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Goans see red after Railway official calls them Portuguese, demand sacking
Goans have been outraged after a railway official referred to them as Portuguese following a heated argument over land acquisition.
A railway official’s comment referring to Goans as ‘Portuguese’ when he encountered stiff opposition on a visit to discuss land acquisition has caused outrage and triggered demands for his sacking after he told a former minister that in ‘India’ many houses have been demolished for expansion projects.
Villagers, former minister Alina Saldanha, the BJP and the Aam Aadmi Party vented their anger at the railway official’s statement.
“[I] Demand immediate unconditional apology from GM (General Manager)of @SWRRLY (South Western Railway) Shri. Ajay Kumar for referring [to] MLA Smt. Alina Saldanha & [the] people of Cortalim as Portuguese. We are Indians firstly & lastly,” a BJP leader and former MP Narendra Sawaikar said on Twitter.
The Aam Aadmi party too sought his sacking.
“Despicable. How dare? A Manager of SW Railway Ajay Kumar Singh, Hubballi Div, insults @BJP4Goa woman MLA Alina Saldanha. Says Goans are not Indians. @DrPramodPSawant, NRC started? @AAPGoa demands, if any self respect remains, get @PiyushGoyal @RailMinIndia to dismiss him. Now,” AAP’s Goa convener Elvis Gomes tweeted tagging Goa chief minister Pramod Sawant and Union railways minister Piyush Goyal.
While Singh was not available for comment, Saldanha told HT that she has vowed to pursue action against the official but declined to elaborate.
Singh when confronted with the fact that the railway expansion plans could threaten several houses including ‘500-year old houses’ Singh retorted: “In ‘India,’ many houses have been demolished” and that these houses too would be compensated.
“India has houses that are 5,000 years old. Goans were the invading force back then. When you all came you must have destroyed houses back then. By you I meant Portuguese,” Singh said provoking angry retorts from Saldhana who claimed “I am Indian! I am not Portuguese!”.
Work on expansion of the South Western Railway line that runs between Castlerock in Karnataka and Vasco da Gama railway station in Goa has been stalled on account of opposition doubling the track through the thickly populated coastal stretch in South Goa.
Opponents to the project have pointed out that the project will threaten centuries old ‘Portuguese houses’ that dot the state’s villages through which the railway line passes.
The proposal for doubling of the existing railway line that runs between Castlerock in Karnataka and Margao in South Goa while running through the Western Ghats and past the scenic Dudhsagar waterfalls was earlier kept in abeyance and asked to be modified to suitably allow for properly designed underpasses and overpasses for wild animal crossing wherever required along the track.
While the forest stretch has now been given the go ahead, the stretch through populated areas is facing persistent opposition.
Singh, however, claimed that it wasn’t the case that the railways were seeking to bulldoze the project.
“If they ask us to stop the work we will stop the work. We are not Mughals, Britishers or Portuguese. We don’t have an army. If the extension is not required we will stop it. But the government should tell us,” Singh said.
