Operation Vijay: A victory that ex-cop will never forget

AHMEDABAD: While Operation Vijay was primarily carried out by all three arms of Indian armed forces to liberate Diu, Daman and Goa from the Portuguese 53 years ago, the local administration also played a role in its success.
Majbutsinh Jadeja, former IPS officer, who was superintendent of police at Junagadh in 1961 gives an insider perspective into the process in his memoirs.
The Portuguese were formidable rulers who held on to territories since 1546 and after the independence from the Great Britain in 1947, the dissent had started to evict the last of the foreign rulers. The demand for liberation of Diu took momentum when the Portuguese sunk an Indian boat near their shores.
“In mid 1961, a team comprising a brigadier, a lieutenant colonel and a major from the Indian Army came visiting Junagadh under cover. They had come to gather information on Diu to assess the geography and military power. The primary question was to ascertain whether they were equipped with tanks as was rumoured,” he writes.
The district magistrate and key administrators camped at Una as the Indian Army started marching towards Diu in mid-December. Jadeja was attached to the Indian Army by the then DGP J D Nagarwala. It was decided that the attack would be carried out from two flanks at Ahmedpur Mandvi and Koba village.
“The first attack took place on the midnight of December 17 as the troops started marching towards the island of Diu. Some troops took smaller boats as others targeted a strip extending to Ghoghla. The Portuguese were alarmed when the migratory Kunj cranes, present in a large number at the creek, started making noise. The floodlights were targeted towards the beaches as the Portuguese forces opened fire at the flat sand beaches. The Indian Air Force (IAF) also joined in as they started targeting key locations amid battery of canons kept at the fort and boats,” writes Jadeja.