Team Herald
PANJIM: All India Congress Committee (AICC) general scretary and communication in-charge Randeep Singh Surjewala on Thursday called Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) national convenor and Delhi Chief Minister ‘Chhota Modi’ and an imposter, who represents what Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh (RSS) and the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) represents.
If you enjoyed reading this article, you can help support our journalism by adding OHeraldo as a preferred source.
Speaking to media persons, Surjewala said that was no ‘Double Engine’ of the BJP government but ‘Trouble Engine’ government for the people. BJP is the symbol of ‘Inequality’, ‘Injustice’, ‘Income Disparity’ and ‘Inflation in Goa’, he said.
Surjewala further said that 16 lakh Goans have been ‘duped’, ‘deceived’ and ‘defrauded’ by BJP’s ‘Misrule’ and‘Misgovernance’.
Referring to the closure of mining activity in Goa, he said that BJP snatched the livelihood of three lakh mining dependent people as it could not restart legalised mining in a responsible and sustainable fashion. In 2019, Prime Minister Narendra Modi and the BJP made a false promise to restart mining activity.
Prime Minister’s on February 1 this year, Union Home Minister Amit Shah and Chief Minister Pramod Sawant promised that “Mining will restart in six months”, he said recalled that Sawant had made the same promise to restart mining on April 19, 2019; during the Lok Sabha polls. This turned out to be ‘fake’.
When mining operations were first halted in September 2012, the BJP government also promised to recover Rs 35,000 crore of illegal mining loot and refer all cases of illegal mining to the Goa Lokayukta. This proved to be another act of BJP’s ‘deception’, he said.
Surjewala charged that BJP government wants to convert Goa into a “Coal Transit Hub” by converting Mormugao Port into a transit hub for their “Hum Do, Hamare Do” crony club. Coal import from abroad to neighbouring States is destroying Goa’s ecology without any jobs or livelihood for Goans.
The BJP government utterly failed to stop illegal fishing in Goa’s coastline and allowed Bull trawling, 100 KV LED fishing which will totally destroy Goa’s marine life and assault the livelihoods of ‘traditional fisherfolk’. Goa’s tourism industry suffered a loss up to Rs 7200 crore and 58 per cent job losses due to neglect by the BJP government during COVID. Sawant government remained a mute spectator and refused to provide any stimulus to the industry he said.
The recent protests by taxi drivers or be it the protests by environment activists against the three linear projects, every section of the society in Goa has been protesting since years without any redressal under corrupt, cruel and callous Sawant government, he said.
