Parrikar likened to Ravana for 'misrule', 'selfish politics'

Likening Chief Minister Manohar Parrikar to the mythical demon king Ravana, former state RSS chief Subhash Velingkar on Monday said Goa was de-nationalised far more under the Parrikar-led BJP regime over five years than during 451 years of Portuguese colonial regime.

In a video address uploaded on social media on Monday, Velingkar made an appeal to the voters of Panaji by-poll to back the candidature of Anand Shirodkar of the Goa Suraksha Manch, a party which is mentored by the former Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh (RSS) state Sanghachalak.

"We know the Ram versus Ravana war was tough, one-of-a-kind battle. Ravana was blessed with all and Ram fought the battle with valour, without even wearing footwear. This is one of a kind of war," Velingkar said while describing the electoral contest in Panaji, where Parrikar, a five-time sitting MLA, former Defence Minister and four-time Chief Minster, is taking on a Shirodkar, who runs a local business.

Girish Chodankar is the Congress candidate for the by-poll.

"From 2012, with his faulty, disruptive politics Parrikar managed to de-nationalise Goa and Goans to a greater degree than the Portuguese could manage over 450 years of colonial rule," Velingkar said.

"No one has personal enmity against Manohar Parrikar, but his politics has disrupted Goa's social and cultural life. This kind of politics has to be destroyed," Velingkar added.

The by-poll was necessitated after the former Defence Minister's hurried return to state politics in March to form a coalition government, following the state assembly polls.

Velingkar said Parrikar was one of the "rising stars of hope" within the Sangh, but once he came to power, his "selfish, personality-oriented politics" turned counter-productive to the BJP and the state.

"He disrupted the collective style of working and he killed the party to ensure that a system, where only one person decides, evolves. He did not allow alternative leadership to flourish and whenever such leadership emerged, he ensured that it was stunted," Velingkar said.

"Goans had a lot of hope and expectations from him (Parrikar) to defeat and purify the perverted politics of the Congress...but Parrikar only furthered politics of perversion," Velingkar said, adding that there was an "atmosphere of terror" in the by-poll-bound state capital.

--IANS

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