PANJIM: The saga of political jumping jacks, changing parties faster than their inner clothes, or those leaving one party, joining another party the same day and within five minutes of joining getting a ticket, continues
As the week for filing nominations starts, many parties will kick out someone who has been working for the party dedicatedly for months or many weeks to pick a candidate picked off the shelf at the last minute based on some winnability formula which does not seem to give any marks for credibility.
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However, there is at least a ray of hope in the political darkness of party hopping and resignations, of finding good candidates who do not carry heavy political baggage and have been working on the ground bringing honesty and freshness into the electoral ecosystem. According to voices from the ground, there is traction growing in Goa for relatively unknown and conventionally not in the top layer of winnability, candidates, whose popularity graph is rising. And it is important for Goans across the state to discover and find them and spare some time learning about them. Ultimately if people of Goa ditch credibility and vote for power and winnability, Goan politics will never have the right people to take the idea of Goa forward
Do not underestimate the silent voter who doesn’t answer surveys but will do what is right for Goa
Dr. Jorson Fernades in Cuncolim, the TMCs candidate is credibility personified. In the cesspool of cutthroat politics, the good doctor is a beacon of hope, the right antidote to the politics of greed. He may not quite top the predictable winner’s chart, in those surveys but be the hero in the heart of the silent voter, fed up with the mess created by almost all political parties as they scramble to get ready-made candidates and give them their party jerseys to play.
In neighbouring Velim, Adv Antonio Clovis Da Costa has gained space in the minds and hearts of Velimkars only on the ground that he is a simple, easy to approach, educated professional with a clean slate. His endorsement is the good thing to do, the right thing to do, something he clearly expected to come by easily after being the foot soldier of the TMC right in the very beginning, when there were no party members and there was all around skepticism. John Beda Pereira of the constituency speaks for many when he said “Velim constituency has chosen Antonio Clovis da Costa who is a clean educated leader which Velim needs very badly”. Velim hopes that the TMC will do in Velim when it did in Cuncolim rather than gift the ticket to a last-minute party entrant.
Herald is and will always back true people’s candidates and appeal to the people to vote for credibility and make credibility the path to winnability.
And while we mention a few who form the definition of credibility, it is up to the people to finally decide and make their right choices which we must respect. But two categories of candidates can never get the respect of those who want a clean candidate with a vision to serve goa. The first are defectors who betrayed the people’s mandate and hopped parties. They should be rejected by the people immediately. Second, are those who join the party at the very last moment only because they have not got another party’s ticket and want a platform. These candidates come for selfish reasons and interests and for their own development and have no love lost for the future of Goa
But there is still hope. In Porvorim the Congress has chosen a young Vikas Prabhudessai, who comes from a Pernem based family involved in nurseries. He is a first-timer with no political baggage, who appears the kind of politician who represents the freshness and changes Goan politics needs. Now again, he needs to be analysed and tested by the people on the foundation of credibility and not winnability
In Panjim and Taleigao the AAM Admi Party has relatively young “veterans” who are squeaky clean and bring to the table the quintessential educated, soft-spoken but deeply committed grassroots politicians who have given up or put on hold other careers to fight for a cause. They are Valmiki Naik and Cecil Rodrigues.
Yatish Naik of the TMC an aspirant from Saligao who has got assurances but not yet the ticket has never contested an election and is fighting a manipulative monster called surveys. Unfortunately, his knowledge of Goa’s history, the law, and deep insight into issues of the land, a natural calling card, is not opening as many doors. But then it is up to the people of Saligao to look within and ask if credible people struggle for recognition, then the fault lies in the people who are supposed to choose them.
Over the next few days, more deals will be sealed, and more political frogs will jump parties and become products for sale. But for the sake of Goa, one hopes that the credible shining lights, like some of those mentioned here, will be the choice and the template for clean politics that Goa needs, for the future of its children.
