\"no\"><\/iframe>\n<\/div><\/figure>\n\n\n\n<p><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Senaka Weeraratna India stopped celebration of the 500 year anniversary of Portuguese entry to Goa on ground that it was an insult to India&#8217;s Freedom Fighters and the Indian Resistance movement against&nbsp;foreign aggression The Government of India has consistently opposed and cancelled attempts to celebrate the Portuguese colonial arrival, specifically regarding the 500-year anniversary of [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[165],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-156272","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-senaka-weeraratna"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.lankaweb.com\/news\/items\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/156272","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.lankaweb.com\/news\/items\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.lankaweb.com\/news\/items\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lankaweb.com\/news\/items\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lankaweb.com\/news\/items\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=156272"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/www.lankaweb.com\/news\/items\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/156272\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":156273,"href":"https:\/\/www.lankaweb.com\/news\/items\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/156272\/revisions\/156273"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.lankaweb.com\/news\/items\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=156272"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lankaweb.com\/news\/items\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=156272"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lankaweb.com\/news\/items\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=156272"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}