The Frente Popular Party (also named Janta Agadhi) is a former political party of Goa

Goa

Goa , a former Portuguese colony, is India's smallest state by area and the fourth smallest by population. Located in South West India in the region known as the Konkan, it is bounded by the state of Maharashtra to the north, and by Karnataka to the east and south, while the Arabian Sea forms its...

, India

India

India , officially the Republic of India , is a country in South Asia. It is the seventh-largest country by geographical area, the second-most populous country with over 1.2 billion people, and the most populous democracy in the world...

. It participated in the 1963 Goa general elections without any success.

Background

Frente Popular was founded by communists. Its stated ideals were secularism

Secularism

Secularism is the principle of separation between government institutions and the persons mandated to represent the State from religious institutions and religious dignitaries...

, democracy

Democracy

Democracy is generally defined as a form of government in which all adult citizens have an equal say in the decisions that affect their lives. Ideally, this includes equal participation in the proposal, development and passage of legislation into law...

 and socialism

Socialism

Socialism is an economic system characterized by social ownership of the means of production and cooperative management of the economy; or a political philosophy advocating such a system. "Social ownership" may refer to any one of, or a combination of, the following: cooperative enterprises,...

. It attacked the prohibition

Prohibition

Prohibition of alcohol, often referred to simply as prohibition, is the practice of prohibiting the manufacture, transportation, import, export, sale, and consumption of alcohol and alcoholic beverages. The term can also apply to the periods in the histories of the countries during which the...

 policy promoted by the Congress

Indian National Congress

The Indian National Congress is one of the two major political parties in India, the other being the Bharatiya Janata Party. It is the largest and one of the oldest democratic political parties in the world. The party's modern liberal platform is largely considered center-left in the Indian...

 and criticized the administration of Goa for nepotism and corruption.

Frente Popular was responsible for organizing mass rallies which were addressed by prominent national communist leaders such as S. A. Dange

S. A. Dange

Shripad Amrit Dange was a founding member of the Communist Party of India and a stalwart of Indian trade union movement. During the British Raj, Dange was arrested by the British authorities for communist and trade union activities and was jailed for an overall period of 13 years...

. It was headed by Bertha Menezo Braganza, a journalist from Bombay.

Views on Goa's statehood

There were persistent demands to merge the Union Territory of Goa into the newly created linguistic state of Maharashtra

Maharashtra

Maharashtra is a state located in India. It is the second most populous after Uttar Pradesh and third largest state by area in India...

. The communists in India were staunch supporters of the Samyukta Maharashtra movement, which demanded an enlarged linguistic state of Maharashtra, which included Goa. However, the Frente Popular campaigned against a merger and supported full statehood for Goa.

1963 elections

There were eight political parties in Goa at the time of the first general elections in 1963; however, only four got recognition from the Election Commission of India

Election Commission of India

The Election Commission of India is an autonomous, quasi-judiciary constitutional body of India. Its mission is to conduct free and fair elections in India...

, including the Frente Popular. The symbol allocated to the Frente Popular was the elephant

Elephant

Elephants are large land mammals in two extant genera of the family Elephantidae: Elephas and Loxodonta, with the third genus Mammuthus extinct...

.

Frente Popular put forth only eight candidates from the 30 available constituencies. It contested mainly in areas with high concentrations of labourers, fielding candidates from the trade unions. Bertha Menezo Braganza ran in Cortalim

Cortalim

Cortalim is a village in Saxtti , Goa, India.The original Magueshi Temple stood in this village before it was destroyed by the Portuguese. The village is today mainly Christian....

. The party did not win any seats, polling just 4,548 votes (1.82% of polled votes). The Roman Catholic Church

Roman Catholic Church

The Catholic Church, also known as the Roman Catholic Church, is the world's largest Christian church, with over a billion members. Led by the Pope, it defines its mission as spreading the gospel of Jesus Christ, administering the sacraments and exercising charity...

's campaign for the United Goans Party

United Goans Party

The United Goans Party was a political party founded in Goa after its annexation into India. Its main aim at the time of formation was to protect the distinct identity of Goa and the Goan people...

has been cited as a major factor contributing to the party's poor showing.