Ratnagiri: After Prime Minister Narendra Modi slammed him for “insulting” the Constitution by saying it was “forced” on Goans, Congress’s South Goa candidate Viriato Fernandes has said his words were “misconstrued”. He has also accused the prime minister of “lying”.
In an interview with ThePrint, Fernandes, a former Indian Navy officer, claimed he was only talking about protecting “Goemkarponn” (the Goan way of life).
“What they (the BJP) are saying is that I said the Constitution was “forced” on Goa. I never used the word forced. I said it was implemented in Goa without consulting the people,” Fernandes told ThePrint over the phone, referring to his remarks at an election meeting earlier this week.
The speech, made at a meeting at Betalbatim, has kicked up a massive political storm.
The Congress leader accused the prime minister of being a “habitual liar” who was “out to murder the Constitution”, adding that he “openly challenged him” for a debate on the subject.
“Choose the time, date, and day. I will play the video in front of him. Let the BJP have a panel of experts (and) interpreters, and we will debate what is unconstitutional,” he said.
At a public meeting in South Goa’s Betalbatim, Fernandes, who served in the Indian Navy for 26 years and has an ‘Operation Vijay’ medal for serving in the 1999 Kargil conflict, referred to a 2019 conversation between himself and then Congress president Rahul Gandhi about the necessity of offering dual citizenship to Goans
Addressing a public meeting in Chhattisgarh Tuesday, Modi targeted him for saying that the Constitution was “forced” on Goans. The remarks were “an insult to India’s Constitution and Babasaheb Ambedkar”, Modi said in his speech.
Meanwhile, Goa Chief Minister Pramod Sawant called Fernandes’s remarks “disrespect to the Constitution” and “anti-national.”
On behalf of the people of Goa, I strongly condemn the remarks made by Congress’s candidate in Goa, Viriato Fernandes, for showing disrespect towards the Constitution of India.
This statement is not only an insult to our nation, Constitution, citizens, and freedom fighters, but… pic.twitter.com/nIynGU1ZNf
— Dr. Pramod Sawant (Modi Ka Parivar) (@DrPramodPSawant) April 23, 2024
Dual citizenship is a sensitive topic in Goa, a former Portuguese colony.
Before joining the Congress, Fernandes was associated with Goencho Aawaz, a non-government organisation.
Goa’s two parliamentary constituencies — North Goa and South Goa — will vote for parliamentary polls in a single phase on 7 May.
In South Goa, Fernandes is pitted against BJP’s Pallavi Dempo — the party’s first-ever woman candidate in Goa.
Also Read: Told to ‘sacrifice’, Goa BJP minister Cabral resigns to make place for Congress defector in cabinet
‘Did not say Constitution forced on Goa’
Fernandes told ThePrint that he held B.R.Ambedkar, the architect of the Constitution, “in very high regard”. India’s first prime minister, Jawaharlal Nehru, gave the responsibility of framing the Constitution to Dr. Ambedkar because “he had seen suffering and would be able to do justice to all classes and castes”, he said.
“That is why the Constitution has stood the test of time,” Fernandes said.
He, however, qualified this by saying that when Goa was liberated in 1961, the Constitution, adopted in 1950, was automatically applied to the state.
“But, we were not given any features for safeguarding our culture, language, rivers and so on. The Portuguese ruled over Goa for 450 years, so when Goa got liberated they would have felt obliged to give dual citizenship,” Fernandes said, adding that for the people of Goa, that would have meant jobs and “a secure future for their children”.
“But that means they would have had to give up Indian citizenship. That’s all I meant. I did not use the word forced,” he said.
‘Goemkarponn getting lost’
Fernandes said that in his speech, he was urging the people of his constituency to come and vote in large numbers because there was a “genuine fear that the constitution will be amended”.
For this, he cited Karnataka BJP MP Anantkumar Hegde’s March statement that the party needed a two-thirds majority in Parliament to amend the constitution and “set right alleged distortions introduced by the Congress”.
The BJP has since distanced itself from the remarks, saying they were Hegde’s “personal views”. The BJP, Fernandes said, has been misusing the Constitution by getting Opposition MLAs across India — including in Goa — to defect.
In Goa, the ruling BJP state government has brought laws to change land use, thereby converting agricultural land into settlements and opening up no-development zones.
“All this land has been sold to outsiders for money. This is where our Goemkarponn (Goan culture) is getting lost. I said on 7 May, we have to come out of our houses like a tsunami,” Fernandes told ThePrint.
(Edited by Uttara Ramaswamy)
Also Read: When UP’s Brij Bhushan ‘helped’ BJP clinch Goa in 2017, despite Congress winning more seats