THURSDAY, APRIL 25, 2024
Sujay Gupta
By the time you read this, there will be many in Goa, spirited souls, including many who have got off ships and remain here out of work to the pandemic, others who are very young, some still in high school, and countless ordinary Goans, including government servants, lawyers, doctors, writers, retired armed forces personnel, fisher-folk, who would have spent a night of “vigil”, spending the night, out in the village of Arossim, to re-emphasise their solidarity towards possibly one of the most significant people’s agitations post Liberation.
This is because the principle and spirit of Liberation, opened the doors for the people of India to have access to liberties that citizens of India enjoyed. And the liberty to object and demonstrate is intrinsic to our system.
Therefore when the ruling party and the Chief Minister uses the result of the Zilla Panchayat election as a mandate in favour of pushing anti people environmentally destructive projects, it’s akin to using a fig leaf for protection against a rising tide. The haste in which the Chief Minister used the statewide election results as a mandate for development was amazing “People have voted for development and Goa’s development is my dream. We are going ahead with the development. Goa needs the Tamnar project, new 400 KV transmission line.”
This narrative, in reality, doesn’t cut much ice but perhaps serves to underline to a portion of the party’s voter base in North Goa, that even in South Goa, the nerve centre of the people’s agitation against the three linear projects, the BJP has won seats with the Congress failing to win more than 3 in Salcete.
The BJP’s state president, Sadanand Shet Tanavade, went a step further in an attempt to hurt Goans who were fighting for the protection of their land and continue to do so, even stopping to dismiss a strong people’s movement as a ‘social media’ agitation. This is what he said, “There are many agitations which were constantly up on social media regarding the power (sic), double tracking and coal transportation. All NGOs, political parties that initiated these protests tried to defame the government. The result is a slap on their faces and a certificate of appreciation to the BJP”.
Really, Mr Tanavade. A “slap” on the faces of the people? Really? By whom? Ostensibly by those who voted for your candidates? Has a single voter come out and said this? Especially in Salcete and South Goa? That their vote was against NGOs, political parties that initiated these protests.
Also, the use of the phrase ‘slap’ on your own people, as if NGOs and political parties are not Goans, reflects the unfortunate mind-set which pits sections of the people against the government. Dissent is not opposition. Protests are not acts of defamation. And these are not social media agitations. Almost on a daily basis, across villages, people have met and protested.
Moreover, Mr Tanavade, what is your term for panchayat resolutions, a legitimate barometer of people’s opinion in a village, recognised by the 73rd amendment?
A majority of panchayats have passed resolutions against double tracking and other projects. Let us name only a few along the railway track: 1. Velsao-Pale-Issorcim; 2. Cansaulim-Arossim-Cuelim; 3. Majorda-Utorda-Calata; 4. Seraulim; 5. Aquem-Baixo; 6. Davorlim; 7. Sao Jose de Areal; 8. Chandor; 9. Collem and 10. Sancoale.
Many of these villages voted against the BJP but the BJP won on the strength of its overall lead in other areas. How can this be called a referendum therefore, against the people’s agitation and for the Government’s pushing of these projects against the people’s will?
A panchayat resolution is a direct representation of the people’s will on a burning issue rather than the result of the Zilla Panchayat poll. These cannot be wished away as social media agitations or defamatory behaviour because passing a resolution is a constitutionally mandated activity.
No political party can therefore claim any space or credit in the realm of a people’s movement. Not even the Congress which did precious little when FIRs were filed against innocent Goans for protesting in Chandor on the intervening night of November 1 and 2.
Moreover, the Congress had an opportunity to make a statement by, at the very least, stating that the Liberation Day celebrations will lose its sheen if people’s rights are not protected and voices of the common man are crushed.
Did the people of Goa fight for Liberation, only to be told, in its 60th year, that a Zilla Panchayat election result is a slap on their full-throated people’s agitation?
And then came a shocker. The PWD Minister, Deepak Pauskar, said words to this effect “People coming from ships should not teach others about the environment”. Does he even understand the role of our seafarers to the economy of Goa to mouth such insults?
These comments, and the claiming of a non-existent mandate to push Draconian projects will further increase the gap between people and government, a schism which is only growing. Soon after the results the youth came out as a strong group to further heighten the opposition and highlight the people’s agenda.
There is a lot to be proud of when Goa completes 59 years as a liberated State. But at the same time, given our precarious financial condition, when investments into Goa are low, there is a huge unemployment crisis looming large, and tourism has suffered a body blow, this Rs100 crore spend to celebrate this achievement was not needed. Instead reflection, austerity and conservative spending should have been the order of the day, which would have been a tribute to the wisdom and sagacity of all those who have administered a free Goa well.
Political battles are won and lost. Political parties take potshots at each other in a democracy. But ridiculing people and trivialising their genuine agitations, and claiming legitimacy for actions, based on results of elections not conducted as a referendum on an issue, is a new low.
