Marian Pinheiro
019 for Indians is an election year. A year when Public dirty linen washing will be rampant, when each of the political parties will sling all kinds of dirt and lies on the opposing party/candidate with self-flattery or boosted ego statements of their own party and candidates. With the media further amplifying and orchestrating all these misdeeds and ill deeds of these politicians the common people are in for a harrowing time, with hatred and communalism, being spewed all over the print and electronic media, sanity and truth will be hard to find. These politicians are bound to project all kinds of non-issues as important National issues but the people of India will continue to suffer, be it the price rise, pollution or corruption.
The seasoned politicians will be up to all kinds of tricks inaugurating bridges to bars to toilets and laying foundation stones for projects and buildings that will never come up, one common factor for all these politicians is that they continue to think that they can fool the (We the ) People all the time.
But the biggest danger of all with these greedy, gullible and corrupt politicians and their parties is the likelihood of repetition of what happened in USA 2016 elections with the Russians spies and may be hordes of them will land in Goa disguising as tourists. Russians of course with the kind of political patronage they enjoy have established themselves inbusiness (mostly illegal) on the Goan shores and the 2019 elections will be a golden opportunity for them to further their business interests . If the US Department of Homeland Security (DHS) could state that the U.S. Intelligence Community was confident that the Russian Government directed hacking of emails with the intention of interfering with the U.S. election process and according to the ODNI’s report on January 6, 2017, the Russian military intelligence service (GRU) had hacked the servers of the Democratic National Committee (DNC) and the personal Google email account of Clinton campaign chairman John Podesta. One can imagine how and to what extend our politicians will hire and use the services of these Russian hackers to malign and discredit their opposition.
It was once thought that creating regional out fits would benefit the state like what happened in Andhra Pradesh and Tamil Nadu etc., but the Goan politicians proved to be too mean and selfish that they were able to use the regional outfits to merely further their political and material ambitions. Therefore forming or supporting any Goa specific political outfit is certainly not an answer but probably will spell the doom of Goa and Goans will be left high and dry like what is happening now. Be it the issue of formalin in fish, or the mining or the highway construction it is clear that their entire endeavor is merely directed at furthering their cause to remain/capture power at the cost of the welfare of their supporters and well wishes. Therefore it is high time that the electorate (Common People) should find means and devices to outwit these politicians and prevent them from causing any further damage to the State .Political parties as a whole whether left or right, ruling or opposition have repeatedly failed the people and have plunged the State into this state of despair.
Be it economic growth or quality educations they all have failed miserably. A statement many of the politicians will dispute because they have greatly benefitted by these policies/actions of theirs not just they but their families , extended families and a selected group of their political supporters and financiers. One wonders, is there one single National achievement or resolution of a major national problem our politician can claim to have settled, be it the Kashmir issue, where thousand have lost their lives during these 60 years, or poverty alleviation, India has been ranked 37th out of 103 nations in the 2017 global Multi-dimensional Poverty Index (MPI), and our farmers are still committing suicide even after 70 years of independence
After all politics is good business, where else can one increase ones incomes by 200% or more just in five years’ time?
In an educated democracy the middle class do play a pivotal role by being vigilant citizens and always be alert to explore and expose the ill deeds and misdeed of politicians to auger in true democratic spirit and healthy growth. A healthy democracy needs critics who have people’s welfare as the prime concern.
Unfortunately, It is sad the so called educated middle class have fallen prey to these politicians gimmicks as witnessed by what is happening in social media. Instead of social media remaining just for social and friendly communications and interactions, has become a platform for political rivalry and mudslinging.
One can find many educated young men being used by these politicians to promote them or mostly using bundles of lies and misinformation to malign the opposition.
These social media communications rather reveals the mindset of individuals that we are moving from a society living in peace and harmony to a society of hatred, distrust and even vulgarity. A typical illustration of how an instrument of better living and better relationships is misused and abused by these misdirected individuals.
The challenge now a days is on “we the people” to separate truth from lies, Chaff from substance and show to these political parties that what people need is a corruption free good governance, where welfare and wellbeing of the ordinary people take precedence over all political affiliations and personal ambitions. The day that happens India can be said to have become a matured democracy.
(The writer is a Professor of Law, & Former Dean Faculty of Law, Goa University.)
