Team Goemkarponn
PANAJI: Stating that BJP Government has failed to observe Opinion Poll Day (Asmitai Dis) despite issuance of notification, Leader of Opposition Yuri Alemao has demanded to act swiftly to at least start it from this year.
“Replying to my Private Members Resolution on 19th July 2024, the Chief Minister Pramod Sawant has assured on the floor of the House that Opinion Poll Day would be officially celebrated by the Government of Goa. However, despite this assurance and despite the deep historical and emotional significance of the day, no official observance or state wide programme was held in January 2025,” Alemao said in letter written to CM.
He said that, in letter, that Goa Opinion Poll of 16 January 1967 remains the only such democratic exercise ever held in the history of independent India, where the people of a territory were directly asked to decide their political future.
“It was a rare and bold experiment in democracy, made possible due to the vision and statesmanship of India’s first Prime Minister, Pandit Jawaharlal Nehru, who respected the will, culture, and identity of the Goan people. Goa owes a historic debt of gratitude for that decision, which ensured that its language, culture, and social fabric were not subsumed against the will of its people,” Alemao pointed out.
Alemao furthers said that “ Opinion Poll Day is not about political parties or governments of the day. It is about Goa’s Asmitai, about respecting the collective decision of the Goan people, and about preserving the values that define this State.”
