DIGNITY OF LABOUR

The great anti-slavery crusader president Abe Lincoln was polishing his shoes, an official saw him and remarked, Mr President polishing your own shoes?  Abe in his quick wit retorted Sir who's do you polish? Though I have enough domestic help I often clean my toilet out of urgency and expediency unmindful that  family members and others might have used it at some time or the other; what is wrong with that, cleaning does not  make me a “bongi” (derogatory word for  a toilet cleaner) and it does not mean that I should fling all my well earned degrees  out of toilet window. Doctors, nurses and Hospital staff sometimes handle worse contaminated stuff; the only  difference is they are considered white collared jobs and paid much higher salary. The brown collared worker is paid much less and the indignity of a stigma attached to his job. 

Abe Lincoln was assassinated by radical extremist John Wilkes Booth for freeing Blacks from slavery and giving them rights to go to the voting booth. It is a well known fact that Mahatma Gandhi used to wash and clean the toilets of his Sabarmati Ashram and also ask his wife and siblings to wash the toilets to show his solidarity with the depressed class called Harijans; eventually he was assassinated by the Godse’s who were radicalised by the RSS ideologues who are even today unrepentant, the fire might have died, but the embers are still glowing and may rekindle with harsh remarks. Politicians when their political fortunes fade away make atrocious controversial statements to hog limelight and show their existence. 

The statement made by our 7-time legislator and ex-Chief Minister, who is usually courteous and diplomatic defies all rationale, insensitive and least to say obnoxious. It reflects on himself and the present governance for their fracas and in aptitude to provide meaningful employment to Goans and deflect from the mining issue. Sometime ago another ex-Chief Minister said that Goans excel only as cooks and butlers. Politicians usually extricate themselves from embarrassing statements by making U-turns and saying that they have been misquoted by the press, but no apology seems to be forthcoming from our ex-Chief Minister. 

It is an insult to the intelligence and ability of our fellow Goans. The crux of the matter appears to be the rancour against the average job seeker, the fact that they travel on  Portuguese passport and the Portuguese government gives more privileges to its ex- citizens than India, who treats shabbily its own citizens, expatriates, PIOs and OCIs; they only acknowledge them when they attain importance and are awarded in foreign countries.