Evágrio Jorge (6 March 1925 – 20 August 1978) was an Indian freedom fighter and journalist.[1]
Early life
Evágrio Fransisco Jorge was born on 6 March 1925 in Carmona, Salcete, Portuguese Goa, to Tito Manuel Jorge and Moi Sinha Rodrigues. He completed his 7th year of Lyceum education.[2]
Goa liberation movement
When Ram Manohar Lohia visited Goa in June 1946, Jorge visited Lohia at the home of Julião Menezes and published the news of Lohia's arrival on the O Heraldo newspaper on 12 June. This triggered the civil disobedience movement that is today known as Goa Revolution Day.[3] Later, Jorge went to visit Lohia in Bombay, accompanied by Purushottam Kakodkar. While there, they got to know that the then Prime Minister of India, Jawaharlal Nehru, was passing through the city. They thus met him and requested him for Goa's freedom. They then received encouragement from Nehru.[4]
In the 1940s, Jorge led a political party, Liga Regional (the Regional League).[5] He was also one of founders of the National Congress (Goa) (NCG).[6] He was elected as its Joint Secretary at the first meeting, held in Londa, Karnataka on 18 August 1946. On 7 November 1946, he was arrested after he offered satyagraha at Cuncolim. He was released after being imprisoned and tortured for 45 days. After his release, he was given the responsibility of the Belgaum and Khanapursatyagraha camps of the NCG.[1]
On 15 August 1947, he was arrested again to prevent him from organizing any protests on that day. His house was then raided and nationalist literature was seized. Following this, he was put on trial by the TMT for the publishing and distribution of anti-Portuguese flyers and articles. He was then sentenced to 5 years' imprisonment, along with having his political rights suspended for 15 years.[1]
As a writer and journalist, between 1942 and 1961, Jorge published about 16 flyers and books against the Portuguese government. In the 1940s, he worked for oHeraldo.[3] Following his release from jail in the early 1950s, Jorge moved to Bombay and began contributing to T. B. Cunha's Konkani periodical, Azad Goem (transl.Free Goa). In 1955, he joined the All India Radio (AIR) for Konkani and Portuguese. After resigning from AIR in 1970, he began editing and contributing to the Konkani daily newspaper, Uzvadd.[1] He later founded the Novem Uzvadd.[8]
Death
Jorge was killed in a freak accident in Panaji on 20 August 1978 when a bus lost control and killed him.[9]
Personal life
Jorge was married to Margarida and had two children, Subhas and Vijayalakshmi.[2]
Views
In his 1942 pamphlet, A Reforma do Vestuário, Jorge promoted khadi cloth. He lamented that both Hindus and Christians in Goa, under the Portuguese rule, wore "Western" clothes manufactured outside of India. He stated that the Catholic Church in Goa was used by the Portuguese to impose "Western (occidentals) dressing and customs". Urging Hindus to turn back to their culture, he said,[5]
To the Hindus of Goa who, perhaps carried by a supposed superiority [of the European], leave the ancestral habits of their land and adopt those of the foreigners, as there is no greater inferiority than to accept all that is imposed on us, without the slightest reflection and criticism! Also there is no reason to be ashamed of the dress and the traditions of the country, which are admired all over the world.