SUNDAY, MAY 12, 2024
In Goa’s social and political climate change, cheating and abusing the people appears to have now become the accepted norm in politics. Recently, popular columnist and novelist Shobaa De’s column titled ‘Where is the old Goa gone?’ had gone viral in Goan groups across social media platforms. Her comments on the changing demography, for the worse of course, may be nothing new to Goans, except that they (Goans) are yet to realise and admit the gravity of the crisis and stop the blame game and own responsibility for their political blunders. Perhaps, to see the realistic picture and recognise the casual effect of an inflated Goan ego and false pride which covers up and compounds the present mess, Goans may need to wear the lenses of an outsider and step away from the emotional crowd to get an objective view from the periphery.
The typical Goan traits of beating around the bush and shooting from someone else’s shoulder contributes to a fertile breeding ground for deviant politics. The Konkani proverb, khorzota eke kodden punn khorpita anink khoim could well apply to the confused and chaotic reaction of the Goan people to their current socio-political crisis. The tendency of Goans to go by hearsay and run blindly with the crowd becomes even more self-destructive in this digital age, as aggressive digital branding and marketing tricks employed by the politician-activist nexus can make fake or diversionary issues go viral and trending before truth and reason catch up. Goans fail to recognise that the opposition to governance policies and plans in Goa is hinged around which business lobby’s interests are threatened or to be promoted by taking cover of a people’s struggle to Save Goa. The ‘boroch foddlo’ and ‘boroch kartolo’ mentality of Goans is no conducive climate for good sense to prevail.
Goa’s politics of compulsion, opportunism, corruption and communalism is racing on a double track, but the Goan mentality has remained stuck on a single track. Goans have no clue that the “Hindu khatre mein hai’’ politics in the rest of India infiltrates as “Goa khatre mein hai’’ when it reaches Goa. The ‘Goa suraksha’ contaminated with ‘Hindu suraksha’ along with its masked ‘Progressive Goa’ and ‘Goa bachao’ affiliates is no different from the BJP government’s ‘mixopathy’ approach in medicine. The political undoing of Goans has been their short lived memory, assessing persons or groups and situations by face value and falling for promises in good faith. As a result, what we ultimately have is only a fleeting ruckus created around destructive plans and projects, with every section trying to outdo the other, but ultimately the rotten political system triumphs and Goans are left going round in circles.
The fact that it took over 25 years to remedy a basic violation of the Constitution when it came to local body elections in Goa exhibits the misplaced priorities. The issue about Government officials manipulating the delimitation and reservation of wards and preparation of voter’s lists for local body elections to favour the political party in power has been surfacing during every local body election since 2002. While the recent SC verdict may have settled the controversy that a government official cannot double up as the State Election Commissioner, what is striking is that there is no debate on whether the delimitation and reservation of wards and preparation of voters’ lists is also a part of the election process to be handled exclusively by the SEC, or not? While the implementation of a constitutionally mandated District Planning process under Article 243ZD of the Constitution continues to be brushed under the carpet, Goans dance with the arbitrary Village planning exercises introduced by the government agencies to entertain the Gram Sabha without the requisite laws in place. The Gram Sabhas ignore the serious failure of the State government to fulfill another mandatory constitutional provision of appointing a State Finance Commission every five years. So also, archaic laws like the Town and Country Planning Act and its out-dated Regional Planning process continue to be kept alive, thanks to a ‘Goa Bachao’ scheming. The same hide and seek goes on when it comes to the CRZ laws and the CZMP. Drumming up hysteria around the fall-outs arising from defective laws instead of treating the actual source of the problems ensures business as usual for the politician-industrialist-activist nexus. How long will it take before Goans realise that Article 243-N of the Constitution, which mandates for all laws applicable to Panchayats to be made consistent with Part IX of the Constitution, is yet to be adhered to by governments in letter and spirit?
We may have heard it commonly said that, “when two Goans meet there are always three opinions.” This disagreement and competition among Goans is manifested in the failure to forge one single Goan people’s front to understand and tackle Goa’s problems. The illusion of ekvott by a bunch of disparate civil society groups is more about political connivance, compulsion and opportunism rather than conviction. The superficiality and hypocrisy in the cacophony from protests over the fearless plunder of Goa in broad daylight gets exposed no sooner the thoughts, words and actions of the Goan people are put to the test for realism, consistency, congruence and convergence. The persistence with a ‘might is right’ attitude by taximen and hypocrisy around sex wellness gives an impression that Goans have pressed the self-destruction button, instead of adopting a realistic, professional, innovative and collective approach to problems. The Goem, Goykar, Goykarponn of political convenience only shows up when elections are round the corner. It takes a U-turn into fott, fotting and fottingponn no sooner the last vote is counted.
(The author is a Social Activist and has worked in creating awareness on the issue of local self-governance)
