BJP govt's tenure in Goa were 'years of terror and discord'

Panaji, May 31 (UNI) The Congress today described the erstwhile four-year BJP rule in Goa as ''years of terror and discord'' which will go down in history as one which created fear, tension and damaged the state's ethos of communal harmony.

Charging the BJP with ''subversion of democracy to cling to power'', the Congress chargesheet against the Manohar Parrikar government said it indulged in forgery of its own membership form in an attempt to disqualify an independent member of the Assembly in order to tilt the balance of numbers in their favour.

''The Parrikar government had tried to subvert democracy by forcibly dragging out of the House a member of the Assembly with police help, to create false majority on the floor of the House. It also brought the office of the Speaker into disrepute by breaching all conventions and rules of the House,'' the chargesheet, released by AICC general secretary Margaret Alva, said.

The BJP government misused constitutional provisions for dissolving the assembly and for using the contingency fund, the chargesheet added. The BJP unleashed a reign of terror through misuse of vigilance and police machinery against political rivals, NGOs, government officers, common citizens and even freedom fighters. It also threatened the print media through legal notices to suppress dissent, it said.

The BJP also neglected development through deliberate refusal to implement the multi-purpose Tillari irrigation project, which was purported to irrigate more than 12,000 hectares of agriculture land and bring prosperity to farmers in North Goa. It also failed to solve major issues and problems like unemployment, water supply, disposal of garbage, electricity, health and concentrating more on entertainment and amusement programmes.

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