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Goa govt drops Faye D’Souza from list of speakers at Kosambi festival

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Panaji: Award-winning TV journalist Faye D’Souza was dropped from the list of speakers at the DD Kosambi Festival of Ideas. The annual event, hosted by the Goa Art and Culture Ministry, is scheduled to be held on Monday, January 27.

This move by the Goan government has been termed as “undemocratic” by the Opposition.

Speaking about the development, Goa Art and Culture Minister Govind Gawade told the press that D’Souza was dropped as a speaker in order to avoid possible “mess and chaos”. The India Express quoted the minister as saying, “She was shortlisted, but we were notified that she speaks against the CAA. This is not a small or private event. This is a government event and we don’t want controversy.”

D’Souza, on the other hand, said that she had declined the invitation to attend the event as she had prior work commitments in Mumbai, TIE’s report states.

The list of speakers, that was made public on Friday, 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.

Clarifying that it was the ministry’s decision to drop D’Souza from the list, Gawade stated that the orders did not come from “the top” as the Prime Minister and Union Home Minister have “always welcomed public debate on the CAA issue”.

Reacting to the issue, Goa Congress spokesperson Trajano D’Mello slammed the Goa government saying that it has “once again proved” that this is an “all-out fight against freedom of expression”. He informed that in the previous week, the government had cancelled an anti-CAA rally at the last minute, citing “frivolous reasons”, the report added.

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