Panaji:Environment minister Aleixo Sequeira on Monday said that Goans are “furious and hurt” because of former Goa RSS chief Subhash Velingkar’s alleged objectionable comment about St Francis Xavier. The govt will take action against him.
“I still fail to understand why Velingkar had to come out with such a stupid statement. People of all religious denominations have faith in him (St Francis Xavier).St Francis Xavier’s DNA is in all of us,” Sequeira told a local news channel.
A few hours later, Sequeira retracted his statement about “ St Francis Xavier’s DNA,” in the face of criticism from certain quarters.
Tendering an apology, he said, his statement was misconstrued. “What I meant was that the qualities of peace, harmony, secularism and brotherhood run in every Goan. Should I have hurt anybody, I would like to apologise,” Sequeira said.
Sequeira denied the controversy surrounding Velingkar’s alleged offensive remark against St Francis Xavier was an attempt to divert public attention from other pressing issues.
