Goan public has to choose between the Congress or the BJP’, says Shah
@the_news_21
Mumbai: Launching a broadside against the Congress ahead of the February 14 Goa Assembly election, Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) leader and Union Home Minister Amit Shah on Wednesday remarked that had former Congress prime minister Jawaharlal Nehru’s leadership been decisive, then Goa would have been liberated in 1947 itself instead of being freed of the Portuguese rule in 1961.
In his second campaign tour of the idyllic coastal State, Shah said Goan public have only two options to choose from – the Congress under Rahul Gandhi’s leadership or the BJP led by Prime Minister Narendra Modi.
While addressing a public rally at Bicholim in North Goa, the Home Minister remarked, “History is witness that if late prime minister Jawaharlal Nehru had acted decisively, then Goa would have been liberated much earlier, in August 1947 itself…India is celebrating its 75th anniversary while Goa its diamond jubilee. A lot of time went into securing Goa’s Liberation. Prime Minister Narendra Modi yesterday raised the issue in Parliament of who was responsible for Goa’s delayed liberation.”
It may be recalled that keeping in mind the ensuing Goa polls, Modi had launched a bitter attack on the Congress in the Rajya Sabha on Tuesday, accusing the country’s first Prime Minister Jawaharlal Nehru of refusing to intervene in Portuguese-held Goa as he was more concerned about “his international image.”
Shah, who was campaigning for the BJP’s Bicholim candidate Rajesh Patnekar, said that Goan public now had to decide which of these two parties they wanted to give a mandate.
The Union Home Minister further claimed, “The people of Goa have experienced rule by both the Congress and the BJP. The Congress’ governments were marked by instability and lawlessness, while BJP brought about stability and the rule of law to the State.”
Rajesh Patnekar is a three-term MLA from Bicholim constituency and the current Speaker of the Goa Legislative Assembly. He had earlier declined to contest the election from the seat. He was wooed back by the party leadership after being promised a cabinet berth in the next BJP government
Praising the late BJP chief minister Manohar Parrikar’s contributions in building Goa, Shah said that the former Defense Minister and three-term Chief Minister had devoted his entire life to ensuring the State’s development.
He added, “This time, the BJP is aiming for a hat-trick in Goa and will achieve its dream of a ‘Golden Goa’…current Chief Minister Dr Pramod Sawant has already announced that mining in the State will resume within six months of our party forming the next government.”
Shah also took on the Mamata Banerjee-led Trinamool Congress (TMC) and Arvind Kejriwal’s Aam Aadmi Party (AAP), the other parties in the poll fray.
The Union Home Minister further claimed, “The new parties that have come to Goa do not have the capability to develop either Goa or the country…Remember that TMC chairperson Mamata Banerjee, the Congress and all other parties had resolutely opposed the scrapping of Article 370 in Jammu and Kashmir. These parties were claiming that rivers of blood would flow in Kashmir, but nothing of the kind happened and the BJP succeeding in bringing the rule of law there.”
Shah added that the people had to choose either the BJP or a ‘dynastic party’ like the Congress.
Notwithstanding its ‘anti-dynastic’ posture, the BJP itself has awarded tickets to spouses of its candidates for the Goa election. Notable among them include State Health Minister Vishwajit Rane’s wife, Deviya Rane, who has been fielded from Poriem – the stronghold of the Rane clan which has been held 11 time, a record by Congressman and former chief minister Pratapsingh Rane, who is Deviya Rane’s father-in-law.
Likewise, it has also given a ticket to Jennifer Monserrate, wife of incumbent Panaji MLA Atanasio ‘Babush’ Monserrate. Jennifer Monserrate, is a cabinet minister in the Dr Pramod Sawant-led BJP government, is the sitting MLA from Taleigao in North Goa.
The party, however, denied a ticket to late Manohar Parrikar’s son, Utpal Parrikar, forcing him to quit the party and contest as an Independent candidate against Atanasio Monserrate.
With less than five days left to go for the polls, the saffron party has unleashed its top campaign guns with a view to win a 22-seat majority in the 40-seat Goa Assembly. Prime Minister Modi himself is to address a public rally in Goa on Thursday.
