PANJIM: Braving heavy rains, volunteers of Aam Aadmi Party held a street protest today in Panaji to condemn the unholy alliance between BJP and Congress, which it said is costing ordinary Goans their lives and their livelihoods.
Terming the alliance as “Congress Janata Party” Pradeep Padgaonkar stated that both parties have together cheated Goans. Despite being the single largest party after 2017 elections, Congress sold their MLAs to BJP, allowing BJP to form an illegitimate Government against the mandate of the people. Padgaonkar alleged that this illegitimate Government continues to be supported by the Congress, which most recently allowed the Govt to get away with a mock one-day Assembly session so that no questions could be asked on its multiple failures such as Covid mishandling, economic crisis, law & order breakdown, environmental destruction etc.
Lashing out at the Govt’s severe mishandling of the state’s finances, Rahul Mhambre said that poor administration and misplaced priorities of CM Pramod Sawant had left the state penniless and unable to come to the aid of ordinary Goans who are under immense distress due to both the economic crisis and the Covid crisis. Mhambre alleged that massive corruption and financial mismanagement by successive BJP and Congress Govts has buried Goa under a mountain of public debt.
Gorakhnath Kerkar from Corlim said the common man has no hope today, as neither the Govt is coming to their aid, nor is the opposition holding the Govt to account. Highlighting the plight of the common man, Kerkar states that small businesses, shop owners, taxi drivers, and other ordinary Goans are suffering the most. Kerkar criticised the Govt for not providing even a single rupee in aid to the aam aadmi despite heavy job losses and income losses incurred by them due to lockdown.
Mario Cordeiro stated that despite the tourism industry being the mainstay of the state’s economy, not a single scheme or aid package had been created by the Govt to help the stakeholders get though the current crisis. He lambasted the Govt for having skewed priorities such as samadhis, assembly complex and raj bhavans, instead of ensuring basic survival of citizens.
Attacking the Govt on Covid mishandling, Valmiki Naik reminded CM Sawant that PM Modi himself had instructed state govts at the time of imposing lockdown to stop all other work and only focus on building healthcare facilities for Covid management. Instead of doing this, Naik said that CM Sawant was only found preening on national media, claiming that Goa was corona-free. Now that the Covid hospital is full beyond capacity, Naik said the Govt is scrambling to set up another hospital by forcibly discharging even serious patients from the Ponda sub-district hospital overnight.
Nikhil Haldankar highlighted the serious issues being faced by youth. Due to rampant unemployment, Haldankar said the youth are being diverted into dangerous pursuits such as drugs and gang violence. Haldankar demanded to know why the BJP Govt cannot take initiatives like the Rozgar Bazaar organised by the AAP Govt in Delhi, which has provided lakhs of people with much-needed jobs in the post-lockdown economy.
Concluding the protest, Sunil Signapurkar said that Goa needs change, Goa needs honest politics. Signapurkar stated that Goans will not vote again for BJP and Congress as these parties will again cheat them. He predicted that the next election will be a straight fight between the Aam Aadmi Party and the Congress Janata Party.
