The late Manohar Parrikar was a leader who made Goa’s name famous not only in India, but in the world as well, said Union Home Minister Amit Shah on Sunday.
Mr. Shah, on a day-long tour of the poll-bound coastal State, was addressing a pre-election public meeting in Ponda where he paid rich tributes to the former BJP stalwart and Chief Minister.
“Former Defence Minister and ex-Goa CM Manohar Parrikar was such a leader who made Goa known not just in India, but across the world…It was he who had sown the seeds of development, on which present Goa CM Pramod Sawant is building a sturdy edifice. The BJP’s aim to realise Mr. Parrikar’s dream of a ‘golden Goa’,” Mr. Shah said.
Mr. Shah’s remarks were indicative of the saffron party’s ‘fire-fighting’ after the BJP top brass recently denied Manohar Parrikar’s son, Utpal, ticket from Panaji — a seat held by his father for nearly 23 years — causing the younger Parrikar to raise a banner of revolt and contest as an Independent.
The younger Parrikar had been particularly piqued that the BJP brass had given incumbent Panaji MLA and ex-Congressman Atanasio ‘Babush’ Monserrate — a history-sheeter — the Panaji ticket in his stead. He had later said that he was contesting in order to stand up for the values that were steadily eroding in the present BJP.
Meanwhile, targeting the Congress, Mr. Shah alleged that the erstwhile Digambar Kamat government had been marked by “instability, bad governance and lawlessness” while accusing Congress leader Rahul Gandhi of “Modi-phobia”.
“I want to ask Mr. Kamat and Rahul Gandhi what the Congress has done for Goa in the past? When the Congress-led United Progressive Alliance (UPA) was at the Centre in 2013-14, it had given Goa a paltry sum of ₹432 crore. In contrast, the BJP-led Modi regime has given Goa a massive sum of ₹2,567 crore,” he said.
The Home Minister further said that it was the Modi government’s policy to give priority to smaller States, remarking that Goa Chief Minister Pramod Sawant never “had to seek an appointment” with BJP Ministers at the Centre in order to get funds for Goa’s development.
“For the BJP, the coastal State means ‘golden Goa’, but for the Congress, Goa means a resort for the Gandhi family where Congress leaders merely come to vacation,” he remarked.
‘Small parties of no help’
Mr. Shah also lambasted the other Opposition parties in the poll fray, including the Mamata Banerjee-led Trinamool Congress and the Arvind Kejriwal-led Aam Aadmi Party (AAP).
“I wonder why so many parties across the country have converged upon Goa? How can these small parties from other States be capable of providing security and stability to Goa? They have no agenda and no blueprint for Goa’s development… Development is possible only where there is stability and this can be achieved only by the BJP’s ‘double engine’,” Mr. Shah said.
He said that ‘outside parties’ from Kolkata and Delhi (the Trinamool and the AAP) cannot understand the problems of Goa’s populace. “Since these parties know very well that they will not be forming a government after the Assembly election, they have no compunction about doling out one hollow promise after the other,” the Home Minister said, in a jibe at the Trinamool’s recent manifesto and the AAP’s promises of free electricity and healthcare among other sops.
Without naming the Trinamool or the AAP, Mr. Shah further said that the sole aim of some parties in contesting the Goa election seems to be wanting to be recognised as an ‘all-India’ party or to open their accounts in Goa.
Remarking that the BJP was a responsible political party, Mr. Shah claimed that if a “hodgepodge government” was formed post-election, there would be massive corruption in Goa and that this kind of government would constantly be fighting with the Centre.
“It was only when the BJP came to power, a new age of progress was ushered in… the BJP has engineered Goa’s development and improved its infrastructure in a systematic manner,” Mr. Shah said.
The Home Minister also participated in a door-to-door campaign in Sanvordem and launched the BJP’s umbrella campaign from the Vasco Assembly constituency.
This is the first time that BJP has fielded candidates in all the 40 seats in the Goa Assembly election, which is slated for February 14.
