Gujarat's bad governance caused violence : CM

Sandesh Prabhudesai
29 April 2002  

Goa chief minister Manohar Parrikar, belonging to the Bharatiya Janata Party, feels the cause of communal violence in Gujarat is bad governance.

"Good governance by my government in Goa could be adopted as a model by all the states in the country that are hit by group violence", said the IIT engineer-turned politician.

The BJP leader, who always claims to be strong proponent of the RSS, made a statement in an attempt to counter the propaganda lashed out by the opposition Congress, making Gujarat violence a prime issue in the election campaign.

The assembly polls here are scheduled for 30 May.

According to Parrikar, violence always erupts in any part of the world due to frustration among the people, which develops as an outshoot of bad governance.

When asked whether he also meant that the communal violence is a reflection of similar kind of bad governance by the BJP government in Gujarat, Parrikar said a fact cannot be denied that the youth there is frustrated due to rampant unemployment.

According to the chief minister, the violence can be kept under control only with good governance and can remove nepotism and corruption. "I have succeeded in this and thus Goa is peaceful", he claims.

The violence is everywhere, he said, due to bad governance, citing examples of Chattisgarh, Assam and even Maharashtra. He even predicted more violence in Maharashtra due to the government decision to reduce the number of government employees by half.

He equated the situation also to the naxalite-hit Andhra Pradesh and dalit-upper caste violence in Bihar that has claimed thousands of lives till date.

According to Parrikar, the Congress has no moral right to make a hue and cry over Gujarat violence when thousands of people were killed in Punjab and also in Delhi and Congress leaders were found to have been involved in provoking the violence.

He also recalled violence in Goa in 1984 against non-Goans and the violence in 1987 due to language controversy that was paralysed for over a fortnight during peak tourist season in the state.

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