The
Indian annexation of Portuguese India (also referred to as the
Invasion of Portuguese India, the
Invasion of Goa, the
Liberation of Goa by Indian forces, and the
Fall of Portuguese India), was an action by the
Indian Armed Forces that ended the rule of Portugal in its
exclaves in India in 1961. The armed action, codenamed
Operation Vijay (
Vijay, lit. "Victory") by the Indian government, involved air, sea and land strikes for over 36 hours, and was a decisive victory for India, ending 451 years of Portuguese overseas provincial governance in
Goa. Twenty-two Indians and thirty Portuguese were killed in the fighting. The brief conflict drew a mixture of worldwide praise and condemnation. In India, the action was seen as a liberation of historically Indian territory by geographical closeness, while Portugal viewed it as an aggression against national soil and its citizens.