PANAJI
Just a day after the deadly stampede snuffed out six lives of devotees at the Lairai devi temple jatra, a visit of South Goa Lok Sabha MP Viriato Fernandes to the village and the reception accorded to him by the temple committee, has kicked up a political row between the BJP and the Congress.
Fernandes, who visited the temple on Sunday where he was reportedly accorded a 'reception' and the temple committee presented him with a 'shawl'.
The BJP called it a 'felicitation' and termed it shameful on the part of Fernandes to have accepted it only a day after the stampede had killed six persons there.
Referring to the video of Fernandes with the temple committee, BJP spokesperson Giriraj Pai Vernekar said Fernandes felt no shame to get himself felicitated when Goa was mourning following the tragic incident.
"For what achievement, exactly?" Vernekar asked on Microblogging site X (formerly Twitter), even as he pointed out that on Saturday, Congress's Goa in-charge Manikrao Thakare had criticised the temple committee for the incident.
"While Goa mourns the tragic loss of lives in the stampede at Devi Lairai Zatra in Shirgaon, @ViriatoFern shamelessly gets himself felicitated. For what, exactly? This man has reduced the dignity of being a public representative to a joke. Just yesterday, Congress in-charge @Manikrao_INC had the audacity to blame the temple committee. And today, their South Goa MP is happily getting honoured by the same. Such brazen hypocrisy is the hallmark of Congress," Vernekar wrote.
Fernandes has not reacted yet to the barb from Vernekar.
However on Sunday he told the media after his temple visit that although he does not represent North Goa, Assonora, which neighbours Shirgao is his native village where he was born and has an affinity to the region.
"I came to pray to Devi Lairai. I came last year too," Fernandes said, adding that he met the injured at GMC to enquire about their health on Saturday.
A former Naval officer, Fernandes said he has given various suggestions to the temple committee to prevent such tragedies in future.
He has also urged the State government to increase the quantum of the Rs 10 lakh ex-gratia it has announced to the families of the deceased.
