PANJIM: Rubbishing the claims made by AAP that their chief minister would be from the Bhandari Samaj, former general secretary of the Bhandari Samaj, Gurudas Sawal, branded their claims as a ‘political stunt’.
“Their claim has no meaning in law. For AAP to form the government they should have 21 MLAs. Considering the present political situation in Goa, this is highly improbable,” Sawal said.
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“So why have they done this? Bhandari Samaj is the biggest caste group in Goa. It constitutes about 50% of ethnic Goans who were there in Goa, at the time of Liberation. Their only aim is to garner votes from the largest caste group. This is a political stunt,” Sawal added.
AAP leader and Delhi Deputy Chief Minister Manish Sisodia had met leaders of the Bhandari Samaj and declared that if AAP comes to power in Goa, their chief minister would be from the Bhandari Samaj and the deputy chief minister would be a Catholic, clearly utilising the caste and community fault lines within the polity.
“The majority MLAs will decide the CM, it is not practical to declare a CM from a particular community. If majority of the MLAs are from some other caste group, they may say we do not want a Bhandari CM. To choose a Bhandari CM, 12 to 34 MLAs have to be Bhandaris,” Sawal reasoned. Making the CM based on caste or religious criteria is erroneous, he emphasized.
Sawal underscored that AAP is presupposing that by declaring a Bhandari CM, they will get maximum votes from Bhandari Samaj, but this won’t happen. “So far only Ravi Naik was a Bhandari CM, but he carried out affairs of the state in a good manner,” he added.
Meanwhile, Bhandari youth who addressed the media at Azad Maidan said the statement by AAP leaders is an attempt to instigate people to fight. “Anyone who is contesting elections does so independently, it is his or her own lookout or wish. In a democracy, people decide whom to make chief minister. Every citizen has a right to vote for person of his own choice,” Adv Anil Bakal stated.
Adv Atish also a Bhandari youth, attacked Ashok Naik of Bhandari Samaj for vouching the support of 5 to 6 lakh members of the Bhandari Samaj to a particular political party, to ensure victory of their Bhandari candidates.
He challenged the numbers put out by Ashok Naik saying his Bhandari Samaj has only 3975 registered members. “I challenge Ashok Naik to show, where he has only 4000 members how is he demanding a CM of our community? He can’t even elect a panchayat member,” Atish alleged.
Meanwhile, citizens across the board have given a big thumbs down to AAP’s strategy of allocating posts of CM and Deputy CM on caste and community basis. “It is a wrong decision to have caste and community criteria for such posts. AAP would have come out on the roads, if any other party had done this. Instead of making casteist and religious divide, they should try to do something good for Goans,” businessman Mahendra Dharwatkar from Panjim said.
Dildar Madganvkar from Candolim, said, “I want a well educated CM, who will reach out to the people. He should had worked at the ground level and bring about good development of Goa.” Akash Gaunekar of Taleigao also opined that the CM should be well educated, young and dynamic.
This sort of strategy to select persons to high posts on caste and communal lines will destroy the traditional Goan communal harmony, citizens warned. They branded this decision to make caste and community as the criteria for selections to posts of CM and deputy, as a wrong decision.
