Criticising Modi over his statement that if Pandit Jawaharlal Nehru wanted, Goa could have been liberated "within hours" in 1947 when India attained independence, Gandhi said the prime minister does not understand the situation of those times and what was happening post-World War II.

 

Modi, while addressing an election rally at Mapusa near here on Thursday ahead of the February 14 assembly polls, had said it took 15 years for the Congress government to liberate Goa from the Portuguese rule.

 

Speaking in a press conference in Margao, Gandhi said, "PM does not understand the history of those times, he does not understand what was going on post-World War II. He is coming to Goa to distract people from the real issues like environment and employment."