PANJIM: After facing embarrassment from a teenage school student on the CAA, the State government now appears to want to take no risk on the issue as it dropped a name of a Citizenship Amendment Act (CAA) detractor from an official State function.
Art and Culture Department dropped prominent journalist Faye D’Souza from the list of speakers for the “D D Kosambi Festival of Ideas” due to her anti-CAA stand.
The event “D D Kosambi Festival of Ideas” organised by State Art and Culture Department had D’Souza, amongst others in the list of speakers.
Art and Culture Minister Govind Gaude said on Friday that D’Souza’s name was dropped due to her anti-CAA stand as the organisers wanted to avoid any controversy surrounding the event.
He said D’Souza had been shortlisted in the list of guests but they were told that she speaks against the CAA. “D D Kosambi is a festival of repute and we wanted to avoid mess and chaos around the event,” the minister said.
He added said that since the event is government sponsored, the organisers did not want any controversies surrounding it.
He denied that the
instructions to drop her name had come from Chief Minister’s or Prime Minister’s office. “PM and CM have always said that they are ready for the debate on CAA. There is no question of any instructions from them,” he said.
The event will be held from January 27 to January 30 at Kala Academy in Panjim. D’Souza was initially supposed to speak on January 29.
The other speakers for the event include weightlifter and Olympic medal winner Karnam Malleshwari, Para-Olympic Games medal winner Deepa Malik, Dr Kshama Fernandes MD and CEO of Northern Arc Capital and Chhavi Rajawat, India’s first woman sarpanch with an MBA degree.
