03 Aug 2021  |   07:20am IST

I love you Goa, We will definitely make you Chief Minister of Goa

We have two headlines for this INSIGHT which are both in Kannada. We can well imagine these are words spoken by a Kannadiga who is residing in Goa for 30 years. The first ‘Nānu gōvāvannu prītisuttēne’ is “I love you Goa”. The second headline is Nāvu khaṇḍitavāgiyū nim’mannu mattom’me gōvāda mukhyamantriyannāgi māḍuttēve means “ We will definitely make you Chief Minister of Goa”
I love you Goa, We will definitely make you Chief Minister of Goa

These joyful words can well be for the tallest Goan leaders of migrants, Mauvin Godinho, Michael Lobo and Digambar Kamat. For these migrants, all future bhumi-putras of Goa the choice for the next Chief Minister of their “bhumi” could be between these three, never mind from which party. If one is CM, the other two could share the Dy CM’s post, since that is a current fashion.

Today only the headlines of INSIGHT that strongly resonate with the Voice of Goa, are in Kannada script. But then if Goa is full of bhumi putras of other states, say Karnataka for instance, we may be forced to revert to the Kannada script, and we are worried some of us may lose our jobs.

Goans make everyone feel at home. All are respected, and will always be respected here when they settle. But then regional identities always belong to the place where they are from.

Herald would like to add that it recognises and welcomes not just Kannadigas but people, from every state to be in Goa as Goans are everywhere.  

We have people here from Karnataka, Maharashtra, Jharkhand, Kerala, Kashmir and so many states. And we respect all identities, cultures and traditions. But these originally belong to the States where they originate from – their own bhumis. Bhumi putras are those whose roots are in the culture and traditions of the lands they are from.

We are sorry, but encroaching on the lands of original Goans and making that land theirs can never be acceptable. First, it is land, then it can be our culture, our script and our language. 

Our headlines today are a message to Goans to open their eyes and see which way this plan has been “scripted” by politicians and executed by the entire Assembly 

Every MLA has supported this because when a bill is passed in the House, it is the voice of all the MLAs of the House. No one protested and said a word when Goa was “sold” through the Bhumiputra bill. It is a cruel blow to our very own daughters and sons of the soil which puts you out from your land and places an encroacher in your property. It is a cruel plan. We used the Kannada script only for representative purposes. It could be the script of any language of any State whose people are dominant settlers here. 

At the same time, this is an election gimmick. Will the migrants too get their land?

The committee formed under this Act to process applications for land regularisation will take six months. By which time elections will be held. Once the votes are in the kitty, is there any guarantee that the migrant encroachers will finally get their ownership documents. So everyone is getting fooled here. Even those from outside who think they will become landowners in Goa and called bhumi-putras. 

1 But has anyone thought why are we in this State? It is because we let “them” decide our fate. Because we do not participate in politics, “they” decide our own future. 

Who are “they”? They are those who rule Goa and they are those who are part of a system that makes rules and regulations that hurt us. And that happens because we are ‘we are not in politics’.

2 Can we afford not to participate in politics?

Our forefathers fought for us. We are enjoying democracy because of them. We have voting rights, we have the courts we have a voice and we have a free press. Even an institution like Herald is able to bring this INSIGHT to you each day reflecting your voices and feelings for Goa because of democracy. And each of these rights that you enjoy will be controlled and decided by “them” if you decide to stay away from the political process.

3 We have activists who fight for Goa. But activism is not politics.  

If political decisions are not made for one self and for one’s future, parties and forces with vested interests will dictate and control your life from what you eat, wear, who you got put with etc. As you already know beef is banned in many parts of the country. Soon they may say that only vegetarian food can be eaten in your State. Or they may give you a beach dress code or a dress code for school or daily wear. 

They will push anti-people projects and pump coal into you leading to sickness and death. AND YOU WILL HAVE NO SAY

When you do not participate in politics, the system that you have not helped create and stayed away from, will decide to force anti-people projects like railway double tracking and highway expansion which will pump coal onto your state leading to sickness and death due to its pollution. They will take away your rivers in the name of nationalisation and you will have no say.

Ultimately it is all about power. If you decide to stay away, the system will exercise its power

This power will be used to silence genuine sons of the soil. Like stage artistes, to natak artistes and comedians. In the history of Goa, we have not faced a situation where defamation suits and FIRs have been filed against tiatrists and popular artistes are harassed. If there is no people power, the power that will take over will control each aspect of your life. Even send you back to school to learn everything about life from their point of view. 

4 Teach people at an early age. Because each family is a political system

It is not their election. It is your election. It is your choice and even that choice has to be created by you. Leaders have to be created in each family and that, in turn, will give rise to a community of good leaders backed by families who in turn will be a poll for each constituency. But for that, each family must become a political system.

Then each family teaches others – their neighbours, friends in schools and college and the word spreads within society that leadership must be created among us and we chose and not chosen by parties. It is your duty to teach your neighbours and their children where to vote. 

You are actually choosing for your own home and making the right choices for your society.

It is also like asking your father what to bring home because when he goes out he sees this: bad roads high parking fees, high fees in schools, high food and petrol prices and most importantly no money after retirement. 

When you decide your own future, your father will not face this when he goes out and will bring home peace, good health and lifelong prosperity. You will then not see a health system where there are shortages. You will not at the time of a pandemic see a false shortage of medicines because they are bought from one private supplier with links with top politicians. You will not have a situation where there is corruption in the purchase of medicines and machines and in the construction of hospital premises.

You will also have a system where when your loved one is in hospital you will not be more worried about the cost of treatment than your loved one’s sickness. 

You will not see a land wherein one part of the State like Canacona, you see generations of people having kidney failures and Dr Venkatesh who like a true medical soldier treated thousands of kidney patients was  taken action against professionally and his clinic’s function was affected after he spoke strongly against what he felt were wrong doings of a minister.

When you are not a party to your own choices other parties will take over and put you at their mercy. Look at flood compensation for instance. The compensation for the previous floods has not arrived and the next flood arrived. Not compensation promises for the previous one will be fulfilled when those who are suffering now will have to wait. But they need the money now when it matters.

What happens when you are not part of the system that you choose?

When that happens you will not have your fields covered with construction debris. You can hold the contractor responsible and get paid for your losses. You don’t need others to help you when you lose everything due to floods.

You will also not have a party High Command that decides everything for you. Who decides on this High Command? Who gives them the right to decide your rights?

You will also not have a situation when you will not have your place of worship destroyed, whichever religion you’re in. When you are in charge, no one will pass the buck when religious places are touched, and if by chance anyone dares to create tension and discord, you will have the power to punish the culprits and rebuild your pace of worship.

You will also see a good education system where merit plays a part and schools and colleges become centres where good degrees are given but more importantly good thoughts too which teaches students and the younger generation how to plan the future of the state and take part politically.

And if good education and degrees with meaning become the necessity and the way the system works 99% of the current lot of MLAs will have no chance. 

We wanted to open your eyes and make you think. Do you think politicians who fool the people, and pass bills for the sake of votes will ever be voted back to power? Should they be voted back to power? You have the answers. All you have to do is not move away from politics and be a part of it. 

You have to be the change you seek.


IDhar UDHAR

Idhar Udhar