Minister Vijai’s ‘scum’ talk harsh, not logically wrong: Manohar Parrikar

PORVORIM: Six days after town and country planning minister Vijai Sardesai termed “a section of domestic tourists” visiting the state as “scum of the earth”, chief minister Manohar Parrikar on Wednesday tried to defend his ally by saying that though the statement was harsh, it wasn’t logically wrong.
“He should not have used harsh words, but logically he was not wrong,” Parrikar said, but was quick to add: “Politicians have to be careful while making statements.”

He also tried to defuse the “scum” row by trying to explain that his cabinet colleague’s statement was wrongly interpreted. “The reporters interpreted his statement in a wrong way,” he said.

“Goa welcomes all tourists—domestic and foreigners—subject to the condition that they display civic sense. Not just tourists, even locals should not urinate in public places. All should display their civic sense. In the present case, he (Sardesai) was referring to a video clip showing a man urinating from a bus at Miramar,” Parrikar said.

Last Sunday, Haryana chief minister Manohar Lal Khattar had called Parrikar and lodged a strong protest against Sardesai’s remark. Parrikar, while clarifying to Khattar that Sardesai was wrongly interpreted, had told him that “it was a misquote and that the minister was referring to earlier unplanned infrastructure development of Gurugram”.

Interestingly, Sardesai, who was speaking on the topic of Green Goa at Goa Biz Fest, did not mention anything about infrastructure development in Haryana or north India.

He had said the heavy influx of north Indian tourists was making it difficult for the state to address the issue of garbage and cleanliness and they were trying to convert “Goa into Gurgaon”.

But on Wednesday, Parrikar said may be Sardesai was not able to express himself correctly, but “he corrected himself the next day”.

“I have not called everyone from the 6.5 million tourists as scum of the earth but had called certain section of them who were creating nuisance, who are actually the scum of the earth and we should not have such tourists in Goa,” Sardesai had clarified the next day.

Parrikar also said he “did not think that it (Sardesai’s remarks) would have an impact on tourism”.

Sardesai, who is the president of Goa Forward Party, after brazening it out for four days, had tried to tone down his rhetoric on Monday and offered truce over his “scum” remark.

In the last assembly session, Parrikar had said the state government would create a facility for low budget tourists visiting the state can cook, camp and avail of toilet provisions. “Arrangements to clean the area will also be made,” he said.

Parrikar had also said the state government would also form a special squad to take necessary action against tourists littering public spaces and added that he has already issued necessary directions in the matter.