FRIDAY, APRIL 26, 2024
The national flag should be flown and respected with pride. But the flag is so much more than a piece of cloth.
For those who salute that flag and watch it flutter on days of national importance, the flag represents hope, peace, prosperity, and faith. In any event and in any situation.
On Independence Day, it represents freedom from all kinds of negative bondage, poverty, hunger, and unemployment being the most important. It completes the image of farms with produce, towns with progress, schools full of children, and colleges churning out a creative and professional force ready to deliver for a welfare state where welfare stands
for people’s welfare and not just the welfare
of the powerful.
At the end of the day, are we ourselves happy with how we have chosen our leadership and what the leadership is delivering to us? Because the custodians representing the values that the National flag embraces are those who are chosen by the people at every level, from the lowest tier of self-governance- the panchayats, to the highest temple of democracy, the Parliament.
But last week in Parliament some replies to questions asked by one MP from Goa Luizinho Faleiro showed us how basic expectations of the people of Goa have been belied.
Three truths emerged from the replies, though they are more truths about the ground realities of Goa.
Firstly, our heritage is vulnerable since illegal and monstrous residential villas owned by the rich and powerful can be constructed in the middle of sensitive heritage zones. And the union government has admitted this illegality has happened.
Secondly, one of Goa’s greatest treasures- more than mining- is our sea catch which gives Goans their staple diet of fish and seafood. For some years now smaller farmers have been struggling to get fish at sea because most of them have been sucked away from the sea by trawlers with LED lights. The figures released by the Fisheries Ministry show a steady decline in the catch. But it is difficult for those in Delhi to understand what this means. This is not just a fall in business; this has a far-reaching impact on both livelihood and life in Goa. We should therefore hang our heads in utter shame, that after so many years of Independence, we are unable to preserve the resources that feed us and help the people who work hard to feed us.
We need Har Ghar opportunity, Har Ghar prosperity
Then comes employment. In the 15-59 age group the unemployment rate is 11.1 % compared to the national
average of 4.6%, effectively almost three times more. Is it any wonder that the maximum number of people have migrated out of Goa to look for jobs and take citizenship in other countries? Unemployment is not a failure of the unemployed. It’s a failure of the system elected by the people. It’s a failure of opportunities. It’s a failure to teach skills, to develop training facilities, to allow youth to be self-sufficient. The youth would love to hear the slogan Har Ghar opportunity (opportunity in every home) because it is not always about jobs but about avenues to make a living with dignity. Every Goan who boards a plane to leave his land and country delivers a report card with “FAIL” stamped, to the people he has elected.
Those who remain back and do get opportunities and employment become stooges of politicians, and this is how bad and transactional politics start i.e. the business of politics. And this is when political fixing happens.
Look at the national truth about unemployment. Of the 22 crore people who applied for jobs under this regime, only 7 lakh have got jobs (mentioned in Parliament). Prices have gone through the roof and the common man is charged even for things like bank checkbooks.
We need Har Ghar prosperity (prosperity in every home)
If the entire crop of a farmer is damaged, if he needs to take a loan along with others in the village to repair bunds (because government compensation has been pending for over a year for last year’s bund damage), can he dream of prosperity? If his plantations are taken over for a “public” project when there is land elsewhere, will the agriculturist get prosperity? Isn’t he public too?
Why do we have Har Ghar difficulty?
When our farms get destroyed and agricultural produce is in short supply, we end up getting our basic fruit and vegetables from neighbouring States. And we are totally at their mercy on pricing. Goans cannot afford fruit, vegetables, and even fish in the way they did before. That makes their lives poorer.
The system is not only the ruling party, but it’s also the opposition too and it has responsibilities
One MP, Faleiro, is fighting for Goa on the floor of the House. But where is the opposition in Goa? They too have the responsibility of ensuring and fighting for Har Ghar opportunity and prosperity.
WHEN POWER WAS KNOCKING AT ITS DOOR, CONGRESS DID NOT OPEN IT
Congress as the opposition gave up power twice when power was knocking at its door. And they did not open it. The reason is clear now. The opposition (read Congress) did not want any opposition at all to the BJP. Girish Chodankar has been at the helm of the Congress during the period when the oldest party surrendered itself to the BJP.
Chodankar has contested every election that comes his way be it for MP, MLA and local bodies. And there are signs that he is attempting to try and make himself relevant in a party that has lost its relevance, addressing press conferences when he is not even an office bearer.
The fall out of this in the context of an ideal Goa, for Goans, is that a weak or nonexistent opposition cannot take the narrative of prosperity, peace, and opportunity to Har Ghar (every home).
And this is due to incompetent or fake leadership. The Congress has had a history of sidelining relevant and tall leaders and propping up incompetent and ‘fake’ ones, meaning those who work for other parties while wearing the team jersey of the Congress. Luizinho’s sidelining was a part of that policy. The issues of unemployment fishing, seafarer’s rights, etc. that he has been raising as an MP would have been raised in the House (Assembly) and heard in every house of Goa.
Similarly, Rahul Gandhi has become an albatross around the neck of Congress’ resurrection and has been a catalyst in its destruction. The recent street protests against corruption and pricing are too little too late. His leadership has benefited the BJP more than the Congress and if there is any hope of the Congress holding the flag of opportunity and prosperity for the country, Rahul Gandhi has to be removed from its leadership. The question is, is he even interested in reviving the Congress because he was he would have listened to responsible media from Goa which told him about the leadership mess in Goa in 2017? He did nothing to correct it, which is why a leader like Luizinho Faleiro left.
With no opposition, the quality of Assembly debates and discussions in Goa has also fallen. Barring the lone Fatorda party’s ‘forward’ move on important issues, the Assembly session would have been a monologue by the ruling party with no challenges and hardly any questions.
Yes, we should surely fly the flag because it is OUR flag and the country is bigger than the people who govern it or are in opposition. But every home needs hope, that in free, independent India, they will have opportunities to lead even better lives in their own land with opportunity, and prosperity will be delivered at their doorsteps.
