Famous last words and now its Digambar’s turn “I don’t depend on your votes”. This will go down in the annals of Goan History and every child will learn about this and remember Digambar’s famous last words for all time to come!
The Goan people have been taken for granted for too long! Digambar and the rest of these corrupt politicians your day of reckoning will not be far. The Goan people need to hold our Politicians accountable! The man has sounded his own death knell! This latest report is from The Times of India. **************************************************** CM says I don’t depend on your votes, say angry locals TNN, May 20, 2010, 03.46am IST PANAJI: Goan villagers who had an ugly faceoff with chief minister Digambar Kamat at the secretariat on May 17 expressed hurt, anger and bewilderment at Kamat's remarks—"I don't depend on your votes" and "I don't care, do what you want". Uniting under the banner of "Village groups of Goa", the villagers on Wednesday addressed a press conference at Panaji and posed several questions to Kamat: Whose votes are you dependant on? Is it the votes of migrants? If the Congress is not interested in Goans' votes, how can they look after the interests of Goans? Stating that the chief minister's remarks amounted to declaring war on Goans, Edwin Pinto from Nagoa-Verna said they would take up the challenge and fight till the end to save Goa. While Zarine da Cunha from Nuvem said Kamat's remarks hit the group like a "thunderbolt", Judy Rebello from Verna said the Congress in Goa could no longer assume it would ride to electoral victory on its usual plank of secularism. Opposition leader Manohar Parrikar found favourable mention from the group. They said he was about 30 kilometres away but cancelled his appointment, returned to Porvorim and bailed them out. The villagers also demanded that Porvorim police inspector Devendra Gad step down for treating the agitators "like animals". The government should also look at his history of "atrocities against people" and take punitive action against him, they added. A banner proclaimed the group’s motto, "Fighting to protect our future generations". The group said they come from Goan villages where illegalities are going on. "We have been taking up various issues with the chief minister and the town and country planning department. They make promises that do not translate into action," members said. When told that Kamat on Tuesday announced flying squads and committees to prevent approvals in eco-sensitive zones, some group members described it as an "eyewash". Pinto said, "We will look at it critically, seek details from the government and then take a call." Kamat came in for harsh criticism with villagers accusing him of keeping the above files with him for over two weeks. He was reminded of the issues as far back as March 4 but he issued the orders yesterday only because we grilled him, members said. Responding to the charge that agitators became violent with the police, group members said that the policemen manhandled women and the ladies only acted in self-defence to protect their dignity. Despite the police roughing up on May 17, the group were in a combative mood. Said Swati Kerkar of Keri-Ponda, "This is Goans' last chance. We have tolerated enough. Now is the time to fight back. The ministers are all in league with miners and builders." Prajal Sakhandande of Taleigao related how in Narva, an entire stretch of mangroves has been "slaughtered" and a hill cut. Explaining the danger to ecological and heritage sites, Sakhardande said, "This is a fight to save mother Goa. We are continuing with our agitation, our movement is getting bigger. Our ladies were like ‘Jhansi ki Ranis’ fighting to save Goa." Croydon Medeira from Margao, Carmen Correa from Chicalim, Carmen de Miranda from Loutolim, Neri Fernandes from Benaulim and others also spoke. Senior citizen Edwin Pinto, who claimed the group has the support of the Goa Bachao Abhiyan, said, "You will see a lot more of us. We will take this to its logical conclusion."
