PanajiPrime Minister Narendra Modi on Thursday attacked the Congress, saying if Pandit Jawaharlal Nehru wanted, Goa would have been liberated “within a few hours” when India got independence in 1947. could have been done, but it took 15 years for the state to be free from Portuguese rule.
Addressing an election rally in Mapusa near here ahead of the February 14 assembly polls in the state, Modi said the Congress had been treating Goa as its “enemy” and the same behavior continued by the party on the state. can be seen through the imposed political instability.
#WATCH , Congress Govt didn’t liberate Goa for 15 years after Independence. People of Goa kept fighting but Congress Govt didn’t help. From the ramparts of Red Fort, India’s first PM, Jawaharlal Nehru had said that he won’t send forces for the liberation of Goa: PM Modi in Mapusa pic.twitter.com/w6HLUjlnUn
— ANI (@ANI) February 10, 2022
While campaigning for the BJP, the Prime Minister said, “Congress never understood the political culture, aspirations of the youth of Goa. He has always had a feeling of enmity towards Goa. The BJP is demanding a mandate for the second consecutive term in the state. Modi said that there are many historical facts which are kept hidden from the people.
“Two-three days ago I spoke in Parliament and told the truth to the nation about how Congress destroyed Goa’s liberation movement,” he said. The Prime Minister said, “Many people do not know that Goa became independent 15 years after India’s independence. (After independence) India had a force in the form of an army, a strong navy..The work (liberation of Goa) could have been done in a few hours, but Congress did nothing for 15 years. Freed on 19 December 1961 Goa got statehood in 1987.
Modi said the Congress had “abandoned” Goa when people were fighting for its liberation and Satyagrahis were facing bullets. “The Congress government did not come to their rescue,” he said.
Modi said India’s first Prime Minister Nehru had specifically said in his speech from the Red Fort that he would not send an army to liberate Goa, he left its people helpless. He said, “Is this the way for Goa? The views of the Congress about Goa were like this before and even now.”