‘Misusing Law’: Entrepreneur Reacts To Goa Govt’s Police Complaint Over Tourism Post – News18

Last Updated:November 09, 2024, 4:45 PM IST

Mukherjee’s post highlighted the drop in foreign tourists, noting that Russians and Brits, who once frequented the state, have now shifted to destinations like Sri Lanka

Ramanuj Mukherjee, whose recent post on X about the state of tourism in Goa led to a police complaint by the state government, has hit back at the authorities, accusing them of “misusing law to shut down criticism” rather than addressing the complaints raised by tourists on social media.

Mukherjee, the founder of an online legal learning platform according to his X bio, came under fire after posting about the decline in tourist numbers in Goa.

His comments sparked a complaint from Rajesh Kale, Goa’s Deputy Director of Tourism, who accused Mukherjee of “disseminating false data” through his social media account. Kale claimed the post caused “significant annoyance to local businesses and inducing fear or alarm within the local community,” according to a report by The Indian Express.

A day after the complaint was filed, while speaking to the publication, Mukherjee rejected the accusations and insisted that his post was based on publicly available information.

“It is unfortunate that instead of acting on complaints by thousands of tourists on social media regarding various tourist scams they faced in Goa, which by the way I did not highlight, and merely shared publicly available data which I also cited, the authorities are trying to intimidate me with a baseless police case,” he told the publication.

Mukherjee further criticised the Goa authorities for failing to provide accurate data to counter his claims. “They should have put the correct data out there if they think my cited data is wrong instead of what appears to be a misuse of law to shut down criticism,” he added. “I will counter this intimidation through legal means.”

The controversy erupted earlier this week when Mukherjee posted on X about the state of tourism in Goa. His post quickly garnered attention, with numerous travellers sharing their own negative experiences in the state.

“Tourism in Goa is down in dumps,” Mukherjee wrote in his X post shared on November 5, which quickly became a hot topic of discussion on the platform. He also shared a year-by-year chart showing the decline in tourist numbers.

He post also highlighted the significant drop in foreign tourists, noting that Russians and Brits, who once frequented the state, have now shifted to destinations like Sri Lanka.

“Foreign tourists have abandoned the state already. Look at 2019 v 2023 numbers. Russians and Brits who used to visit annually have opted for Sri Lanka instead. Indian tourists still visiting, but soon likely to ditch it as word spreads about exploitation of tourists while there are so many cheaper comparable locations abroad,” Mukherjee had wrote in his post.