FATORDA: Goa Forward Party (GFP) president Vijai Sardesai lashed out against the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) for its insensitivity and arrogance towards women. He accused the party of mocking and deriding women through their actions, citing their choice of candidates in Mormugao and Panjim.
Speaking to the press during his door-to-door campaign in Fatorda, Sardesai said that as a political party and as the government, BJP’s statements and actions have always exposed their inherent bias against women, and now by giving tickets to candidates accused of rape and sexual exploitation, they’ve crossed all limits in their dishonesty and indifference towards women.
“In Mormugao, by renominating Milind Naik, BJP is mocking the women of Goa. They are saying: do what you can, we’ll defend sexual predators. The women themselves will give a fitting reply to this shameless act. We’re not a banana republic,” said Sardesai.
Naik was a minister in the Pramod Sawant government when he’d to resign following allegation. Another BJP candidate, Atanasio ‘Babush’ Monserrate who beat Utpal Parrikar, son of Manohar Parrikar, to the Panjim seat, is accused of rape.
“Women are facing the brunt of Pramod Sawant’s incompetence and utter lack of sympathy. They haven’t forgotten the chief minister’s ridiculous statement blaming the parents after the brutal rape of two minor girls in Benaulim,” said Sardesai, pointing to the alarming increase in crime against women in Goa. “What justice can we expect from leaders with such views?” he asked.
Sardesai also referred to the Siddhi Naik’s case as another classic example of callousness, incompetence or corruption, or all three together. “The police under Sawant have been a disaster, and it’s been traumatic for the victim’s family to seek natural justice,” said Sardesai.
““BJP’s idea of keeping women safe is not to let them out of their homes. This is absurd. This is Goa, not UP or Delhi. This archaic mindset will be rejected by the women of Goa, and on February 14. They will send a clear message to BJP that their anti-women candidates and ideology have no place in liberal Goa,” said Sardesai.
