TEAM HERALD
MARGAO: Exhorting the public to reject MLAs who have been ‘silent’ on issues concerning the State, Goans For Dabolim Only convener Fr Eremito Rebello urged the MLAs to resign immediately on moral grounds.
Speaking at a public meeting in Navelim, Rebello asked the MLAs supporting the BJP to resign if they felt the pulse of the people and agreed with the sentiment of the public that the government was not doing the right thing.
Rebello listed various promises made by the BJP government on their manifesto including Regional Plan, Lokayukta and questioned the MLA’s silence over the last three years.
Claiming that there was no difference between the MLAs of the previous regime who the public had collectively sent home and the MLAs of the present regime, Rebello called upon the public to ensure they are sent home during the 2017 elections.
Rebello criticized the BJP for being influenced by the RSS and the Bajrang Dal and reminded that Goa was always known for its religious harmony and unity amongst various communities and condemned the tactics of the BJP to divide and rule Goans.
Lamenting that there already were such divisive factors among people, Rebello appealed to the people to also reject any person propped up by the BJP to divide the secular votes. Without naming the contestants, Rebello referred to the Lok Sabha elections and pointed out how the vote bank was divided.
“Three years of the State government’s tenure is over and the people have been extremely let down. Soon there will be talk of the 2017 elections and already plans are being made to divide our votes,” warned Rebello.
Rebello also hit back at charges that GFDO is losing popularity and said he would continue to fight alone if he had to and would never resort to cheap tricks like filling public meetings by paying people to attend or offering free food.
Earlier, Fr Victor Ferrao also touched upon how the Goan community should stand united to prevent the government from going ahead with plans in the name of development like Mopa airport and that in reality Goans would stand to suffer.
GFDO member Rajendra Kakokdar recalled how former chief minister Manohar Parrikar had mocked Congress leader Digvijay Singh during the inauguration of the new Dabolim terminal and had taunted him to ask the then Defence minister A K Antony to get the Navy to part with the requisite land for the airport.
Kakodar pointed out how difficult it was to get an audience with Antony and questioned Parrikar’s silence now that he was the Defence Minister. He further criticised Parrikar for not directing the Navy to part with the land for airport expansion. Kakodkar accused Parrikar of sabotaging the Airport Authority of India’s plan to build a parallel runaway.
GFDO member Sidharth Karapurkar also called the new Mandovi Bridge being constructed as a waste of the public exchequer as there were already two bridges over Mandovi and pointed out that it was only being done in view of the proposed Mopa airport.
Former Dramapur-Sirlim sarpanch Domnic Noronha said that the people were supporting Rebello and warned that the common man would get affected when the government pushes though the expansion of the highway and demanded that the people fight now before it was too late.
