Say no effort was made to stop remarks or prevent the accused from leaving the State
Chinchinim residents demand the arrest of Gautam Kattar.
MARGAO
Citizens from Chinchinim on Thursday said that none of the three BJP MLAs tried to stop Gautam Kattar from making derogatory remarks at St Francis Xavier, nor did the government act to prevent him from leaving the State.
Former Sarpanch Ajit Kamat said the incident at the Vasco event is highly condemnable, warning that people in Goa will not tolerate attempts to divide society along religious lines. “Either Minister Mauvin Godinho or the MLAs Krishna Salkar and Sankalp Amonkar should have stopped Kattar from speaking or staged a walkout in protest. They even allowed the accused to leave the State,” Kamat said.
He also questioned why the government did not lodge a complaint against Gautam Kattar immediately after the derogatory statement, raising suspicions about possible involvement in a criminal conspiracy. “Goa has been a peaceful state where people respect each other’s sentiments. It appears there is an attempt to bring in a culture of hatred and conflict seen in other parts of the country to divide Goans on religious lines,” he said.
Sarpanch Frank Viegas, former sarpanch Valentino Barretto, comedian Jesus Antao, and social activist Cyril Leitao also condemned the incident and demanded the immediate arrest of Gautam Kattar.
The Sarpanch informed that the panchayat has passed a resolution demanding Kattar’s arrest and a ban on his entry into Goa.
