Goa CM denies slur against 108 staff, Congress seeks apology

PANAJI: Protesting the “sexist” comment of chief minister Laxmikant Parsekar where he allegedly told striking female staff of the 108 ambulance service not to sit in the sun as they would become dark-skinned and not find grooms to marry, the Congress in Goa has decided to send a mirror to Parsekar so he can see himself in the mirror every morning.
But the chief minister has flatly denied the charge.Parsekar said he did express concern over the striking employees sitting in the hot sun but never alluded to their skin colour or marriages. Briefing the media, Congress spokespersons Agnelo Fernandes and Sunil Kawthankar “condemned” Parsekar’s alleged statement and demanded an apology from him.
Fernandes said the chief minister’s statement revealed the “bankruptcy of thought and the immaturity of those in power”, of which all women in Goa should take note. Said Fernandes, “Is it right that a worth of a woman should be gauged by the colour of her skin? And a comment like this is coming from a chief minister of a state. What kind of effect will this have on the girls of Goa?”
Kawthankar also demanded an apology from Parsekar. He said this exposed the “cheap mentality” of the BJP because recently, BJP Union minister Giriraj Singh also said that if Sonia Gandhi was not fair, she would not have been made the Congress president.
Speaking to the media at the secretariat in Porvorim shortly after, the chief minister clarified that he had never made such a statement. Parsekar gave a blow-by-blow account of the 108 employees strike and his repeated personal efforts to resolve the crisis for the sake of the Goan workers. He also refuted reports in sections of the media which claimed that he was “gheraod” by the workers. “They did not gherao me, I called them in,” he said.
The incident happened at Dharbandora where Parsekar had gone to distribute laptops. He said there were two girls in the group of striking workers whom he called in. One girl, whom he spoke to, will vouch that he never made the statement, Parsekar said.