Faye D’Souza, an award-winning journalist, was dropped out of speakers list at the Kosambi Festival of Ideas which organised by Govt of Goa every year.
Goa| On Friday the shortlisted names of the speakers for the Kosambi Festival was released, later name of Faye D’Souza was removed over her “Anti-CAA” stand.
The Kosambi Festival of Ideas, which is to be held on January 27, is organised by the Directorate of Art & Culture, Government of Goa to commemorate the legendary Damodar Dharmanand Kosambi, the Indian mathematician, statistician, historian, and polymath who contributed to genetics by introducing Kosambi’s map function.
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At a press meet the Art and Culture Minister of Goa has said that name was dropped to avoid “mess and chaos”. “Actually she was shortlisted but we were quickly notified that she speaks against the CAA. Please understand that this is not a small event or a private event. This is a government event and we do not want any controversies around it. It’s our decision as it’s our event,” Gawade told The Indian Express.
“Tomorrow, there should not be a mess or chaos. It is such a huge festival. We do not want to be in a contradictory position,” Gawade said on Friday. He also said that the orders “didn’t come from the top” as both PM Narendra Modi and CM Pramod Sawant have “always welcomed public debate on the CAA issue”. Clarifying that it was his ministry’s decision, he said, “it’s our final call on who we should invite for the prestigious lecture series”.
The scheduled speakers for the January 27 event now include weightlifter and Olympic medal winner Karnam Malleshwari, Para-Olympic Games medal winner Deepa Malik and Chhavi Rajawat, India’s first woman sarpanch with an MBA degree.
Trajano D’Mello, Spokesperson of Congress Goa said “The Goa government has once again proved, that it is all out against freedom of expression. This time it has used the Art and Culture Minister to drop Faye D’Souza from the list of speakers.”
“The reason cited by the Minister for dropping Faye was that she would create chaos and a mess is amusing. Last week, the government had scrapped a rally against the CAA at the last minute citing more frivolous reasons,” D’Mello added.
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