May 28th, 2015 GFDO PRESS STATEMENT GFDO recalls BJP President Amit Shah’s statement at the BJP National Executive Meet in Bengaluru that “wherever the party is in power, it is working for the uplift of the poor”. Now that Goans have the opportunity to welcome Mr. Amit Shah to Goa, GFDO would like to enlighten him on the difference between empty sloganeering and actual ground realities. Here in Goa, Mr. Shah’s so called “pro-poor” government’s Chief Minister has openly extended his government’s support to the Leading Hotels Tiracol golf course project, despite the proponents of the project brazenly violating a stay from the National Green Tribunal on felling of trees on the site and ignoring several cases pending before various courts on the issue. Does the BJP believe that the rich and the influential are exempt from the laws of this land and that they only apply to the poor, the marginalised and the ordinary citizens?
In fact, the track record of this BJP government has been to singlemindedly corner huge tracts of land from tiny Goa’s poor and ordinary citizens to be handed over to favoured corporates and industrialists. Mr. Shah should surely be aware of the Goa BJP government’s insistence on overturning logic and common sense by foisting a second airport upon India’s smallest state, despite reports by international experts like ICAO and ADPi clearly stating that Goa’s air traffic is not sufficient to sustain two airports. The unviability of this proposed second airport can be seen from the BJP government’s devious modus operandi in gifting 15 lakh sq. metres of land out of the mindboggling 84 lakh sq. metres acquired to the PPP airport developer for real estate purposes at 400 FAR. And yet, despite this largesse offered at the cost of the poor people of Goa, the Government had to go one step further by roping in the state corporation Airport Authority of India as a bidder for the PPP airport. Does Amit Shah’s BJP party think that using a state corporation to build a PPP airport and handing it over to a private developer on lands owned by poor protesting agriculturists is “upliftment of the poor”? The hypocrisy of this BJP government can be seen from the manner in which former CM Parrikar was quick to demand of Congress leader Digvijay Singh that the UPA government “consider Goa also a part of India and give us some extra land at Dabolim”. Now that Mr. Parrikar himself is in charge of the Defence Portfolio of the country, why does the Defence Ministry not part with land to accommodate the needs of the perfectly viable, centrally located Dabolim Airport, instead of suffocating it to justify the implementation of its alleged real estate scam called Mopa Airport? In fact, one could say that the BJP government in Goa was elected under false pretences since it has done brazen U turns on most of the promises in its manifesto, based upon which it was voted into power. Are water and electricity luxuries? Then how can the BJP government justify the steep rise in rates of these essential utilities? Why do the poor people of Goa have to be bled to support and fuel the various welfare schemes conjured by the BJP, whose beneficiaries are mainly saffron supporters? Why does the BJP government hoodwink the people by lowering VAT on petrol and then brazenly going back on its election promise by hiking it again? But then, U turns are the hallmark of the BJP government, starting with Mr. Modi’s election campaign in Goa, when he resoundingly promised Special Status to the state and a good number of Goans voted for BJP candidate hoping that people`s aspirations for special status would be fulfilled by the BJP Government at the Center. Yet in July 2014, the Central Government’s Union Minister of State for Home Affairs, Kiren Rijiju rejected Goa’s Special Status demand saying that “it has not been found justifiable and hence not agreed to”. Despite the hype generated by the BJP governments both at Centre as well as State, it is abundantly clear to the people of Goa that it has no compunctions on going back on their promises to the people. This is a government that appears to be actively engaged in cornering community resources and collaborating with fulfilling the vested interests of the rich and the powerful at the cost of the poor, voiceless and downtrodden. For GOANS FOR DABOLIM ONLY Fr. Eremito Rebelo Convenor
