Goa, July 18 -- Prominent Scheduled Tribe (ST) leaders within the Goa Forward Party (GFP) came out strongly in support of party president and Fatorda MLA Vijai Sardesai, accusing the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) of orchestrating a campaign to silence him for raising critical questions about the state of democracy in Goa.

Senior ST leader Datta Gaonkar backed Sardesai's recent criticism of the Goa Assembly Speaker's neutrality, referring specifically to the Speaker's presence at a BJP strategy meeting. "How can democracy survive if the Speaker, who is supposed to be neutral, participates in partisan meetings? This feels like an undeclared emergency," Gaonkar said. He also issued a warning to the ruling party: "File all the complaints you ...