Nehru did not send armed forces to liberate Goa so to protect his 'peace-loving global image': Modi
New Delhi(PTI): Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Tuesday blamed Jawaharlal Nehru for not sending armed forces to liberate Goa from Portuguese rule for 15 years only to protect his "peace-loving global image".
A week before Goa goes to polls to elect a new assembly, Modi also used his reply to the Motion of Thanks to the President's Address in Rajya Sabha to attack the Congress on freedom of speech and how it had sacked Lata Mangeshkar's younger brother from All India Radio for presenting a patriotic poem of Veer Savarkar.
He also cited the example of noted lyricist Majrooh Sultanpuri for jailing him for speaking against Nehru.
Modi also charged Nehru with leaving the satyagrahis, fighting for Goa's freedom, in lurch and using the independence address to attack their movement.
"It has been 60 years of Goa liberation. People of Goa must be listening to me today. The way Sardar Patel made a strategy for Hyderabad and Junagad, if the same spirit was followed for Goa as well, then it would not have stayed under foreign rule for 15 years after India got independence. The state got liberated after 15 years of the country's independence," Modi stated.
Citing media reports of that period, he noted that Nehru did not take any action against the Portuguese occupation of Goa, as he thought that it would harm his international image.
"This was his, Pandit Nehru's biggest fear. He thought that invading the foreign government would lead to destruction of his peace-loving global image. Let Goa suffer but my image should not get dented, he thought," Modi stated in the Upper House.
He further said: "When satyagrahis were being fired upon by a foreign power, my Indian brothers and sisters were facing bullets, at that time our prime minister said that I will not send the Army. He declined to help the satyagrahis. This is the torture meted out to Goa's people by the Congress party. This led to 15 years more of foreign rule in Goa. Many brave souls had to lose their lives because of this."
Modi also referred to Nehru's speech on August 15, 1955, where he said that no army help would be sent to help the protesting satyagrahis and the matter would be resolved peacefully.
"People of my country were left helpless, this is what they did with Goa. The people of Goa cannot forget this attitude of the Congress party," Modi added.
He also attacked the Congress for meting out harsh treatment to Lata Mangeshkar's family.
"Her family belongs to Goa. Let me tell how they (Congress) treated her family, the country should know that. Lata Mangeshkar's younger brother Pandit Hridaynath Mangeshkar was fired from All India Radio. His fault was that he recited a patriotic poem of Veer Savarkar. He was fired from All India Radio in eight days, this is your freedom of expression," he said, attacking the Congress party.
Election for the 40-seat assembly in Goa will be held on February 14 and votes will be counted on March 10.
Let the Truth be known. If you read VB and like VB, please be a VB Supporter and Help us deliver the Truth to one and all.
AAP leaders once sought justice for Nirbhaya, today they are supporting an accused: Maliwal
New Delhi (PTI): AAP Rajya Sabha MP Swati Maliwal, who has been accused by her party of being part of a conspiracy to frame Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal in a false case, on Sunday said her party colleagues once sought justice for Nirbhaya but today they are supporting a person accused of assaulting her.
She said if AAP leader and former deputy chief minister Manish Sisodia, who is in jail in connection with the Delhi excise police case, had been here "maybe things wouldn't have been so bad for me!"
Maliwal has alleged that Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal's aide Bibhav Kumar assaulted her on May 13 when she went to the CM's residence to meet him. The Aam Aadmi Party has trashed her allegations and claimed Maliwal was acting at the behest of the BJP to frame Kejriwal in a fake case.
Maliwal, who has been associated with the AAP since its inception more than 10 years ago, said on Sunday there was a time when "we all used to come out on the streets to get justice for Nirbhaya".
"Today, 12 years later, we have come out on the streets to save the accused (Bibhav Kumar) who made the CCTV footage disappear and formatted the phone? I wish they had used this much force for Manish Sisodia ji. Had he been here, maybe things wouldn't have been so bad for me!" she wrote.
Police have arrested Kumar in connection with the case.
_vb_34.jpeg)