It appears that statue politics will take a bit of a back seat with neither Vijai Sardesai nor Michael Lobo willing to step on the pedal and insist on the installation of Dr Jack Sequeira’s statue, after the BJP State executive passed a resolution opposing it, in the garb of opposing any other statue.
For Sardesai who had linked the statue installation demand to that of respecting identity, it is prudent not to have a confrontation with the ruling party with whom he is in a coalition, over the statue issue. The blow hot blow cold form of politics is actually politics itself. For Goa Forward, the high pitched insistence on taking the demand for the installation of the statue of the Father of the Opinion poll, to its logical conclusion was par for the course in the run up to the high profile, celebrations of the Opinion Poll anniversary. Once that was done, the statue demand remained a talking point but it’s not something that Sardesai will use as a political handle against the BJP.
It is also indeed unfortunate and disappointing that the emotional connect Goans of this generation have with the most significant people’s movement of this land, for this land and by the people of this land, is probably waning over time. Which is why, political parties and individuals who are pushing the connect which was earlier there, for political gains, may see limited returns in today’s Genx Goa. And thus the statue issue is clearly not the strong political handle which it was perceived to be.
The belligerence over the statue issue is, therefore, not surprisingly waning. Sardesai himself wondered why the BJP state executive discussed the installation of Dr Jack Sequeira’s statue over a discussion on the Mhadei water sharing issue. Advising the BJP to discuss “on the more pertinent” Mahdei diversion issue at their core committee meeting rather than the Statue of Dr. Jack Sequeira, the TCP Minister said “Why hasn’t the BJP core committee discussed the diversion of waters issue of Mhadei. Our statue demand will remain but they should discuss Mhadei too.”
But there is a larger issue here. Fifty one years after the historic Opinion Poll, does it have to seem, that Dr Jack Sequeira is just a minority leader. Numbers will show that the Opinion Poll was not won by minority votes alone. And history will show (and so will the plaques on Opinion Poll Square in Margao) that the Opinion Poll had leaders cutting across caste and community lines.
The Opinion Poll was a secular movement of true Goans and therefore it does not do justice to the spirit of the opinion poll, if only minority leaders from any party support the installation of his statue while those from the majority community oppose it.
Therefore the larger issue is not about whether his statue is installed in the Assembly or not. The larger issue which we must address is whether the generation of Goans who remember him and their next generation which will be taught the history of the Opinion Poll, in their schools and colleges, will see, understand, accept and fight for the fact, that this was a movement of all Goans and not of a section or a community.
That will be the greatest reward for not just Dr Sequeira but every hero and heroine of the Opinion Poll, and that includes everyone who voted to keep Goa independent of Maharashtra. A reward even bigger than the tallest statue of this good doctor, next to Goa’s first Chief Minister, Dr Dayanand Bandodkar.
