MAPUSA: Aldona Congress MLA Adv Carlos Alvares Ferreira on Friday hit out at the BJP for promoting goonda raj in Goa and condemned the threat made by a high level BJP functionary to activist Swapnesh Sherlekar.
“I condemn this threat to Swapnesh Sherlekar and will stand by him and whatever help is needed, I will give him. I know him personally, as a friend. I know him, before elections and he has given a lot of valuable inputs to me, before, during, my elections, and even during the my assembly sessions,” Adv Ferreira said.
“Everyone can see that there is Goonda raj in Goa, but do not always speak up about it. But when it rises, people realise that not everything is not well in Goa. Rama Kankonkar’s issue is still ongoing, the accused are still in custody, yet now, not a simple karyakarta, but a high level leader of the BJP Mahanand Asnodkar from Porvorim, is threatening Swapnesh Sherlekar. People must realise who is behind this,” Ferreira said.
“Swapnesh is raising issues, he’s explaining to the people what’s happening in Goa. When this happens it is clear that they want to silence the Swapnesh and like-minded activists, to send a threatening message to other activists. This is proof that the BJP party is full of goondas and the Government does not want anyone to speak against them,” he added.
He pointed out how the ruling government has begun targeting activists for the protests in Leh.
“Look what happened in Leh, where there was an agitation, which turned violent and BJP’s office was set ablaze. They blamed Sonam Wangchuk, saying he was the one to provoke the agitations and today Govt cancels FCRA licence of Wangchuk’s organisation over alleged financial ‘irregularities’ & arrested him” he said.
“When there is such revenge politics, this is a clear message to the people that if you speak up against us, we will be after you either through CBI, or ED, I-T or even the municipality, panchayat and even the goondas,” he said.
“When the time comes, the people will come together and will completely defeat them. There was an Arab spring revolution, which spread like wildfire. Goans are peaceful but if you strike the delicate nerve, one cannot say what will happen. You have seen the Konkani agitation, statehood after which the centre had to bow down to the people of Goa,” he added.
Speaking on the probe in the assault on Rama Kankonkar, Adv Carlos says he is highly doubtful that the probe is going in the right direction.
“As per the press report, the Court castigated the investigation agency for lapses in the arrest procedure. When there are such lapses, it gives a loophole for an accused to get out, to get bail. Some lapses can allow for an acquittal or discharge of an accused. I had expressed doubt first itself when SP Gupta made a statement that they caught the mastermind and secondly when he said that there was previous enmity between Rama Kankonkar and Zenito,” Adv Carlos said.
“I had doubted the statement. If you can make such a statement that you have caught the mastermind, it means that you are not trying to search for anyone else. I’ve not heard any personal enmity between the two,” he also said.
“So I have a doubt that the SP wants to save someone, to suppress someone. In this background, when the Court says that there are lapses in the investigation, there is an even bigger doubt that this is just a show to say they are doing something and then hush it up and suppress the case in a few years. If there is a lapse I will ask accountability from the IO,” he said.
He also reiterated his allegation that a cabinet minister could be behind the attack.
“You put the sum total of what has happened, how it has happened, the investigation, post investigation and it cannot be a simple low level party member. The CM’s saying don’t politicise it. When you have your own BJP people involved and karyakartas involved, you say don’t apply that label only when it suits you and say don’t make politics out of it. And give a clean chit to a few ministers in your government who are goondas?” Adv Carlos said.
