SATURDAY, APRIL 20, 2024
Elwyn Decruz
State Elections once more have come around. It’s part of the process of our brief existence on this tiny planet to create a lifetime of peace, love and joy, three words that in fact offer the same meaning. The span of time allotted to us while we are in this earthbound mortal form passes by before we know, and it’s gone! In all of eternity, a hundred years is naught but a sneeze. The most logical thing to do is find the best people to make life the way it wants to be.
How well the next span of life will play out must seriously prompt us to elect citizens from amongst ourselves, natives, who know exactly what this tiny but robust and exuberant Country wants and needs. Nobody else will do.
The sands of time are rolling by, the moment has arrived when Goa must choose between what we want and what we must discard. We have voters who are wise and aware, and we have those who are impulsive and irrational. We have the immense potential and power to elect a progressive, prosperity-oriented parliamentary legislative house, while we are at the same time face-to-face with a serious potential danger of electing candidates that could drag us into a cesspool of greed and corruption and a government of goons who are masters in the art of manipulation and malpractice. Even though we see through their lies and deceit and insincerity, we instead blindly vote for them and raise them up on a pedestal, and then proffer the prefix “Honorable” to their names and allow them to be deemed as “Rulers”. It’s high time we tipped over the entire thrash can and made sure we have disposed of all the misery and stench that the citizens of Goa have had to endure for decades.
Yet there have been exemplary episodes of heroism and valor, proud moments in the short history of this tiny nation, that have provided the enthusiasm to sustain the fire of courage and character that Goa is renowned for.
A nation is the sum total of all its parts. The State of Goa has been blessed with an abundance of natural beauty and a lion’s share of nature’s bounty: the grasslands, the wetlands, the fields, the forestry, the vast variety of trees, the lakes and waterways, the beaches and shores, the flora and fauna and the unique magnificence of the hills, the fertile soil, pristine air quality, fresh water and minerals, all this inexplicable wonder that provides the perfect ingredients for the propagation of all-round health, and wealth for all its inhabitants. And most importantly, the very nature and character of its people. The building blocks of what truly crafted and designed the behavior and lifestyle of the citizenry of a Country they named Goa, a name that almost spells “G O D”! We have it all.
But now we also have eyes from elsewhere, an unwelcome flock of Vultures, (intruders? invaders? infiltrators?), not looking to share but to grab it all. The Red Flags are fluttering aloft, and the signal alerting us to the danger, reads: Sharpen your sabers, conjure up your courage, confront the all-encompassing battle that now looms larger with every passing day.
There is time to evade a defeat. But we cannot expect that February 2022 will deliver a hung legislature, although that seem very likely. But if that turns out to be so, it will offer the crucial opportunity to shore up and reinforce the strategy to provide a better chance of victory. Will this be the first time we experience the phenomena of more Voters with a NOTA?
Call out the Troops, no time to tarry, every law-abiding citizen must go out and sound the call to victory. Only Native Citizens in whom the soil, water and air of Goa have combined to instil the right perception of how this country should run, must take the lead. Lawyers, Journalists, Bureaucrats, upright Politicians and IT other Professionals in the areas that a high-powered functioning Legislature needs to sustain and administer the public services that are the hallmark of good governance.
It goes without saying that only people of noble and impeccable character, unblemished by the temptations of greed and dishonesty, are what the main core of leaders should comprise of. One at the top, assisted by a trusted deputy, and 10 Field Marshalls. Each Field Marshall should be entrusted with 4 Constituencies. That would cover the selection of the 40 Candidates. Each of them will then need to identify and select at least a dozen foot soldiers within the concerned Constituency who will make contact in person with every household in their defined precinct, to take the message direct to the grassroots community with whom they are familiar with and bring home the necessary votes for success. The main target here is to determine and identify a local person, most preferably a woman, to run as a Candidate.
It’s never too late. We have a few days before the final dates are set. Perhaps a “hung” House could provide the break to regroup. But come hell or highwater, this current unacceptable state of affairs must be consigned to the dustbin of history. The rest of the Nation, and the world, are watching with horror and disgust at how candidates from all Parties in Goa are so arrogantly and blatantly flouting every decent basic tenet of legal and Parliamentary code of conduct. How does any human allow himself to disclose and exhibit the lowest grade of such demeaning personal characteristics to his family, his associates and his countrymen? But the unkindest cut of all is that there are people ready to put them up as their “guardians”!
Our foremost duty is to collectively provide the best possible life for all, each one of us is fully responsible for everyone and everything else. Or else, in the words of the great Yogi Berra: “The future ain’t what it used to be”.
(The author is a resident of Goa)
