PANAJI
The issue of Goans getting their Indian passports ‘revoked’ for having dual nationality (acquiring Portuguese passport while holding the Indian one) rendering them ineligible to acquire an OCI card, can be resolved by the Centre and must be done quickly, said former External Affairs Minister and Congress leader Salman Khurshid.
“The issue needs to be settled as quickly as possible not for any political gain but as a service to Goans,” Kurshid who was foreign minister in the UPA regime said, adding that the government should not force a choice on Goans but facilitate them to make the choice in their best interest.
Khurshid was addressing a press conference at the Congress party headquarters in Panaji, flanked by South Goa MP Francisco Sardinha, GPCC president, Amit Patkar among others, where he severely criticized the performance of the Narendra Modi government on multiple parameters including price rise (inflation), economy and joblessness in the country, women safety and others.
He also hit out at the BJP for what he called its lack of intent to empower the backward classes and the Scheduled tribes.
Referring to the Goa specific issue of the demand for political reservations to STs, Kurshid questioned why Home Minister Amit Shah declined to meet the ST delegation from Goa and only met Chief Minister Pramod Sawant.
He said, the BJP is ruling at the Centre as well as in Goa yet the Modi-led government failed to resolve multiples issues like Mhadei, unemployment and political reservations for Scheduled Tribes.
He added that Goa has the highest unemployment rate as per NITI Aayog data.
The former union minister also picked out the Adani issue to highlight the economic failures of the Modi government saying the monopoly being built around ports, airports and electricity are the cause for price rise.
“Adani, Jindal and Vedanta owe approximately Rs 2000 crores to Goa government over last 10 years but the BJP government is doing nothing to recover the money,” Khurshid alleged.
