India News | GFP Urges Prez to Turn Down Goa Govt's Liberation Day Invite

Panaji, Dec 15 (PTI) Claiming that the BJP government in Goa is spending Rs 100 crore on celebrations to mark the 60th state Liberation Day despite a financial distress, the Goa Forward Party on Tuesday urged President Ram Nath Kovind to turn down the invite for attending the December 19 function.

Chief Minister Pramod Sawant had announced President Kovind would attend the Goa Liberation Day function on December 19, which will mark the beginning of the year-long celebrations to commemorate the diamond jubilee of the Liberation Day.

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The BJP government in the state already announced various programmes from December 19, 2020 to December 19, 2021. It had requested Rs 100 crore from the Centre.

"Kindly consider the enormous amount of money being spent on the Liberation Day celebrations at a time when our brethren Goans are struggling with personal finances and their livelihood.

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"The economic ramifications of the pandemic have brought despair to the working class, and our eager young population who's hope for brighter career opportunities in their home state have started to dim away," GFP chief Vijai Sardesai stated in his letter to the President.

Stating that Goans like to welcome people to the state, Sardesai said, "But spending Rs 100 crore for the function really doesn't make any sense. We look to you to hold our plight, we look to you to hear our voice, and we look to you to be our representation.

"Therefore, we humbly request you to kindly turn down the government's invite for being the chief guest and avoid visiting the state on 19th December".

The Liberation Day is celebrated in commemoration of the Indian armed forces freeing Goa from the Portuguese rule.

(The above story is verified and authored by Press Trust of India (PTI) staff. PTI, India’s premier news agency, employs more than 400 journalists and 500 stringers to cover almost every district and small town in India.. The views appearing in the above post do not reflect the opinions of LatestLY)