Why Goa minister Vijai Sardesai thinks poor domestic tourists are ‘scum of the earth’
So Goa minister Vijai Sardesai thinks that north Indians are "scum of the earth"?
Urging the state government to attract more foreign tourists and upper-class Indian tourists, the town and country planning minister said: "We cannot make Goa another Gurgaon. The north Indian states are responsible for the problems that Goa has today. The people coming from those states actually want to recreate Haryana in Goa.
“Today we have almost six times population of Goa coming as tourists... Those tourists are not top-end tourists, they are also the scum of the earth."
According to Sardesai, the heavy influx of north Indian tourists was making it difficult for the state to address the issue of garbage.
Well, the only thing infuriated north Indians and Goa aficionados can say is that the statement shows the minister needs to clear the cobwebs from his head.
Ruling coalitions across the country, in their bid to cling on to power, often enlist individuals or organisations that show scant respect for the country and its citizens. Nor do they respect the ideals that define the leading party. Such elements are neither friends nor allies, but opportunists. (Sardesai's Goa Forward Party is a coalition partner in the BJP-led government.)
It's true that on an average, a foreign tourist does spend almost two-and-a-half times the amount spent by an ordinary domestic tourist. But ministers blaming fellow countrymen or even foreign migrants for ruining their state is not just unfair but uncalled for. In June 2016, the then deputy chief minister Francis D’Souza had said that migrants are responsible for the increased rate of crime. Of course, he was echoing the feelings of the then CM Laxmikant Parsekar who blamed Nigerians for their lifestyle and attitude. Their statements had seen the opposition calling out the BJP-led government's bias towards Africans.
It is not a secret that the foreign drug lords have been operating with impunity in Goa. Once limited to the north, the drug menace has spread to south Goa too, and intel reports suggest that the drug net is only expanding in the area.
Of course, this is not to say that all foreign tourists are responsible for it, but the fact that the CM himself has spoken on the issue deserves some attention.
But can people like Sardesai blame north Indians for "all the problems that Goa is facing today"?
What about his "foreign and high-end tourists"?
As for the minister's other statement that north Indians are gobbling up everything - land and properties - I have this to say. Well, they indeed are because everything is up for grabs. Goa is a beautiful place and whatever is on sale - land and property - will be bought. Domestic tourists are not grabbing land from Goans. No one from Haryana is pushing Goans out of their properties. On the contrary, people are buying properties in Goa at prices usually higher than what the locals would pay.
That an NDA ally deems it right to say that "poor Indians" coming to Goa are ruining the paradise that Goa is, it is not just an insult to the poor but north Indian members of Sardesai's coalition partner, BJP, too.