FRIDAY, APRIL 26, 2024
Then - in the name of democracy - let us use that power - let us all unite. Let us fight for a new world - a decent world that will give men a chance to work - that will give youth a future and old age security- Charlie Chaplin’s last speech in The Great Dictator
Charlie Chaplin’s words in the Great Dictator leap out of scripts and become the script of life in any system where people are first. While the hope every time is that elections will bring forth a people-led and people-controlled system, reality falls short of this.
However, our democratic process does allow for local self-governance in our towns and villages of which the panchayat elections are the foundation of true people’s governance. Goa’s forthcoming panchayat polls this month, with no other major elections ahead, is a very big chance for people-led and people-driven panchayats, which can keep corruption out of the local system of governance and make delivery all important.
As Charlie Chaplin said “If good people come together, we can do anything”.
Now is the chance. Local self-governance is the real essence of democracy. The foundation on which democracy lies. Here, if people honestly want, a people-led, people-chosen system of governance without professional politicians dominating the narrative, it is possible. It is fully possible for people to take in their hands their future, their destinies with the power to take village-level decisions for their future.
This is a chance for the people to understand the power is within them, a power that can protect themselves from being slaves to anyone, be true servants of the common man, and help form a better system of governance.
That is why these grassroots elections, not held on party lines, are more significant than the Assembly and Lok Sabha elections. And the key difference is this.
In Assembly and Parliamentary elections people vote to bring a government to power. In the panchayat elections, you contest and vote to empower yourselves.
Here politicians must simply step back and be with the people. They have a duty towards the people and they can do that by simply letting people take over and elect the best panchas, and sarpanchas and build strong village bodies, which will follow local self-government laws and do not allow any manipulation.
People want panchayats to stand firm not just against illegalities but against allowing their very own to commit illegalities directly. People want panchayat bodies that will not allow hills to be cut, farms to be destroyed fields to be finished, and megaprojects that suck out our groundwater to be passed. We are mature enough to know that we do not want this.
People want good people, as Chaplin said, to come together.
The Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy showed the way when he told his ministers when he was sworn in that they should not put pictures of him in their offices but instead have pictures of their children on their office walls, so that every time they make a decision, they will see their children and decide what’s good for them and their future.
Cut to Goa. The sad sight of panchayat members of Goa becoming millionaires overnight, buying a fleet of ultra-high-end luxury cars in a short span of time, flying first class to exotic foreign destinations, with no visible or tangible source of income, is a story in almost every panchayat of Goa. It’s time to change that.
Good panchayat bodies are protectors against forces disturbing village life and facilitators of progress
We must remind ourselves that
panchayats and their elected members are the first and last protectors of the village and facilitators of progress. The panchayats are the foundation of village planning, coastal planning and regional planning. But above all, they are protectors of our culture and identity.
The need for strong people panchayats has never been greater. At the time when the Mormugao Ports Authority is looking at exerting absolute control over panchayat and other bodies across Goa’s coastline, it is only the wall of the people that can stand in the way and make Parliament hear that this act is anti-people and Parliament must find a way to take back this decision in people’s interest. It is only then that Charlie Chaplin’s words will ring so true. Let us read and feel what he said once more:
Then - in the name of democracy - let us use that power - let us all unite. Let us fight for a new world - a decent world that will give men a chance to work - that will give youth a future and old age a security.
Once again let us remind ourselves of the task at hand. For those who want to stand for the elections in each ward, the only allegiance should be with the people and with one’s honesty.
Going back to Chaplin, he said, “In this world, there is room for everyone. And the good earth is rich and can provide for everyone. The way of life can be free and beautiful, but we have lost the way.”
All Goans should unite to find a way. To bring true democracy to the grassroots, “that will give youth a future and old age a security”.
