Goa Cong: All's fair in war, including plagiarism in press notes

Panaji: Battling intra-party feuds and humiliated by accusations of being an ineffective opposition, the Congress in Goa appears to have sunk to a new low. The party’s main spokesperson Durgadas Kamat now stands accused of plagiarizing a Facebook post uploaded by a Non-Resident Indian Rajan Parrikar, a sharp critic of the Manohar Parrikar government, and using its contents to draft an official press note on behalf of the state Congress unit last month.

While Rajan Parrikar now says that he is amused at the “brazen cut and paste job” by the Congress spokesperson-cum-organising secretary, Kamat claims, he doesn’t see any harm in doing so “unless it is copyrighted material”.

In June, Rajan Parrikar, who is popular and combative personality vis-a-vis Goa-related affairs on the social media wrote:

“Manohar and his crew have swung into active damage control now that this whole Brazil fiasco has blown up in their face. We are now told that the 6 ********* will self-fund their trip. I don’t believe that for a single moment. These s****s are incapable of anything of the sort. Dipping their dirty fingers in the public treasury for private enjoyment is the only Dharma they know.

In fact, Prudent (a local cable news channel) might have unwittingly given away Manohar-lal’s Plan B. WHICH IS EVEN MORE CORRUPT THAN THE ROBBING OF THE PUBLIC TREASURY planned in Round 1 which just flopped. Yes, you read that right. In a tweet, Prudent says that 2 business houses will fund the trip for the 6 parasites. This is a direct bribe and in most advanced countries it is illegal for politicians to accept these kinds of favours. No business house gives away money without exacting their pound of flesh. See the attached tweet. (Who are these 2 business houses? Any guesses? I know with 99% certainty who they are…)

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Somehow, either Congress spokesperson and organizing secretary Kamat have some kind a telepathic connection with Rajan Parrikar or its clear plagiarism at work, because he echoes the exact similar sentiment in near identical sentences, which appear to have been tweaked a wee bit to ensure some semblance of originality.

Congress spokesperson Durgadas Kamat’s post:

Manohar Parrikar’s Govt have swung into active damage control now that this whole Brazil fiasco has blown up in their face.

We are now told that the 6 MLA including Ministers will self-fund their trip. We don’t believe that for a single moment as we have seen U Turns last 2 years.

After Plan A was Flopped After Opposition and Media Expose.

Activated Plan B - Sources say that business houses will fund the trip for the 6 MLA/Ministers. This is a nothing but a direct bribe and in most advanced countries it is illegal for politicians to accept these kinds of favours. No business house gives away money without exacting their pound of flesh. if these business houses have so much money they should spend it for the welfare of the society rather than to sponsors these MLA/Ministers

“It was a straight up lift of my passages. They did not even try to re-word the sentences. True, they did tweak a word here and there, but that was the exception,” Parrikar told Firstpost.

Rajan Parrikar, a vocal supporter-turned-critic of the chief minister, has now taken ‘surnamesake’ to task over his alleged proximity to casino, mining and real estate lobbies. He now says that the social media has made it extremely easy for people to steal work or use it without attribution.

“Indians especially are among the worst in this regard in that even after you bring the infraction to their attention they will dispute it or become very indignant or somehow find ways to blaming you - the victim of their violation,” Parrikar says, however adding that he has no intention of pursuing legal action against the plagiarising of his post.

Kamat, one of the party’s most outspoken and busiest spokespersons on the other hand, claims it’s “nothing about committing plagiarism” and that his views matched with that of Rajan Parrikar.

“I was doing research on the subject to issue a press statement and found Rajan’s view was matching with my view. So I referred to his post. I don’t think there is any harm in it, as I didn’t use word to word (of) what he wrote. I loved the way he had written and referred some of the content and I accept it openly,” Kamat told Firstpost.

Kamat further claims that he is a fan of Rajan’s writing. He also said, that if Rajan did have an objection to his action, he was willing to send the NRI a written note as to why he reproduced parts of his post in the official Congress press note.

“I have been myself a follower of Rajan’s write-ups over the internet as he a person who wants to save our Goa from getting destroyed and always writes articles with regards issue concerning Goa,” Kamat said.