Goa chief minister Pramod Sawant on Tuesday blamed India’s first Prime Minister Jawaharlal Nehru for not giving proper care to Goa for its liberation from Portuguese.

Sawant’s remarks came at an Indian Army awareness event in Panaji.

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“I feel, then Prime Minister Nehru was responsible for Goa getting its freedom 14 years after the country’s Independence. If he had political will, really cared for Goans, he would have got Goa free from the Portuguese rule early,” Sawant said.

“Forget 1947, he should have at least thought about us (Goa) in 1950. Why did we have to suffer the Portuguese rule more,” he added.

Goa was liberated in 1961 from 451 years of Portuguese colonial rule.