‘Constitution’ row snowballs BJP hits out at Captain, files complaint with EC

PANAJI

The Bharatiya Janata Party, including Prime Minister Narendra and Chief Minister Pramod Sawant and several other leaders, latched on to the ‘Constitution was forced on us’ remark of South Goa Congress candidate, Captain Viriato Fernandes, on Tuesday to escalate the row more than a day after the latter made the speech at Betalbatim.

Modi made reference to Fernandes’s remark at an election rally in Chhattisgarh and said that Congress was making an “a calculated move to break the nation”. Sawant followed it up with a video statement he posted on his ‘X’, formerly Twitter, handle.

Also, the BJP escalated the matter by filing a formal complaint with the office of the Chief Electoral Officer, Ramesh Verma, in which it has demanded that Captain Fernandes’ candidature be nullified.

Former chief minister Digambar Kamat addressed a press conference at the BJP headquarters in Panaji where he slammed Fernandes’ “anti-Constitution” remark and said that the party has formally lodged a complaint with the Election Commission demanding that his candidature be cancelled.

The issue relates to Fernandes’s comments during the course of his campaign on Monday where he purportedly said: “Indian Constitution was forced on our heads in 1961.”

The comment was made in the context and to justify the demand for ‘dual citizenship’ for Goans. He was narrating to the audience his interaction with Congress leader Rahul Gandhi back in 2019 in which he had placed 12 demands before the leader, including the demand for dual citizenship for Goans.