PANAJI
Chief Minister Pramod Sawant who also himself holds the Home portfolio chose Tuesday's Revolution Day state function at Azad Maidan to delve into the much anticipated roll out of three new criminal laws to replace the British Raj era Indian Penal Code (IPC), Criminal Procedure Code (CrPC) and the Evidence Act, saying it is a step which will "eradicate" the colonial hangover.
These laws -- Bharatiya Nagrik Suraksha Sanhita, Bharatiya Nyaya Sanhita and Bhartiya Sakshya Sanhita -- are slated to come into force from July 1 this year and these will be implemented in Goa too, he said.
Sawant who was addressing an audience with a few freedom fighters in it, also touched on his favourite taunt at the Congress related to the Liberation of Goa from the Portuguese fourteen years after the Independence of the country from the British raj.
He praised the contribution of the freedom fighters who he said exerted 'intense pressure' leading to the Central government's decision to launch 'Operation Vijay' to free Goa in 1961.
Though not naming Jawaharlal Nehru this time, Sawant said Goa would have progressed much more and would not have missed three finance commission programmes if Goa was liberated simultaneously when India became free in 1947.
“India was freed from British domination, but Goa remained a victim of Portuguese rule for the next fourteen years,” Sawant said, adding that development here would have been at a faster pace.
In the past, Sawant has often raked up this issue and blamed the first prime minister (Nehru) for dithering and thus ostensibly "delaying" Goa's liberation.
Earlier, Sawnt placed a wreath at the Martyrs Memorial as did the Governor P S Sreedharan Pillai and Union Minister of State for Power Shripad Naik.
