Remo Fernandes, the popular Goan pop star, was branded a cynic and a “prophet of doom” by Town and Country Planning Minister Vijai Sardesai over a music video titled “The Goa I used to know”.
Slamming Fernandes for making a “pessimistic music video” about Goa, Sardesai said that that something like that is alright for someone “who is poor, who wants an occupation, a profession to leave his state and go out in search of a job”.
“But Remo is not in that position. He is well to do. He is a bhatkar (landlord),” Sardesai said on Friday while speaking at a function organised by the Indian Green Building Council here.
“Now a ‘bhatkar’ is leaving Goa and he is saying this is the way forward? Is this the right thing? Is this not cynicism? Is this not pessimism? If someone hears this, what will one understand? That it is a doomsday scenario… Prophets of doom,” he said.
In his music video Remo speaks about rampant destruction of the state’s environment, over development and perils of large scale migration went viral on social media.
Sardesai said that there was a lot of cynicism welling up in Goa and called for a more positive mindset among the denizens of India’s smallest state.
“The song that he has come up with now, they say has taunted this Goenkarponn (Goanness)… What it says is, he is now leaving Goa. Why, because it is not the same Goa he lived in. This is cynicism. This is a very pessimistic way of looking at life,” Sardesai said.
Stating that Goa is not a lost cause, the minister said, “We can ourselves change systems and try to preserve Goa for posterity. Remo is completely wrong.”