Residents of Shiroda expressed their total disgust with the Bharatiya Janata Party government in Goa during the Veej Andolan programme organized by Aam Aadmi Party. Villagers said the BJP told them lies and demanded that Vinay Tendulkar and Laxmikant Parsekar answer their questions.
Addressing the crowd Capt.Venzy Viegas revealed that he was so inspired with what Arvind Kejriwal did in Delhi that he gave up his 18 year old job on board the ship and started his own business so that he too could help in changing the political system in Goa.
Dinesh Borkar while addressing the crowd spoke about how AAP is the only party which has changed the political discourse of the country for good and thats the reason he chooses to be with the AAP.
“People feel that, politics is only for the people with money power and muscle power. Aam Aadmi Party has shown that its not true.” said Dinesh Borkar
While pointing out that people of Delhi elected 63 AAP’s candidate in a house of 70, Capt.Venzy said this was possible only because of the work that Arvind Kejriwal and AAP had done in Delhi and wondered whether this would ever happen in Goa.
He pointed out that in Goa particularly due to the pandemic people lost their jobs, business is down and yet people are faced with rising prices of vegetables, fruits, fish and even electricity charges while in Delhi he said the government was working to reduce people’s expenditure.
He said that those consuming 200 units of power in Delhi do not get any bill while those consuming up to 400 units get a 50 per cent discount in the bill and further said the government schools in Delhi have become better than the private schools and lamented that the education system in Goa has not changed and is the same as it was when he answered his SSC exams in 1984.
As he began speaking on the electricity situation in Goa a villager said in Shiroda every day there are at least four power failures and that some people get a bill of Rs. 2,000 per month. “The government disconnects electricity supply if the bills are not paid,” he said.
Capt.Venzy while pointing out that people in Delhi get various facilities even though the Delhi government spends only around Rs. 40,000 on each individual in Goa where the government spends Rs. 1.4 lakhs on each individual Goans do not get any benefits.
“If you want the benefits as those given to Delhi people then you have to change the government and bring a government that will work for the people,” he said while pointing out that Goans do not get any benefit because the BJP government is using public funds to purchase MLAs as it bought 12 MLAs of the Congress party.
When he asked the crowd whether the MLAs went to the BJP just like that without being paid, some villagers shouted that they were paid crores of rupees.
He also pointed out the lies told by the chief minister like having given Rs. 5000 to each Goan when in reality nobody received even one paisa. A villager revealed that he has not received the senior citizen pension for the last four months and Capt.Venzy said in Delhi senior citizens were paid Rs. 5000, during each of the three months of lockdown there.
Scoffing at the government he said it was planning to have ganja plantations in Goa and pointed out that this would not be used for medicinal purpose but only to corrupt and spoil the youth of the State.
