Panaji: A minister in Goa has come out against her own party’s stand on special status to the western Indian state, a former Portuguese enclave.
Goa Chief Minister Laxmikant Parsekar has recently ruled out the possibility of special status for Goa, a promised his Bharatiya Janata Party had promised before the state legislative assembly election in 2012.
The special status was to preserve the unique identity of the 3,702 sq km state, India’s top tourist destination.
Parsekar also described the possibility of special status for Goa as a mirage.
Recently the party president Amit Shah also backed the chief minister’s stand, drawing severe criticism from opposition and civil rights groups in the state.
While the opposition has criticized the BJP-led governments in the state and the centre for making a u-turn on the special status promise, Forest and Environment Minister Alina Saldanha said the chief minister’s comments were personal and that he was not “as well-versed” with the issue as his predecessor Manohar Parrikar, who is now the defense minister.
Parrikar knew the issue inside out, asserted Saldanha, the only woman minister in Goa.
Shah, during his two-day visit to Goa May end, had indicated that he was not in favor of taking an immediate decision on Goa’s special status issue and that the demand would be bunched along with similar demands from other states.
Parsekar on Sunday had virtually ruled out the demand saying demanding special status was equivalent to chasing a “mirage.”
The Goa legislative assembly had also passed a unanimous resolution demanding special status from the union government in 2013.
Prajal Sakhardande, president of the Goa Movement for Special Status, noted that Parsekar was a signatory to resolution. “He was the state health minister at the time. Did he think it was a mirage then too?” he asked.
For the last few years, the demand for special status for Goa has been doing the rounds in the political and social circles in the state, which has been facing challenges stemming from rapid in-migration, shrinking land resources and a resultant dilution of identity.
In 2014, Sakhardande had headed a delegation that met Prime Minister Narendra Modi, who had come to Goa for the 2014 Lok Sabha election campaign.
”At that time, Modiji praised us for demanding special status to protect our identity and culture and not for a financial package. But now suddenly, their (BJP) attitude has changed,” he said.
Saldanha, who has been facing flak from her own supporters for being unable to deliver the promise despite being a minister, now insists that Goa’s demography could change forever if special status, which bars non-Goans from buying land in Goa, is not bestowed on the state.
“When are we going to wake up? Goa’s unique identity is in the process of being wiped out,” she said, adding that real estate lobbies in India metros who were keen on selling land and apartments on premium in Goa were stalling the process.
The opposition has already slammed the BJP volte face, with former union minister of state for law Ramakant Khalap claiming that as far as the BJP goes, “This is the end of the road as far as special status is concerned.”
Aam Aadmi Party spokesperson Oscar Rebello said, “The BJP leaders only choose to make vague statements about safeguarding cultural identity while ignoring the real issue that is about land.”
Currently 12 Indian states enjoy special status. They are Arunachal Pradesh, Assam, Himachal Pradesh, Jammu and Kashmir, Manipur, Meghalaya, Mizoram, Nagaland, Sikkim, Tripura, Uttarakhand and some 12 districts of Karnataka.