Says “NaMo” should be converted into “No More”
TEAM HERALD
PANJIM: The Indian National Congress Goa Unit apprehends that Sri Ram Sene Chief Pramod Muthalik will be taken back into Bharatiya Janata Party after the parliamentary elections.
Addressing a press conference at Congress House on Monday, Congress general secretary and Spokesperson Pratima Coutinho said the party fears Muthalik will once again be inducted into BJP although he was shown the door hours after the BJP in Karnataka enrolled him as party member.
“After chanting Har Har Modi, making him God; the BJP is chanting Har Har Muthalik. The BJP will certainly induct him again after the Lok Sabha election. In a bid to avoid any controversy, the BJP cancelled his membership for the party which if not, would have affected them in the polls,” she said.
Muthalik, a known Narendra Modi-fan, hit national headlines in 2009 after he and his party activists attacked young women at a pub in Mangalore. He was a BJP ticket aspirant from Belgaum North in the Assembly elections held in May 2013.
“These people are the most communal. They are hindering the freedom to religion and of women. The Mangalore pub attack is just one example,” she said.
While party secretary Sunil Kawthakar said the entry of Muthalik has been kept on hold to woo voters. “…Once elections are over, BJP will welcome him. This is their hidden agenda to start Har Har Muthalik now after chanting Har Har Modi. I myself am a Hindu and strictly against any such ideologies which create communal hatred,” he added.
The Congress also took the opportunity to hit out at the BJP’s PM candidate Modi’s Bharat Vijay rallies across the State.
“BJP’s race is for becoming the PM… why is the series of rallies named Bharat Vijay and not Bharat Vikas? The party is not for the development of the country but it only wants to rule,” Kawthankar said.
Pratima said the NaMo factor should be converted into “No More”. “This is not Aam Admi Sarkar but Khaas Admi sarkar. It should not be NaMo but No More,” she said.
The party pulled up the government for its U-turns on various issues, more precisely on mining ban, which it says was ordered by Goa government before Supreme Court intervening in the matter. Citing instance of the lathi charge on local taxi operators, who were protesting against the entry of Olacabs, Pratima alleged that chief minister had ordered a lathi charge and usage of tear gas shells. “The taxi operators were beaten…where was this strength when the Nigerians overpowered the police last year?” she questioned.
The Congress also pointed out that doles for women are a mere eye-wash to collect taxes in various other forms from citizens.
