Even as son of the soil and Portuguese Prime Minister Antonio Costa is set to return to the country of his origin, political parties in the former Portuguese colony appear to be in two minds, as far as expectations from the Socialist head of State.
While regional and right wing conservative outfits like the Maharashtrawadi Gomantak Party and the Goa Suraksha Manch, who are contesting the upcoming State Assembly polls on an anti-BJP plank, want an apology from the lawyer-turned-politician, national parties like the AAP and the Congress, believe in openly welcoming Costa back to his home land and believe that demands for his apology are out of place.
Goa Suraksha Manch mentor Subhash Velingkar, a former Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh sanghachalak says that the BJP is using the visit of the Portuguese PM for electoral benefit. “The BJP is using the visit of the Portuguese PM to garner the minority vote... Instead he should be made to apologise for the past atrocities on Goa and Goans. We do not blame the present generation of people in Portugal, but the Portuguese nation which is a continuous process, through time,” Velingkar told The Pioneer.