PANJIM: The Congress party on Saturday demanded the disqualification of Deputy Chief Minister Francis D’Souza and Cooperation Minister Pandurang Deepak Dhavalikar for making unconstitutional remarks about India as a Hindu nation. The party has decided to approach the Court for legal directions, if Goa Governor failed to dismiss the ministers.
“We will be presenting a memorandum to the Goa governor demanding the disqualification of the two ministers over their remark on Hindu nation. If that fails, we will approach the Court and seek legal directions to drop the two ministers, who have sworn to abide by the Constitution,” Congress president John Fernandes told media persons Saturday afternoon.
“The two ministers need to be disqualified for violating the constitutional oath,” he added. Fernandes’ comments came after both the ministers in the BJP-MGP government made national headlines over their remarks related to India as a Hindu nation.
While Dhavalikar Thursday said on the floor of the House that India would develop into Hindu nation under Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s leadership, D’Souza on Friday added, “India is a Hindu country. It is Hindustan. All Indians in Hindustan are Hindus, I am a Christian Hindu.”
The Congress Legislature wing had staged a walkout from the Assembly Friday in protest against the Hindu nation remark.
Fernandes said that there could be a larger hidden agenda to create communal tensions in the state through such remarks, but the immediate motive behind making such statements is nothing but to divert the mind of the public and Opposition from the scams pointed out by CAG.
