AAP today said those protesting against next month's Defence Expo in Goa, are not opposed to the event per se, but are against the state government's "arrogance" in claiming that the exhibition would be good for the local people.
"The government should stop assuming that the protesters are opposing the Defence Expo," AAP's Goa unit Walmiki Naik said in a statement here.
"If the government actually takes the trouble to talk to the people, it will realise that the protests are against the state government's arrogance in continuously claiming that DefExpo would be good for the local people, while not having the courtesy to take the same people into confidence," he added.
Congress MLA Chandrakant Kavlekar, independent MLA Vijai Sardesai and the NGO Orixtt Projecho Avaz are among those opposed to the exhibition, to be held from March 28 to 31, on the ground that the land would be acquired permanently on the pretext of Expo. This Defence ministry initiative is scheduled to be held at Betul village in Goa.
"Even today, after so much controversy, no one on the ground knows exactly what DefExpo would entail and how it would impact the village. How can the villagers oppose or support an event they have no information about?," Naik asked.
"There are also complete contradictions between verbal assurances by the government versus written statements on letters obtained under RTI, on whether DefExpo is a one-time event, or whether the same venue would be permanently reserved for this event," he added.
Naik said the development of the local area has been ignored for decades and villagers have to travel long distance even for the basic needs such as health care and education.
"Why won't the BJP government address these issues instead of trying to sweep its failures under the carpet and isolate a high-profile event like the DefExpo from the socio-economic reality of the area?," he questioned.
