The renovated Lohia Maidan in Margao. Captured by : The Goan
MARGAO
It’s often said that no political party or candidate contesting on the party banner will wind up their election campaign for the South Goa Lok Sabha without holding a meeting at Margao’s historic Lohia Maidan.
The May 7 Lok Sabha polls aren’t going to be anything different. The Lohia Maidan “ symbolising free speech and expression since the great Indian nationalist Dr Ram Manohar Lohia along with Dr Juliao Menezes gave a call for the liberation of Goa from Portuguese rule on June 18, 1946, is bracing up to play host to political meetings and programmes in the run-up to the upcoming poll.
The Lohia Maidan must have played host to hundreds, if not thousands of political and other meetings post Goa’s liberation, with political parties and the candidates keeping the date with the historic site located right in the heart of the commercial capital.
Sources in the Congress say the party is expected to kick-start the party’s campaign from the Lohia Maidan on Tuesday by paying respects to the freedom fighters who had sacrificed their lives during the freedom movement. Capt Viriato Fernandes along with party leaders will descend at the Lohia Maidan and pay respects to the martyrs' memorial before kick-starting the political campaign.
Congress South Goa District Committee President Savio D’Silva said the party is planning to have an election meeting in support of the party candidate for South Goa before the campaign draws to a close ahead of the May 7 election.
The BJP had in the previous elections held meetings at the Lohia Maidan to draw support for its Lok Sabha candidate. The party is expected to take a call on having a meeting at the Lohia Maidan.
BJP's Margao MLA Digambar Kamat, who has taken charge of the party candidate Pallavi Dempo’s election campaign, told The Goan that the party will decide whether to have the public meeting and the date of the meeting at the Lohia Maidan. “Right now, we are concentrating on corner meetings with our candidate. The party will take a call on having a meeting at the Lohia Maidan,” Kamat said.
Indeed, the ensuing Lok Sabha election is the first election taking place in the state after the renovation of the historic Lohia Maidan. Many a political party and their candidates could not utilise the venue during the last Assembly polls since the historic area was undergoing renovation.
The Lohia Maidan has been a rallying point for freedom fighters, social activists as well as the political class over the years to highlight issues of public interest. It has played host to many a social movement including the Opinion Poll, the language agitation and many an agitation originating from Margao before it spread to the rest of the State into a movement, forcing political dispensation to surrender to the will of the people as was evident during the agitation against the controversial Regional Plan over a decade and a half ago.
