Days after Prime Minister Narendra Modi said Jawaharlal Nehru had refused to send the Indian Army to liberate Goa, Union Home Minister Amit Shah on Wednesday raised the similiar pitch in poll-bound Goa, saying that had former prime minister Jawaharlal Nehru's leadership been decisive, Goa would have attained Independence in 1947 like the rest of the country.
"History is witness. Had Nehru's leadership been decisive, then Goa, too, would have attained Independence on August 15, 1947 like the rest of the country," Shah said at a public rally, adding that Goa was always subjected to injustice by the Congress.
"After a lot of struggle, Goa attained freedom. It took a lot of time to achieve it. Yesterday, Prime Minister Narendra Modi, in his address to Parliament, raised the issue that who is responsible for Goa getting its Independence so late?" he said.
He said in 2013-14, when the Congress was in power at the Centre, Goa had only received Rs 432 crore. From 2014-19, the Centre under PM Modi raised the amount to Rs 2,568 crore.
He said that several key infrastructure projects like Atal Setu, Zuari bridge, second airport was undertaken by the BJP governments.
From 2009-14, the Centre allocated only Rs 120 crore for road infrastructure but from 2014-2019, besides the Rs 2,500 crore, the Modi government allocated Rs 4,000 crore for the state, Shah said.
Shah said there are only two options before the voters in Goa - one is Congress party, which is led by Rahul Gandhi, and the second is BJP under PM Modi.
"The people of Goa have to decide whom it has to give a mandate of five years. Goa has seen both the regimes. The Congress rule was filled with instability and anarchy, while the BJP gave stability and brought development," the Union minister said.
He also lauched a a blistering attack on the Trinamool Congress (TMC), Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) without naming them. "Small to smallest parties are in the fray. The BJP is in power at the Centre under Narendra Modi. These parties have a history. Where they are in power, they have indulged in a fight with the Centre. Modi ji will start a scheme, but they will not let it percolate to the ground level.
"The Bengal government does not have Pradhan Mantri Ayushman Bharat Yojana. Farmers in Bengal don't get the money sent by the Centre. Those who prove to be an impediment (in development) have come here in different forms," he said.
The opposition parties, which have come here with different faces and wearing different clothes can carry out development neither of Goa nor the country. They can neither make country prosperous nor secure it. It is only the double-engine government of the BJP that can do it, he added.
Elections to the 40-member Goa legislative assembly will be held on next Monday and the counting of votes will take place on March 10.