Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Thursday once again raked issue of delayed liberation of Goa from Portuguese yoke to target the Congress party ahead of the February 14 state assembly elections.
Modi directly laid the blame for the delay of Indian military intervention into Goa – a Portuguese colony for 451 years – at the door--step of then Prime Minister late Jawaharlal Nehru, who he claimed, cared little for the satyagrahis who braved Portuguese bullets or for the fate of the people who continued to live under a colonial power in Goa when India was enjoying the fruits of independence.
“Many things have been buried in history. The truth may not have reached you. There have been games played for five to six decades. Two to three days back, I had made a reference to Goa in Parliament about how the Congress had tried to destroy the Goa freedom struggle. I told the country the truth about this,” Modi said at his election rally in Mapusa town in North Goa.
“Many people do not know about the fact that Goa became independent 15 years after independence of India. It had to stay enslaved for 15 years more. India had a powerful force, it had the army, a strong navy,” he said.
The Prime Minister also said that Goa’s liberation, which could have been accomplished by the Indian military in a matter of hours, was delayed by the Congress government for nearly a decade and a half.
“The people of Goa continued to fight for their freedom, satyagrahis braved bullets and continued to tolerate atrocities, but the Congress government did not help them,” Modi said.
“The first Prime Minister of the country Pandit Jawaharlal Nehru spoke from the Red Fort and you can listen to his speech on Youtube. He said from the ramparts of the Red Fort, that he could not send the army to help the satyagrahis who were fighting satyagrahis and freeing Goa. That means you do what you want, if you want to die, die, live if you want to live. This is what he did!” Modi said.
The Prime Minister also said that the Congress continues to neglect Goa till date.
“This is how the Congress treated Goa and it continues to treat it now. The same Congress is seeking votes from you. Congress has always been pushing the state on the path of instability. Whenever the Congress wanted it would destabilise the governments here,” the Prime Minister said.
“Therefore, there is the development-oriented BJP and on the other hand there is the instability-oriented Congress,” he also said.
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