The 1961 Indian annexation of Goa (also referred to as the Invasion of Goa, the Liberation of Goa, and the Fall of Portuguese India ), was an action by India's armed forces that ended the colonial rule of Portugal in its exclaves in India in 1961. The armed action, codenamed Operation Vijay 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 colonial rule 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, while Portugal viewed it as an aggression against national soil.