Editor, Goemkarponn
AERIAL VIEW
Shockingly, even after ruling 4 years as Chief Minister (BJP 11 years), Dr Sawant still seems infatuated with the Portuguese regime. It is he who is giving undue publicity to the Colonial rule.
We have read and heard about Portuguese rulers committing a lot of atrocities on Goans, but that is all history. The Portuguese left Goa 60 years ago. We cannot leave in the past and blame the Portuguese for what is happening today in Goa.
Agreed, a few communities swear by the erstwhile Portuguese rule in Goa, and for this to change, it is in the hands of the government of the day in the form of Good Governance.
This issue sounds the same as Prime Minister Modi and his ministers continue to blame Jawaharlal Nehru for anything and everything.
SURAJ NANDREKAR
Editor, Goemkarponn
“After 60 years, we should wipe out signs of the Portuguese. We need to start afresh. We are celebrating the 75th year of India’s independence…how Goa should be and what Goa is going to be when India celebrates 100 years of independence, we have started thinking of it now,” said Gao CM Dr Pramod Sawant on Shivaji’s coronation day.
The statement came as a shocker to everyone, even as the Opposition called it a polarisation bid by the BJP CM ahead of the forthcoming parliamentary polls.
This is not the first time the Goa CM, Dr Pramod Sawant, has invoked Portuguese rule. In the past, too, he had claimed that the Portuguese had destroyed temples and that Chatrapati Shivaji Maharaj saved them.
Shockingly, even after ruling 4 years as Chief Minister (BJP 11 years), Dr Sawant still seems infatuated with the Portuguese regime. It is he who is giving undue publicity to the Colonial rule.
We have read and heard about Portuguese rulers committing a lot of atrocities on Goans, but that is all history. The Portuguese left Goa 60 years ago. We cannot leave in the past and blame the Portuguese for what is happening today in Goa.
Agreed, a few communities swear by the erstwhile Portuguese rule in Goa, and for this to change, it is in the hands of the government of the day in the form of Good Governance.
This issue sounds the same as Prime Minister Modi and his ministers continue to blame Jawaharlal Nehru for anything and everything.
Give me a break; Goa and India wanted things to change, so Mr Narendra Modi and Dr Pramod Sawant have been elected at the respective places for things to change. You cannot tell us what was done in the past; we want to know what you have done and what you will do that’s it.
Don’t mistake it, this article is no attempt to justify or hail the Portuguese rule, but it is an attempt to make people at the helm realise what the people need.
Today Goa is passing through a susceptible phase; there is a brain drain, and Goa’s identity is at stake with the uncontrolled migration, both inbound and outbound. The best people are opting for jobs outside Goa, while only a few educated people are landing in search of jobs in Goa.
Our educated youth have no jobs, so they are looking at Western countries for greener pastures.
The crime rate is increasing at a brisk pace. The safety of every Goan is at risk. Tourism has started having its adverse effect in the form of drugs, prostitution and gambling. As such, rapes, murders, robberies, and thefts have become a daily routine in Goa today.
Not just this, we have an even bigger problem of lifeline Mhadei being taken away from us.
These issues have not been created by the Portuguese. It is by us, ourselves, and Indian Goans.
Was Mhadei water diverted by the Portuguese? Are ropes and crimes committed by the Portuguese? Is Unemployment due to Portuguese? The answer to all these questions is NO.
So why move away from reality and live in the past.
We have an Emergency situation at hand to Save Goa, and that is what we want from this government. Instead of Portuguese rhetoric, if Mr Sawant looks at all the above issues, Goa would prosper, and Goans will automatically forget the Portuguese.
