A bigger foe
More in Goa are coming round to believe that they are being made to suffer a number of controversial projects and dubious plans being thrust on them. Add to this, poor governance and also the feeling — rightly or otherwise — that our politicians and bureaucrats are simply not responsive to the people’s needs. Put all this together, and you can’t blame public opinion for the view that politicians in power, regardless of their colour and ideology, are quick to respond to the needs of some controversial lobby but slow to face-up to issues placed before them by the commonman.
Blame it on the system of governance we choose to follow. Once a politician secures sufficient votes in the EVM, there is no pressure whatsoever on him to serve his voter. There is little sense of accountability for the five years term that he gets in power. Many voters don’t even see the face of their ‘representative’ after elections are done with. Except by accident.
Given the increasing role money plays in day to day politics, it is no surprise that the people’s “elected representatives” need to depend far more on lobbies and cartels. The voter who put them in the seat of power in the first place is fast forgotten.
In such a situation, protests are growing. This week, it was the turn of the Village Groups of Goa. In recent times, the protests are not just about higher wages and trade union issues. Increasingly, Goa is seeing its people getting together to question over how “planning” decisions are taken, how land is being re-zoned, how projects get approved, and how common property is being privatised or taken over to serve the interests of a few.
Contrary to what is being projected, Goans are not “opposed to everything”. Nobody is opposed to educational infrastructure, parks and playgrounds, health projects, public transportation or market infrastructure. What people are indeed questioning is privatising of common-lands, real estate rackets in the name of IT infrastructure, shops set up in fields and palmed off as sporting facilities, money-spinning (for a few) mega-projects of a controversial kind, and resource grabs (particularly of land).
Many groups have been formed in recent years to highlight such issues. Some have been doing a good job in bringing to light the lapses and lobbying, manipulations and machinations that gets concealed under the administrative and political process. Others groups have tried hard. It goes to only show what a small group, committed to the idea of info-activism, can achieve.
But even as all this happens, there is one worrying aspect emerging. While most campaigners are focussed on the errors or excesses of governance, a few seem intent on targeting one another. Instead of focussing on the larger goal, of the clean-up that Goa needs so badly, a small caucus of campaigners prefers to badmouth, spread bitterness and undertake campaigns of innuendo.
It could be argued that we in Goa bring on ourselves many of our problems. In the past too, the mutual suspicions among different groups and segments proved costly to everyone. If one section felt hit by the impact of some project, and raised a protest over it, their intentions would be suspect. Their campaign would be termed “communal”. Or, other segments of Goa would simply not be bothered about the issues raised.
Sand-mining in the 1970s was an issue seen as affecting the Salcete coast alone. The impact of iron-ore mining was an “interior Goa” issue. Narcotics’ impact was not a concern beyond pockets of coastal Bardez. Zoning-corruption and land-conversions were not a concern in areas where their impact was not visible, and so on.
Today, the thrust has changed. One campaigner distrusts another. While it is easy to understand a difference in approach, it is unfair to label and tar someone we disagree with. It is time for campaigners to show more maturity, if they wish to convince wider sections of the righteousness of their cause. Egos should have no place in campaigns; if these are really pro-bono in nature, then party politics and other differences need to be kept aside too.
