SATURDAY, APRIL 20, 2024
The BJP president JP Nadda arrived, to take stock of the party in Goa. As a central leader and former minister, he is and will be most welcome in Goa. And that is because Goans are courteous and hospitable to all.
Before we focus on how he was welcomed, one needs to ask if on many sensitive issues concerning Goa and Goans was he properly briefed by the local unit and its leaders? These are issues that are not only critical for Goans and their children, there has been a lot of unrest and hurt around them. Perhaps the BJP national president wasn’t clearly aware of the impact of his words when he said the government will go ahead with the “three Mollem projects”.
Mollem is not just a national park, it is a people’s movement for their children
Now the word Mollem is no longer just a national park or a village in South Goa from where the park gets its name. It is the name for a people’s movement to save Goa for the future, for the children of today. As soon as the word is taken, people react because of what is happening to Mollem, due to the three linear projects and the impact it will have on the environment in Goa for the purpose of transporting coal. Mr J P Nadda, asked about the party’s stand on the three projects which people of Goa want to be scrapped, said the BJP would “go ahead” with these projects.
The three projects are the Panjim to Belgaum national highway expansion, the Tamnar power transmission project and the most controversial one which affects people’s lands and homes in a direct way, the South Western Railway double tracking. The destruction of our forests is one calamity. But what is unseen is far more dangerous. Double the wagons of coal on tracks that will run at high speed, with a lot of spillage, is our future. Handling of such large quantities with no guarantee of safety measures means that the air will be full of coal dust and medical experts have said this exposure will lead to tuberculosis-related fatal cases.
Is the BJP president aware that the heart of the Mollem agitation is in constituencies with BJP MLAs? Will family members of BJP candidates vote for them?
Across Goa’s Southern coastline in Mormugao and Salcete, many of the villages that are the heart of the anti-double tracking agitation in Cortalim and Nuvem are represented by BJP MLAs. At least one of them is openly with the people’s agitation. The other has also in meetings publicly said he’s with the people. If the national head of the party makes a remark which will shatter the hopes and future of the people, will the family members of BJP candidates even vote for the BJP or any candidate the BJP supports? Because adult family members will look at the future of their children, nieces, nephews, friend’s children, and when they see that future threatened by the coal expansion, will they vote for that destruction?
Would Mr J P Nadda have made these remarks if he was briefed correctly and given more information? Also, Goans must know who briefed him?
Mr Nadda said, “One project has been cleared by the Supreme Court committee. And another is on the way”. Goans would also like to know who briefed Mr Nadda that another permission is “on its way”. This is a Supreme Court-appointed panel and no one but the Supreme Court will first know what the panel has recommended.
Perhaps the BJP’s national president was not at all aware that the Central Empowered Committee of the Supreme Court has recommended the cancellation of double-tracking of a railway line from Castle Rock in Karnataka to Kulem in Goa.
About the power project, the Supreme Court empowered committee has recommended utilising the existing transmission lines instead of a new line. Environmental clearances for the four-laning of the NH-4 along Karnataka and Goa has been asked for. Does Mr Nadda know this?
The BJP president would have touched the hearts of Goans if he was taken to meet the people who have lost everything in the floods.
His schedule on the day after landing was a visit to the Mangueshi Temple, a tree plantation event with Sadguru Brahmeshanandacharya Swami at Tapobhumi in Kundaim and a vaccination centre at Don Bosco High School. Could it have not been possible for him to also visit one of the badly flood-affected villages in Bicholim and Valpoi, or any other place in the Ponda taluka close to where he went and met some flood victims who have lost everything? Imagine how Goans’ hearts would have melted if he held the hand of a man who has lost his roof, his kitchen and his farm. He could have surely been advised to adjust his schedule and make place for this along with the other programmes that the party felt was very important for him.
Goans are in mourning. Was the band welcoming him or beating drums of disaster?
Almost every family in Goa has lost or knows someone dear who has lost a family member or close relative. Goans are in mourning. And the floods added to this. Of course, he may not have known, but shouldn’t the State BJP leaders have been a little more sensitive and not brought a team of drummers to the airport. Don’t they have families who can get infected? Without maintaining any social distancing and many senior leaders without masks, it was like a mela.
If that is the case, can a traffic policeman stop anyone driving without a mask and fine him, because “that is the rule”? People will ask “Is the rule only for commoners?”
Since he was a guest, the BJP president must be given the benefit of not knowing many of the issues that Goans are sensitive about. This is why his remarks on Mollem came across as very painfully insensitive. And if someone in his Goa team had asked him to go and meet the flood victims, he would have surely agreed. That would have made Goans feel very close to him.
