10 Jul 2016  |   05:51am IST

Arising to ‘reclaim’ Goa!

A quiet movement is developing in the grassroots of Goa. People who love the land, its people and its heritage are closely getting together to take the future of Goa in their own hands. This is so far apolitical, there is a movement called Goenkarponn which is rising with people from different walks of life. The goal of this new movement is to ultimately claim back Goa for what its worth. Claim back its history, claim back its identity and to ensure that people get into the elections of 2017 not on the basis of any political party but see to that every constituency in Goa manages to at least put up simple honest dedicated people who will work for Goa and Goans. To talk on this, we have on our panel Gandhi Henriques, a well-known social and political figure, former president of the Mormugao council and Professor Prajal Sakhardande who are part of Goa Heritage Action Group SUJAY GUPTA moderates the discussion for Herald and HCN

Herald: Gandhi tell us all about this movement. Gandhi: We have a group called 'Goenkarponn' the revolution. And our definition for Goenkarponn is as follows: Every resident of Goa who accepts our heritage, culture, language and way of life can be called Goenkarponn. This is our basic structure. We have our meetings at the Gonsalves Mansion, residence of Armando Gonsalves. Today, when we look at our state, we see how badly it needs unity in order to save Goa. Our historical disunity is still predominant, immature crab mentality and simultaneous exploitation by politicians – all these have been background. It’s high time to keep our personal differences aside and work for the unity of Goa. Herald: There are different kind of parties and formations which are floating, new organizations are coming in, what is the USP? Do you feel you will be able to convert this into a mass movement and where is the belief factor? Prajal: This movement Goenkarponn is necessary because we have seen over the years that somewhere down the line, our identity is getting diluted and there is a complete attack on it from the present government. From my point of view, the present government is destroying the natural heritage of Goa. I have been in this movement for preservation of heritage and throughout we have strived to preserve Goa's natural, cultural and historical heritage. The Congress which was very corrupt had done the required damage to Goa, so we thought the BJP was the only option. Even I was one of the voters for BJP. But what I found was that even this government is totally destroying the heritage of the state. If you see the Regional Plan, entire Goa has been converted into settlement zones. Major chunks of the land, the hills, the fields everything is converted into settlement zones. Somewhere this has to stop. They have cheated us on special status too. So, from all directions, our Goa is being attacked so we decided to have a non-political movement to hopefully see the change in 2017. Herald: Mr Gandhi, can you identify how different are you from other organizations, parties who are saying the same thing? Gandhi: I’ll give you one example. A spinster, Miss Octavia Noronha, 60, wanted to visit her niece in Australia and hence had applied to for an Indian passport. She provided here birth certificate because she was born in Kenya and surprisingly she was denied a passport. The second time I went with her to convince the passport officer that she wanted to visit Australia for health reasons and that she had certificates issued by the mamlatdar and the panchayat and that she was in Goa for the last 34 years, finally the passport officer mellowed down and told her to make the required payment for the travel document. After two months, we go to the office again and the same officer tells us that we need to approach the Centre. What I’m trying to say is Goenkars are suffering so much that they cannot even get a passport. Herald: What you are basically trying to say is the basic needs, rights of Goans are not fulfilled. What can a movement do that a party cannot? Gandhi: Today, we don’t have the right people in the Assembly to take up Goan or non-Goan issues. In my own area that is in Vasco, people are not getting ration cards. There are people who have to pay to get ration cards. Is this the Goa we all knew? Herald: Prajal obviously you are looking at a movement to be converted into some kind of an electoral way forward. How will you get this movement going, in the sense how will you get more people coming in? Prajal: This movement is founded by Armando Gonsalves who is a social activist for 'Goa for Giving' trust. We decided that we should have a change in the present dispensation, somehow the change has to be there in 2017. We want to see a new revolution which the youth will appreciate so we want to do it for the youth. Our aim is to attack the corrupt practices of the present government. Many youth are with us and we want to see honest, non-corrupt honest individuals as candidates for the Assembly polls. We do not want to see the same faces. Herald: Are you saying that you will essentially want the best person who will serve the people of Goa in every constituency and love his land? Gandhi: As Prajal has clarified we want the right people, dedicated people, intelligent people to represent Goa in the Assembly polls, this is our goal. The fire is already burning among Goans. There is a group who fights for local causes from Carmona, wants to meet Prajal and hopefully on July 13 we would be meeting them. Herald: As per your discussions and interactions with different people, if you could list out the key priorities for Goa at this point of time? Prajal: What we are forming is a conglomeration of social activists. There is a group in Margao, Vasco and Panjim. All these activists are angry with the present government. Key points are: People do not want the casinos in the water which are polluting the Mandovi River. There is another casino which has entered and then there is the indiscriminate felling of coconut trees. People are fed up with corruption. There is corruption in the police department. One even needs to pay for a government job. The youth who come from poor families cannot afford all these. Everywhere right from the bottom to the top there is corruption. All these issues have to be attacked. Herald: Now how do these great thoughts and very practical thoughts translate into action? What is going to be the ground level movement? Prajal: July 15 is Cuncolim Revolt Day and we are having a seminar in the Menezes Braganza hall from 4 pm to 8 pm. I invite everyone. We are going to give a call to Goans to come together under this movement so that we can bring the necessary changes by 2017. We want Goa to survive which is being killed everyday. The “selfish” MLAs, politicians and ministers are inviting real estate lobbies from Delhi and other places so that their pockets are full before the next elections and so that they can feed cadres at the time of elections. What we are going to do is, we are going to identify honest individuals who will be the candidates for the assembly. Herald: The other issue here is there are obviously problems of casinos which is a huge one, as far as Ramponkars are concerned they need to be protected, the coconut farmer needs to be protected. How will you go out and address each of these sections? Gandhi: I will start with one subject, Coconut tree. Prajal is fighting a battle in the high court. He spends lots of time thinking and working on this. We have a good team of lawyers fighting the case. Now this issue is touching the heart of every Goan. My point is very simple, is court the solution or is it the people? Herald: There are Groups of fishermen, civic groups and citizens’ forum. How important will it be to get these groups together who are not political? Prajal: We are already meeting different groups. The politicians are succeeding over and over again because they are paying money to the voters. The voters never ask where they get this money from. The politicians satiate their selfish needs by fooling the people. They are destroyers of our natural heritage. This is what disturbs me. Gandhi: I will extend on this point, Goenkarponn is not anti-Indian in fact we may be more patriotic. In India, we have religion, culture, community, identity all over and our framers who have framed the Constitution have taken care of this but they didn’t take care of Goa because Goa was not a part of India at that time. So, our burning issues need to be discussed and settled in a fair manner. Herald: The younger generation between 15 to 20 years are not influenced by history to such an extent. They are not emotionally attached to Goa like their forefathers. So you understand what the situation is today. But will you make a 15-year-old understand who hasn’t seen the destruction done over the years and those who don’t even know the background of it? Gandhi: 30 years ago I had helped around 5,000 people from Mormugao to Birla to get their ration cards. Today, when I visit the same areas, though everyone is not alive and there are a lot of kids roaming, but the aged ones who are alive, point out at me and tell their kids, "Gandhi saab ne hamara ration card banaya tha." Prajal: In Goenkarponn we have a lot of youth coming for our meetings. They have been showing a lot of interest. Even college students are convinced, they see the destruction around and can understand the situation. Whatever we are doing is finally for them so they need to understand the fact. Herald: We have heard a very interesting half-an-hour talk on a movement that is creating ripples. It is important that people come out on the streets and tell themselves that the future of Goa lies in their own hands.