Panaji,(DHNS): The Goa Congress on Sunday criticised state Shiv Sena president Shivprasad Joshi for praising the right wing Sri Ram Sene and stating that many people in neighbouring Karnataka cannot sing complete national anthem.

On Saturday, Joshi had said that though Goans are patriots, many people in Karnataka do not even know how to sing the national anthem.

The Sena leader had also hailed the Sri Rama Sene and its controversial chief Pramod Muthalik for doing a commendable job of protecting women.

“Shiv Sena’s praising of Sri Ram Sene shows their mindset though it’s not at all surprising. Moreover, the moral policing hypocrites should introspect first,” Goa Congress spokesman Sunil Kawthankar told PTI.

Reacting to Joshi’s statement on singing of the national anthem, the Congress leader said the remarks regarding people of Karnataka are “completely unfortunate and condemnable”.

Referring to incomplete printing of national anthem in the Marathi subject textbooks of class II in Goa, Kawthankar asked, “where was Shiv Sena when incomplete national anthem was printed in thousands of ‘Gomant Bharti’ books? Is their nationalism selective?”

In the wake of the Congress’ allegation that the books carried incomplete national anthem, the state government had recently ordered reprinting/replacement of several thousand books.