Had Sardar Patel been alive… PM Modi

Panaji: Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Sunday said Goa would have been liberated long before Portuguese rule had the country’s first home minister Sardar Vallabhbhai Patel lived for some more time. It is believed that PM Modi’s target was towards former PM Jawaharlal Nehru for delaying the liberation of Goa. Modi and his party BJP have also blamed Nehru for the Kashmir problem, saying that it would have been better had Sardar Patel been allowed to deal with it. PM Modi was speaking at a program organized in Panaji on ‘Goa Liberation Day’. Goa Liberation Day is celebrated every year on 19 December. On this day in 1961, Indian soldiers freed it from Portuguese rule.

PM Modi said, “If Sardar Patel had lived for some more time, Goa would have been free earlier.” Patel, who was the Deputy Prime Minister and Home Minister in the Nehru cabinet, died on 15 December 1950. He is credited for freeing the Marathwada of Maharashtra from the Nizam rule. PM Modi praised the freedom fighters (including those from outside Goa) who fought for the independence of the state. Modi lauded the freedom fighters who fought for the independence of the state, including those from outside Goa. He said that even when India got independence, they (freedom fighters) continued the fight to liberate Goa.

“They (freedom fighters) ensured that the struggle to liberate Goa did not stop after India’s independence,” Modi said. Modi also congratulated the Goa government for being on top in various parameters of good governance. He said that the state has topped in parameters like per capita income, separate toilet facilities for girls in schools, tap water in every house, door-to-door garbage collection and food security.

Remembering former Goa Chief Minister late Manohar Parrikar, Modi said that he understood the potential of the state and nurtured it for the welfare of the people. During the programme, Modi felicitated freedom fighters and ex-servicemen of Operation Vijay, conducted by the Indian Army to liberate Goa. Modi said that Goa came under Portuguese rule when a large part of the country was ruled by the Mughals, but after centuries neither Goa forgot its Indianness nor India forgot Goa. Prime Minister Modi, who arrived here today afternoon to participate in the celebrations to mark 60 years of Goa’s liberation from Portuguese rule, also witnessed a ‘fly past’ and ‘sail parade’ at Miramar.