PANJIM: The Goa Pradesh Congress Committee (GPCC) has been called off Bhumiputra Yatra slated for Sunday alleging that frightened Chief Minister Dr Pramod Sawant has denied permission to hold the rally of 10,000 Bhumiputras.
GPCC Secretary Khemlo Sawant said that on August 24, the party had written a letter to the Bicholim Deputy Collector and Sub-Divisional Officer (SDO) seeking permission for holding Bhumiputra Yatra of 10,000 people by following the COVID-19 protocol. Unfortunately, the permission granted by the Bicholim Deputy Collector on Saturday has put restrictions on the number of participants in the rally with directions to follow Standard Operating Procedures (SOPs) issued by the Ministry of Home Affairs (MHA).
“The SOPs of the MHA which allows only 100 participants in the rally is just one per cent of our expected participants. We will now reschedule our rally and again write to the government authorities to allow us to hold rally with 10,000 participants including our GPCC president, Leader of Opposition, MLAs, MP, State, District and Block Presidents and members and citizens,” said Sanquelim Block Congress President Mangaldas Naik.
Sawant argued that if the Chief Minister could hold a yatra with more than 100 workers recently why has the Congress been denied permission.
He also pointed out to the claims made by Chief Minister’s wife and former Goa BJP Mahila Morcha President Sulakshana Sawant that 5,000 BJP workers had gathered to counter ‘Sadbuddhi Yatra’ of Congress held at Sanquelim on August 1.
“If ruling BJP can gather 5,000 people illegally, Congress has every right to ask for legal permission to hold rally with 10,000 Bhumiputras,” Naik said adding that he will again apply for permission.
While grating permission to hold the Bhumiputra rally on Sunday, the Bicholim Deputy Collector and SDO Deepak Vaingankar imposed strict terms and conditions to the organisers.
