Vaman Sardesai, son of Balkrishna Sardesai, was born in the village of Vadi in Ponda taluka on the 25 May 1923. He had completed his 7th year at the lyceum and first year at the Escola Médica (Portuguese Medical School). He was mainly engaged in nationalist propaganda and had no affiliation with any political organization. He attended secret group meetings held at Mahalaxmi Marathi Kanyashala (girls’ school) and Modern High school in Panjim. He was arrested in December 1947, for distributing nationalist literature ‘Jwala’ and participating in other underground activities. He was tried by the TMT (Tribunal Militar Territorial or Portuguese Military Tribunal) and was sentenced to seven months of simple imprisonment with the suspension of political rights for five years. Thereafter, he joined the Colégio Almeida (Almeida college), in Ponda and made attempts to popularise nationalist ideals, leading to its closure by the Portuguese government and subsequent conditional reopening. He went to Nagpur in Maharashtra via Wardha and tried to involve Goans residing there in the freedom struggle. In early 1955, he worked with Prof. Francisco Correia Afonso in feeding the air (Bombay) with nationalist programs in Konkani and Portuguese from November 1955. Till the liberation of Goa in December 1961, he continued to broadcast for the underground nationalist radio station ’Voice of Freedom’ on the Goa border along with Libia Lobo and Nicolau Menezes. He helped to prepare the nationalist leaflets for distribution in Goa during ‘Operation Vijay’ and translated important Portuguese documents seized during military action into English.
Reference: TMT File Order No. 1023/941 Process No. 735