Senior Congress leader Dr Shashi Tharoor was in Goa to appeal to Goans to vote for Capt Viriato Fernandes on May 7, 2024 in the name of preserving one India. He said vote for an India they want to live in, the kind of India they want to leave for their children. An India for all Indians or only for Hindus? India is an idea every Indian fought for during the freedom movement before partition. Indians voted for an inclusive India regardless of religion, caste, color…fought for the idea of a democratic, secular India. The articulate Congress leader didn’t Tharoor didn’t mince words and pretty much summed it up with clarity. He reminded everyone how it is important to preserve the idea of India, a land where everyone feels free to think, speak, eat…without the government telling them how to do all that! “I speak not just to you, but for you…when I arrived at Dabolim airport I was asked about your chief minister commenting that in the next 50 years there will be no Congress in Goa, I replied that the chief minister should consult his astrologer!” The feedback that they’re getting is that the people of India no matter how humble want to preserve the idea of India for everybody and they are voting for INDIA alliance candidates…they want to preserve the idea as we have enjoyed it so far (except in the last ten years). He said that in fact it’s the so called BJP voters who’re not coming out to vote and live in fear! Tharoor asked how many guarantees has Narendara Modi delivered, he makes promises only to break them. Young educated Indians are jobless, farmers’ income has not gone up by even ten percent…all this and much more. Tharoor doesn’t mince words and is a master in detailing from what perspective Indians should vote in the forthcoming very crucial Lok Sabha…this was already decided post-1947 in the country’s Constitution. The old debate is dead. The people decided that India’s identity lies in freedom for everyone. At that time some did say only for Hindus but that was vetoed out very successfully. So, we are country for every Indian. Tharoor said there is great beauty in this basic idea that it doesn’t matter what your religion, caste, religion, color, state or language is as long as you are an Indian citizen. Why is the BJP challenging this now? For the BJP “400 paar” means they want to change the Constitution at their own sweet will, it will negate the idea of India generations of Indians have grown up in without fear or favor. He grew up in an India in Bombay and elsewhere with the idea that it does not matter you’re your religion is, “We never talked religion, we were multi-ethnic, multi-lingual…your friends were your friends and religion was not important. I am to see that India is changing….” Do we want BJP’s monolithic idea of one India, one party, one god, one religion, one ruler who will of course control all of us? This is not the India which Indians fought for in 1947…every soldier’s name is there at INS Kukri memorial in Diu, here every religion, caste, region of the country is represented, of those who died to save India. They were not just from of one religion or one part of the country or spoke one language…those who gave their lives came from the wonderful diversity of India, to protect our land from hostile forces. In a nutshell, there is no first class citizens and we don’t like second class citizens in India! India is an idea worth preserving, concluded the veteran Congressman Dr Shashi Tharoor. In fact, his entire address is a treat to listen to and Goans should catch up with it before casting their vote — for the lesser evil, for we are looking at a crisis like never before in the India of today!