Modi gets just 5/10 for his Goa visit
The Prime Minister came and saw. But did he conquer? Admittedly Goa got this gift of a trip because he had to dedicate the INS Vikramaditya to the nation which was anchored off Goa’s waters, and his relationship with Chief Minister Parrikar ensured that this became a Goa day and not just a day out at sea.
But barring his assurance to work towards the resumption of mining, this government could not extract big ticket assurances that would have left us with the feeling that the visit was more than an exercise of exchanging feel good pleasantries with the party and the influential.
The resumption of mining is quite clearly the biggest issue that needs to be addressed while balancing this resumption with absolute and strict controls to prevent the mistakes of the past from happening again. A cursory reference to working towards its resumption may be a ray of hope but a more informed response from the Prime Minister on how mining loans should be managed and the time frame of resumption was expected. His remark at the private gathering of Goa’s influential and well-heeled that natural resources should not be exported in a raw form would have cockled the hearts of environmentalists but forced industrialists to ask questions. If Goa’s most important mineral resource cannot be exported since the high quality of ore is not fit for domestic use, how do you expect economic revival?
The biggest disappointment though was the silence on giving Goa special status. When then Prime Minister designate came to Goa for a pre-election rally on January 12, a group of people gave him a memorandum on granting Goa Special Status. He had said then “Can you imagine, the people of Goa who came to give me a memorandum said that they do not want a financial package. They were demanding special status to preserve the unique identity of Goa. I will be proud to see this dream being fulfilled for the people of Goa”
Special Status is dear to the hearts of many right thinking Goans’ who feel and rightly so, that if the constant take-over of land for housing projects is not stopped by keeping it reserved for Goans, the uniqueness of our land will go for ever. The Prime Ministers huge push to infrastructure and housing, which he announced at the Marriot hotel meeting to an audience which loved it, should not come at the cost of taking all land away from common Goans, when the state of the economy and no job creation forces them to sell ancestral land to the highest bidder.
The person who must answer to her people today is Alina Saldanha, who had promised to resign as a Minister if the demand for Special Status for Goa was not met by a BJP government at the Centre. Herald demands that Alina Saldanha ask the government of Goa to announce a time line of steps that it will take to pursue this followed by a deadline for giving Goa its Special Status.
If a state like Telangana can be created purely due to the will of the people and the sacrifices of its leaders, the fight for Special Status has to be fought. Alina can redeem her lost image and popularity by taking this fight to its logical conclusion though we have great doubts about her ability and commitment.
Herald gives the Modi visit five marks out of ten with a much tougher exam the next time he visits,
