Congress on Tuesday threatened to lead a ‘Bhumiputra Yatra’ in Chief Minister Dr Pramod Sawant’s Sanquelim constituency with 10,000 Goans to protect the identity of Goa if the BJP government fails to withdraw the controversial The Goa Bhumiputra Adhikarini Bill.
Speaking to the media, State Congress president Girish Chodankar dared the Chief Minister and the BJP to stop them. He charged that the BJP has mastered the art of ‘midnight dacoity on democracy’.
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Chodankar said Goans are against the action of the government to destroy democratic process and push for legislations without discussions. “We have consulted various sections of society and got feedback against the government’s act,” he said.
He alleged that the government is bringing ‘fake bills’ to create a divide and start fights amongst Goans and divert attention from its gross failures, and that it is also not ready to bring corrective measures to address core issues such as unemployment, collapsing law and order and is pushing Goa into financial emergency.
Leader of the Opposition Digambar Kamat charged that the government turned down his demand to refer some of the important bills to the Select Committee which would have allowed all stakeholders to give their opinion and to reintroduce and pass them by convening a one-day special session.
Kamat claimed that the Congress will form the next government in 2022 and will enact progressive laws in the interest of the Bahujan Samaj and the State. “We have always respected people’s sentiments,” he said.
Congress Legal Cell chairman Adv Carlos Alvares Ferreira said the Bill not only affects the rights of persons in dwelling houses but will also affect all Goans hopeful and waiting for jobs because the new bhumiputras will claim and be given jobs based on these certificates. “The BJP knows that this Bill, if it becomes a law, will not stand the test of judicial scrutiny and therefore it is clear that this Bill will only fool the people in the forthcoming Assembly elections,” he said.
Lambasting the government for bringing legislation in the dead of the night without the mandatory 48 hours notice period, Congress spokesman Tulio de Souza reminded the BJP government of its previous attempts in 2001 to bring an amendment to Article 372 of the Code of Comunidades and in 2016 to bring in the Goa Regularisation of Unauthorised Constructions Bill, which proved to be a total failure and brought no relief to Goans.
South Goa District Congress Committee secretary Royla Fernandes demanded that the government come out with data of all the houses, which will benefit from the new legislations. She said that BJP is trying to overpower the rights of village panchayats and municipalities.
