PANJIM: The concerned citizens of Goa under the banner Goencho Avaaz, took the opportunity to remind the Congress President Rahul Gandhi about the promise of granting Special Status to Goa in a bid to protect its limited land resources and identity, made by his own family decades ago.
The Forum, which submitted detail memorandum to Gandhi, also demanded grant of Dual Citizenship to the people of Goan origin with ancestry traced prior to 1961, once the party is voted to power in the upcoming Lok Sabha elections.
“We emphasised on the past contribution of the Gandhi family to the State of Goa right from Opinion Poll to Statehood. Right from Indira Gandhi to Rajiv Gandhi, the family has helped Goa to preserve our unique identity and had assured to give Special Status to Goa,” Captain Viriato Fernandes, Co-convener ‘Goencho Avaz’ told media persons after meeting Gandhi.
Opinion Poll was held during Indira Gandhi’s prime ministership in the year 1967 while Rajiv Gandhi was instrumental in giving statehood for Goa.
Fernandes recalled that former Congress President Sonia Gandhi in the year 2009 during rally in Goa had promised Special Status to the State. “We want that her son should fulfill the promise given by his mother to protest our land resources, identity and jobs to Niz Goenkars,” he said.
“We are not asking for Special Status for financial package…we don’t want any financial help, but we want protection from destruction of our land resource…we want protection of jobs to our youths,” Fernandes said adding that Gandhi “reacted very positively” towards the demands of the people.
But, Fernandes said that as a confidence building statement, “we want Rahul to announce to withdraw all the six rivers of Goa from nationalization project.”
