PANAJI: Goa Forward Party on Sunday stood by the comments made by town and country planning minister
Vijai Sardesai on some domestic tourists, and said that national political parties had vested interest in trying to portray
Sardesai as xenophobic.
Specifically targeting the Aam Aadmi Party (AAP),
GFP on Sunday said that national political parties could not be expected to speak up for Goa and for Goans.
“We dismiss the recent demand for an apology from our president and
TCP minister Vijai Sardesai by AAP in Goa with the contempt it deserves. Standing up for Goa and Goemkars demands no apology,” chief spokesperson for the party, Trajano D’Mello said.
The regional party said that the word “scum” was meant for those tourists from
North India “who not only display an absolute disregard for Goa and its culture but also create nuisance and trouble” for Goans.
The GFP spokesperson went on to say that some domestic tourists had endangered the lives of Goans. The party also said that the statement made by Sardesai was in reaction to a video that shows a domestic tourist urinating from a tourist bus onto the road.
“The video has angered the common Goenkar on the street, but has had no effect on AAP. AAP’s pretense of being a Goa-centric party lies exposed, as they have not only failed to stand up for the hardworking
Goenkars on the street who face the brunt of this uncouth and uncivilized behaviour, but also attempt to silence those who speak for them,” D’Mello said.
“Our president has been courageous enough to stand by his statement,” he said.
Vijai doesn’t budge, wants ‘clean’ tourists
Town and country planning (TCP) minister Vijai Sardesai on Sunday continued to be unapologetic about his remarks terming “some domestic tourists as the scum of the earth”.
“Everyone is welcome to Goa. I also believe in ‘Atithi Devo Bhava’. I do not wish to make any discrimination between people from north or south India. We are creating a clean, green and smart Goa. It is said that cleanliness is next to Godliness. So if those coming to Goa maintain cleanliness, they are most welcome. We need tourists who keep Goa clean and green. It is a small section that is creating a nuisance,” Sardesai told the media after flagging off the Carnival float parade in Margao on Sunday evening.
On Saturday, Sardesai had stated that he is not xenophobic.
TIMESVIEW
Every time Vijai Sardesai is pushed into a corner, he comes up with his pet word: Goenkarponn. But instead of maintaining the true spirit of the word, what Sardesai does is to brazen it out in its name and then try and wriggle out of it. Goa and Goans have always espoused the virtues of inclusivity and when Sardesai called a section of tourists “scum of the earth”, he not only insulted those people but also Goans and Goenkarponn. Probably, in recent times, it is the first time that a chief minister of another state had to call his counterpart in Goa to lodge a strong protest on a remark by a senior minister and Sardesai, who has been brazening it out, is solely responsible for heaping that ignominy on Goa and Goans. For Sardesai and his regional party’s benefit, we are forced to reproduce the Oxford dictionary meaning of scum: Worthless despicable people; the most contemptible part of the population of a place, society, etc. The issue is not just about littering and garbage or cleanliness. It is also about enforcing the law, keeping a check on violations and protecting the environment. Sardesai must not forget that his own chief minister has been leading the fight to make Goa a better, cleaner and healthier place to live. The latest move towards ensuring law enforcement is the requisitioning of 100 alcometers and four laser speed guns to crackdown on drunk driving and overspeeding. The mission to make Goa a plastic-free, garbage-free and open defecation-free state, that Manohar Parrikar himself is spearheading, is another welcome move. If Sardesai is seriously concerned about the state’s mass tourism policy, as a senior member of the cabinet, it is his duty to provide inputs and steer his government towards the right direction. Instead of making these irresponsible, instigating and crass statements that only serve to divide society, he and his party should ensure that Goa moves forward in the true sense to become a model state in the country. Let us not forget that the same Sardesai and his regional party espousing Goenkarponn had betrayed Goans when they supported the taxi mafia for their unreasonable demands. So for the sake of Goa and Goenkarponn, Sardesai must stop making reckless remarks.
Vijai Sardesai
