At Sancoale, PM attacks Cong over Viriato statement; at Benaulim, speakers at INDIA bloc meeting raise fears of change in Constitution if BJP regains power
MARGAO
Two election rallies, one common issue centered over the Indian Constitution, and the key political players, the BJP and Congress setting different narratives in the run up to the May 7 election for the South Goa Lok Sabha seat.
Prime Minister Narendra Modi and Chief Minister Pramod Sawant attacked the Congress and party South Goa candidate Captain Viriato Fernandes for insulting the Constitution, accusing the main Opposition party for unveiling its hidden agenda of disrespecting the Constitution of India.
At Benaulim’s famous Dando football grounds, around 15 kms from Zuari Nagar, the venue of BJP’s election rally, the mood was somewhat different. Hundreds of people attending the INDIA bloc meeting in support of Congress candidate Capt Viriato Fernandes listened with rapt attention to a speaker who raised fears over the very future of the Indian Constitution.
In fact, the Speaker pointed out that the 2024 Lok Sabha election may be the last election for the people of India saying the BJP, if they return back to power, will change the Constitution.
The Dando grounds is the premiere football ground along Salcete coastal belt, having played host to hundreds of political rallies over the decades apart from football matches. Saturday was perhaps the first time in the ground’s history that the Indian Constitution came in sharp focus.
While Prime Minister made a humble request to the thousands of BJP workers, well-wishers and sympathisers to go to each and every house to drum up support for the party candidates, speakers at the Dando grounds made a fervent plea to each and every voter to ensure they come out on their own and also get the sick and disabled to the polling booths on May 7.
“This is not an ordinary election, but an election to save the country,” thundered Engineer Gabriel Pinto at the Dando grounds on Saturday evening, as he set the tone of the INDIA bloc meeting.
He explained to the people that the May 7 election is an important election in the history of Independent India.
Another speaker echoed similar sentiments. While Prime Minister dwelt on abrogation of Article 370 of the Indian Constitution and asked the BJP workers whether they will ever allow the INDIA bloc to bring back Article 370 in the Constitution, the speaker at the Dando grounds urged the voters to make sure they go and cast their vote since they might not get another election in the future.
Even as PM Modi spoke and lauded the beauty of Goa’s churches at the Zuari Nagar rally, ex-GPCC chief and Congress Working Committee (CWC) member Girish Chodankar demanded to know why Prime Minister Narendra Modi did not deemed proper to pay a single visit to Manipur, where churches and places of worship of the minority community has been set ablaze in violence.
While addressing the INDIA bloc meeting at Dando grounds, the CWC member, who is Congress party’s observer for Manipur and three other NorthEast states, said he has come with a message from the violence-affected people of Manipur to the people of Goa, how PM Modi did not pay a single visit to Manipur when people were attacked, their religious places destroyed, sacred books reduced to ashes and peace disturbed in the BJP ruled State. “The Prime Minister has not only destroyed the Constitution, but all democratic institutions. The Prime Minister had promised to amend the Constitution to provide special status for Goa,” he said.
If the Prime Minister appealed to the BJP workers to come out in large numbers to vote on May 7, Chodankar made a fervent plea to the people of Velim, Benaulim, Nuvem and Curtorim to flood the polling booths on polling day to give huge and unassailable lead for the Congress candidate in Salcete, promising that the Congress and INDIA bloc government at the Centre will provide equal opportunities for all citizens and that no one will ever feel they are second class citizens.
