Team Herald
MARGAO: Town and Country Planning Minister Vijai Sardesai hit out at his cabinet colleague PWD Minister Sudin Dhavalikar and Subhash Velingkar of the Goa Suraksha Manch on Monday for their caustic comments on the relevance of the Opinion Poll.
“It appears that the MGP is continuing with the pre poll alliance it had with the Goa Suraksha Manch that has now turned into a post poll alliance going by the language they are both using,” said the Fatorda MLA and further questioned Sudin’s suggestion that the Margao Municipal Council be named after Dr Jack de Sequeira.
“The garden belongs to the Margao Municipal Council that is an independent local body and Sudin has no right to tell them anything,” he said adding that Sudin was actually belittling Jack Sequeira with his comments.
“The garden is named after Agha Khan as the Mavani family gifted the land to set up the garden,” he pointed out while asking whether Sudin knows anything about Margao or whether he has any influence in there.
He also questioned how Sudin could have supported the anti merger at that time when he is with the MGP that had proposed Goa’s merger with Maharashtra and asserted that the victory at Opinion Poll completed Goa’s liberation.
“When Goa was liberated the then Prime Minister Jawaharlal Nehru had said that India’s independence was complete and in the same sense I say that the victory at Opinion Poll completed Goa’s liberation,” he said.
“While liberation made us Indians, the Opinion Poll gave us an identity as Goans which has now become a global brand,” he said adding that he has a right to his opinion and also a right to express his opinion.
He said he did not need tuitions from anybody about Goa and its freedom struggle and accused Velingkar of looking at Goa as a part of Maharashtra.
He pointed out that his father who was a senior official of the Portuguese government had “Mao Portuguese” stamped on his passport terming him to be anti-Portuguese because many freedom fighters used to meet at his house.
“His rashtrawad is actually Maharashtrawad,” he said and opined that Subhash was dissociated from the RSS probably because the RSS even realised his flawed views and principles.
Vijai stoutly rejected the stand taken by Subhash Velingkar and declared that Goa has no place for such elements who are trying to create a communal divide amongst the people.
