Goa Deputy CM Says Migrants Responsible for Rising Crime in State

D’Souza’s migrant-bashing comes a few days after CM Laxmikant Parsekar said that Goans were annoyed with Nigerians.

Goa is one of the top beach tourism destinations in the country and attracts nearly four million tourists every year, half a million of which are foreign nationals. (Photo Courtesy: Facebook/Goa)

Goa’s Deputy Chief Minister Francis D’Souza has accused migrants of committing majority of the crimes in the tourist state, citing it as one of the major issues which is ‘troubling the government’.

Migration into Goa does makes it a little difficult to handle crime. See the crime statistics. Most of the crime is committed by migrants. You have to be very sensitive towards tourism. The smallest thing that happens in Goa is big news, international news. You can’t stop it. But we will have to take care that the news doesn’t happen.

Francis D’Souza, Deputy Chief Minister, Goa

D’Souza’s migrant-bashing comes a few days after Chief Minister Laxmikant Parsekar and Tourism Minister Dilip Parulekar triggered controversy by saying that Goans were annoyed with Nigerians, blaming them for their lifestyle and attitude.

The statements by Parsekar and Parulekar led the opposition to blame the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP)-led government in Goa of being biased towards Africans.