With elections around the corner in Goa, political parties in the State appear to have not even spared the BRICS summit, as far as electoral oneupmanship is concerned.
Both the Congress as well as Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) for now have made the BRICS logo the subject of their ire.
While the Congress has accused the BJP of politicising the BRICS event with its lotus-shaped logo, the AAP on Thursday has claimed that the summit's official insignia has let down Goa. The summit will be held in Goa on October 15-16.
"This exception of Goa’s exclusion from the BRICS logo is a lost opportunity of projecting Goa. We take a strong note of this and would like to stress on the point that this exception should be regretted," AAP Goa spokesperson Rupesh Shinkre said in a statement issued here.
Demanding that the organisers of the event express regret for excluding Goa, from the logo, Shinkre also said that previous editions of the event held in Yekaterinburg in Russia in 2009, in Basilia in Brazil in 2010, in Sanya in China in 2011, in New Delhi India in 2012, in Durban in South Africa in 2013, in Fortaleza in Brazil in 2014 and finally at Ufa in Russia in 2015, the logos reflected the name of the host state.
"Goa is a tourist destination and it has a vibrant society, vivid history and heritage. Goa cannot be just a venue as it is State in the federation of Indian Union. It was also imperative on the Government of Goa who rants on bringing investments post BRICS appraise this concern to the Central Government," Shinkre said.
On Wednesday, Congress's Rajya Sabha MP from Goa, Shantaram Naik, in a complaint to the Chief Electoral Officer in Panaji had accused the BJP of politicising the global event for political purposes, by incorporating the lotus, also a symbol of the Bharatiya Janata Party, in BRICS logo.
"BJP is saffronising the BRICS by using a lotus as a logo. lotus is also the symbol of the BJP," Naik had said. Naik had in his complaint had also demanded freezing of the BJP symbol of the lotus, by the poll authorities for the alleged misuse.
The BRICS logo features a five-petalled (representing five countries), multi-colored lotus with a namaste incorporated in it.
When asked about the allegations leveled by Shantaram Naik, Parsekar said, "The BJP has done so much developmental work. People are seeing lotuses everywhere".