Anti-India sentiment creeping in Goa: Manohar Parrikar

Goa Chief Minister Manohar Parrikar said on Tuesday those who compared the BJP government in Goa to Nazi rule should read European history, adding a pre-Portuguese era anti-India sentiment was resurfacing in the state.

In his Goa Liberation Day speech delivered here, Parrikar also asked people to be cautious against a negative mentality which he said was raising its head in the former Portuguese colony.

"Some people tried to compare this government with Nazis. I advise them to read the history of Europe, including that of the First and Second World War, then they will realise that when you point one finger at someone, then five fingers are pointing at yourself. We need to be careful of such mentality," Parrikar said.

In the run-up to the February state assembly poll, an article in a magazine run by the influential Roman Catholic Church in Goa had likened the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP)-led coalition government to Nazi rule in Germany.

"Some people are extremely negative. We should be careful of such mentality. When Goa was made independent, many people would say that India had snatched Goa. There were many who refused to accept that Goa was a Union Territory of India. That mentality is repeating again," Parrikar said.

Goa, a former Portuguese colony, was liberated by the Indian armed forces on December 19, 1961.