Goa chief minister Digambar Kamat is facing fresh controversy, thanks to his rash statements. He ridiculed five women who had gone to visit him recently over land-use violations and allegedly said, “I am not dependent on your votes, do what you want, I don’t care.”
Mr Edwar Pinto, member of a group opposing illegal land usage in the state said that the women who went to visit the chief minister were Goans. “If he was not dependent on Goan votes then did he think he would win elections on migrants’ votes”? asks Mr pinto.
One of the five women, Ms Carmen de Miranda said, “When we went to his chamber in the Secretariat to complain about illegal land usage in our village, he refused to look into our demands because we did not have an appointment. I pointed out that during election time he never took an appointment from us to come and ask for votes. The chief minister then said, ‘I am not dependent on your votes…do what you want I don’t care.’”
Mr Pinto added that village groups had come together to save Goa’s fields and hills for the next generation. “The CM’s rebuff has bolstered us and we are ready to wage a war against the illegalities in our villages and the government will be responsible for any aggression on our part,” he added. The only thing to his defence that Mr Kamat said was that the women should have taken an appointment to see him. Mr Kamat was also criticised on Thursday for encouraging superstition in the state. The matter came to light when the department of information and publicity send pictures of Mr Kamat visiting the house of a Mr Chodankar in North Goa who had “miraculously” found an antique brass Ganesha idol.