Congress blames CM Pramod Sawant for religious unrest in Goa

Panaji, Aug 20 (IANS) Congress leader Girish Chodankar on Sunday held Chief Minister Pramod Sawant and silence of ‘defectors’ responsible for the ongoing disturbance of communal harmony.

After being nominated as Permanent Invitee of Congress Working Committee (of AICC) on Sunday, Chodankar said that he is thankful to the Bahujan Samaj for not falling prey to the tactics of BJP to rope them in to achieve their agenda.

“Anti-people BJP is baffled after going through the voting patterns of last two assembly and Lok Sabha elections in Goa, wherein it is clear that Bahujan Samaj is not with them and they could not increase their share of votes. Hence, to have fake bonhomie with Bahujan Samaj, this insensitive party is using a religious platform,” Chodankar said.

He said that Goa was never like this, where people of any faiths got involved in disturbing and hurting others sentiments.

“We have always maintained our communal harmony in Goa. But whatever is happening today in Goa is very bad. It is wrong to desecrate statue of Chatrapati Shivaji Maharaj and also keeping idol of goddess in church premises. These incidents are creating disturbance between the two religions. It has to be stopped by taking immediate action and one should not be left scot free if he/she belongs to the party in power,” he said.

Chodankar said that BJP is using few migrants, who are trying to create communal disharmony in the state. “Our Goans will never attack other religions, but today migrants are being used for this purpose. Secondly, despite their acts being in public domain, action is not taken against them,” he said.

“I am really thankful to Bahujan Samaj for having good understanding and not falling prey to BJP’s anti-people agendas and I am sure they will never involve themselves in acts which create tension between communities,” Chodankar said.