‘Illegal’ confusion
For decades, villages in interior Goa have paid the price of mining operations. Despite what the industry says, villagers have felt the pinch from air and water pollution, the loss of groundwater, the death of agriculture fields, and much more. Only in recent years has the campaign against mining pollution picked up. Sections of the media in Goa have been understandably shy to highlight this issue—for reasons of their own. But publications nationwide, both in print and video, have come out with eyewitness reports of the situation.
In Goa, the leader of the Opposition deemed it fit to convert this into an issue of “illegal mining”. It is true that illegal mining is on the rise, as global ore demand grows. It is also true that politicians, led by those who now happen to be in the Congress, have their hand in the illegal mining racket. But ‘illegal mining’ is only a smaller part of a far wider problem. By focusing largely on this aspect, just as the mining industry is itself doing, the Goa Opposition is doing a disfavour to the State.
What is needed is a full-fledged debate on mining in Goa. Has it really benefited the State, as claimed by the mine owners and their associations? What revenues and royalties do mines pay the exchequer? What is the adverse impact felt on the villages where mining is being conducted? Who pays the price, and who benefits? Is mining and its impact studied adequately? Is the sector regulated properly?
In the absence of efforts to hear the villagers’ cry about mining, any attempt to distort the issue and convert it into one of just “illegal mining” is a dereliction of duty by those expected to protect the interests of the citizen.
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Vandals at play
From Chandor comes news of the damage to statues located outside and around the local church. Those responsible for such attacks are indulging in a lethal game. They’re not just damaging structures of stone or concrete, but building suspicion and animosity among people who live for the most in peace, religious tolerance and a high degree of mutual respect for each other’s beliefs.
In past few years, there have been strange, undetected and mysterious attacks on religious places of various faiths. What is amazing is the manner in which the police have been clueless in detecting motives, and also how politicians play games over such unfortunate developments. For the BJP, it’s an opportunity to point to insecurity in a Congress-ruled Digubab’s Goa. Some Congress politicians hint that communal hotheads, ideologically linked more to the Opposition, could be behind this.
Chandor’s response has so far been exemplary, with the priest calling for calm. If the goal of such agent provocateurs is to make people angry and draw a response from them, the apt answer would be not to fall for their bait. Turning the other cheek has been a very Christian response.
In Catholicism anyway, devotees do not worship statues. Statues, paintings and artistic devices are a tool to help recall the person or thing depicted. Likewise, Hinduism is known for its tolerance – though Hindutva would like to change that – and even has space on its altars for gods from other religions. The real damage of acts like this is to Goa’s secular fabric, the amity (or, at least, tolerance) of different segments. Fortunately, politicians have so far largely failed to keep people divided for electoral gain.
Communal games can be cynical, as we saw from the Narkasur blasts in Margao; the probe into this is proceeding too slowly under a supposedly “secular” government. Goa’s Muslim community too has been at the receiving end of communalism in recent years. Everyone has the right to practice their religion; we also have a duty not to get provoked when someone with a dubious agenda desires it.
