Kandiga versus Goan row: Goa BJP responds to 'threat'

Paji, April 17: A day after a senior Kartaka minister issued a threat against several thousand Goan IT professiols living in Bengaluru, the Goa BJP on Friday replied in equal measure, saying that Goa, too, hosted many Kandigas who were working in the government and private sector. The comments were made by Bharatiya Jata Party’s Goa spokesperson Damodar ik after the alleged inflammatory speeches made by Kartaka’s Higher Education Minister R.V. Deshpande over demolition of illegal shanties in the Bai area in south Goa. Some of the shanties house Kandigas and the minister’s subtle warning threatened several thousand Goan IT professiols living in Bengaluru. “He should be arrested immediately and externed for making such statements,” BJP spokesperson Damodar ik told reporters at a press conference at the BJP state headquarters on Friday. He also claimed that Deshpande should know that there are many Kandigas who had made Goa their home and were living peacefully.

“Do not misunderstand my statement, but there are many of them (Kandigas) living in Goa in their own homes and working in the private and government sector,” ik said. On Thursday, Deshpande had accused the BJP-led Goa government of trampling on the rights of some Kandiga occupants of the over 285 illegal shanties, some of which have already been demolished and also warned that Goa should not forget that 20,000 odd of its young workforce are employed in the information technology sector in Bengaluru. “Your 15,000 to 20,000 young Goans are working as IT professiols in Bengaluru... don’t ask any irresponsible questions,” Deshpande said aggressively, when asked by the media about the emerging differences between Kartaka and Goa.

Disagreements first arose over the alleged diversion of the Mhadei river water by the former and now over the demolition of shanties at Bai, located 45 km from Paji. Deshpande was speaking to reporters outside the chief minister’s residence in Paji, where he had arrived to speak to Goa chief minister Laxmikant Parsekar on the demolition issue.

Speaking to reporters later, Parsekar expressed shock at Deshpande’s statement and said that the latter should not attempt to convert the issue into a Kartaka versus Goa affair, simply because there were people from several other states, including Kartaka, Andhra Pradesh, Chhattisgarh, Bihar and Maharashtra living in the same slum.

“Our people, whether they are in Bengaluru, Pune or Mumbai, have not encroached there, like (the encroachments) in Goa. They are well settled,” Parsekar said, adding that politicians should desist from making inflammatory speeches.  (IANS)