Tuesday, July 1, saw a surge in
media coverage of would-be Chief Minister (in the recesses of his imaginative mind)
Sudin Dhavalikar. While he is currently in-charge of the PWD, he clearly aims
at undertaking a more moral role; one which he believes puts him in a position
to tell Goa what he thinks ‘the right path’ is and how it is best for all
concerned that it is followed. Below are snippets from his conversation that
chill more than they awe:
l “I appeal to all
women in Goa not to drink. It is not good for health also. We will crack down
against pubs. Women wear short dresses and go to pubs, they go and drink. This
is not good.”
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l “Women
from outside Goa come and visit pubs. Visiting pubs and drinking is against
Goan culture.”
l “I
feel that bikinis should be banned in Goa. If ‘they’ want to go in bikinis,
then ‘they’ should go to private beaches.”
The big
question that needs to be asked is how sexist can one get? Why are the rules
for women so different for men? Does drinking affect women differently than it
does men? Is Goa’s greatest crisis the imposition of attire along the coast? In
saying all that he has said, Dhavalikar has clearly highlighted his vision for
Goa and all but lauded the bigoted plans that Pramod Muthalik outlined for Goa
in the recent past.
Social media
has played an active role in Goa’s nascent protest of Dhavalikar’s words, with
a lot of Goans taking due umbrage to his words. Herald asked people what they
thought and one overwhelming response received on the daily’s Facebook page
from a user named ‘Ferdi Nan’ stated the following: “This is Goa! We Goans
understand and respect each other. It is not about what people wear, it is
about the state of mind. We cannot be questioned about our integrity and values
just because one person or a bunch of people feel that they are different. My
belief is that one should not try to change the sons of the soil.”
In keeping
with Ferdi Nan’s post, Herald scoured Facebook to see what else a rightfully
incensed Goa had to say. Some of the most vocal posters on the topic are
featured in the illustration above.
