the goan I network
PANAJI
A day after the ultra-controversial Citizenship Amendment Bill (CAB) was passed in the Rajya Sabha, the Goa Congress, while backing the Central Congress’ stand that the Bill goes against the values of our Constitution, has asked the minority Catholic community legislators in the BJP to speak out and make their stand on the CAB clear.
Giving the Catholic MLAs 48 hours within which to speak out, Congress spokesperson Trajano D’Mello asked why there was silence from the likes of Mauvin Godinho, Alina Saldanha, and Michael Lobo, who were all part of the ruling dispensation.
“The Ministers in the cabinet particularly Mauvin Godinho and Michael Lobo who were talking big things, should explain what will be the fate of Goans with Portuguese passports... Presuming the bill stands the test of law, what will be the fate of the Goans who hold Portuguese passports for the sake of a decent livelihood?” he questioned, adding that such a Bill would only serve to divide India.
Hitting out at Lobo specifically, who recently made headlines for asking OCI Goans not to comment on the happenings in Goa, D’Mello said that it was now evident why he had made those statements.
“Lobo recently criticised the OCIs... It is now clear why he did so. He had it at the back of his mind that this bill is coming, and the OCIs will have no voice. That is going to be the fate of many Goans, who, for the sake of having a decent life which our government cannot provide, have managed to obtain Portuguese passports only for the sake of employment,” D’Mello said.
D’Mello also asked those from the minority community in the cabinet to speak up. He also called on the 10 MLAs who had given
the Congress the boot in order to join the BJP government, to come clear on their stands.
“Now with the National Register for Citizens (NRC) coming, this government and our ten people who went, who won on a secular platform and have gone that side today...they should open their mouths,” said D’Mello, urging the likes of Filipe Neri Rodrigues, Jennifer Monserrate, Francis Silveira, Tony Fernandes to speak out, saying that if they didn’t, “...then it will be understood that these are people who have embraced communalism to make a few pennies, or to save their scams.”
Stating that the bill was an assault on the very soul of our Constitution, D’Mello said that the NDA allies who supported the Bill have sold their soul of secularism and embraced communalism.
“This day marks the victory of communalism over secularism,” he thundered, adding that it was an unconstitutional, unethical and immoral law, and that the government was making a mockery of Father of the Nation Mahatma Gandhi’s values on his 150th birth
anniversary.
