In 1947 when India became independent, Portugal had control of a handful of enclaves on the subcontinent. Lisbon’s Estado da India consisted of Goa, Daman, Diu and Dadra and Nagar Haveli.
It covered an area of around 4,000 square km. The population inhabiting the area was 637,591 in 1947. Religious distribution was 61 per cent Hindu, 36.7 per cent Christian and 2.2 per cent Muslim.
Resistance to Portuguese rule in Goa was pioneered by Tristão de Bragança Cunha, a French educated Goan engineer who founded the Goa Congress Committee in 1928. Da Cunha released a booklet called 'Four hundred years of Foreign Rule' and a pamphlet, 'Denationalisation of Goa'. Eventually Da Cunha would become the first president of the Goa Congress, affiliated to the Indian National Congress.
On December 10, 1961, Nehru stated to the press that "Continuance of Goa under Portuguese rule is an impossibility".
Operation Vijay saw the Indian Navy deploy two warships — INS Rajput, an 'R' Class destroyer, and INS Kirpan, a Blackwood class frigate, off the coast of Goa. The actual naval assault was assigned to four task groups - a surface action Group comprising five ships (Mysore, Trishul, Betwa, Beas and Cauvery), a carrier group of five ships (Delhi, Kuthar, Kirpan, Khukri and Rajput centred around carrier Vikrant), a mine Sweeping Group and a support group.
On December 19 when Governor General Manuel António Vassalo e Silva signed the instrument of surrender bringing to an end 451 years of Portuguese Rule in Goa.
In 1947, Portugal's Estado da India consisted of Goa, Daman, Diu and Dadra and Nagar Haveli.
