Congress praises Goa minister for his warning to VHP

Panaji : The Congress has praised the Goa Forward Party leader and state minister Vijai Sardesai who recently warned the Vishwa Hindu Parishad leaders not to make provocative statements.

"The statement made by a VHP leader that their cadres would impose beef ban if the government failed to do so is an attempt to disturb the communal harmony in our state," Goa Congress spokesperson Trajano D'Mello said here.

"Cabinet Minister Vijai Sardesai has taken a bold stand saying if such utterances are repeated, the government would not hesitate to use the law to ban such elements," D'Mello said, speaking to reporters last evening.

VHP functionary Radha Krishna Manori had said on Sunday that his organisation would "impose a ban" on beef consumption in Goa in the next one or two years if the government didn't do so.

Sardesai, whose party is a part of BJP-led Goa government, slammed the VHP, warning that if its leaders continued in the same vein, they would meet the fate of Pramod Muthalik, the controversial chief of Sri Ram Sene who was banned from entering Goa in the past.

"I would like to refresh your memory that it was I who took up the issue of banning Muthalik," D'Mello told reporters. All secular people who want communal peace should appreciate and support Sardesai's warning, he said.

"No one should play politics on this sensitive issue," D'Mello said, adding that the Chief Minister Manohar Parrikar, who also holds the charge of home department, should issue similar warning to any organisation which tries to disrupt the peace in the coastal state.