Congress Forces Goa Minister To Apologise For Invoking A Biblical Quote To Laud Parrikar For Mandovi Bridge, Claims It Hurt Catholics

The Congress on Friday (Feb 1) demanded the resignation of Agriculture Minister Vijai Sardesai accusing him of hurting the sentiments of Catholics in Goa for the remarks he made during a congratulatory motion moved by BJP MLA Rajesh Patnekar on Thursday (Jan 31) at the Budget session of the state legislative Assembly. Sardesai belongs to the Goa Forward Party which is a partner in the BJP-led coalition government.

Lauding Parrikar for realising his vision of the new cable bridge Mandovi bridge, (now named the 'Atal Setu'), Sardesai had said in the assembly "In the Bible, there is a saying, which says man should build bridges and not walls. Jesus built bridges not walls. You need to build bridges. Manohar Parrikar is a person who builds bridges".

Congress slammed Sardesai claiming that he "likened" Chief Minister Manohar Parrikar to Jesus Christ, State Congress spokesperson Rohit Bras De Sa alleged on Friday (Feb 1) that by "likening Manohar Parrikar with Jesus Christ", Sardesai had insulted the Christian community.

Seeking to end the controversy, Sardesai apologised yesterday (Feb 2) for marking the comparison.

"If anyone is hurt because of the spin deliberately given by the Congress, I seek pardon from people whose sentiments are hurt. But I appeal to the people not to fall prey to the mind games played by the Congress," Sardesai said in a statement, accusing the Congress of misunderstanding his remarks.

Sardesai said that he was only trying to draw "an analogy between Parrikar and Jesus Christ", but did not make an attempt to equate them and blamed the Congress for twisting his statement.

"In fact it is the Congress who, by giving a spin to my statement, is insulting religious sentiments," the Minister added.