Gearing up for 2012?
Despite staging of different parties at election time, ideologies have not differed, says FREDERICK NORONHA NORONHA
Just as surely as dawn follows night, an election comes after five lean years. Politicians suddenly start remembering the people, thinking of their interest, and acting as if they’re really concerned about what matters to the wider populace. As Goa gears up for 2012, we’re seeing our politician go into overdrive. Familiar political faces surface on our already politics-dominated front-pages more than ever before. Like frogs in a wet monsoon, our ‘netas’ adopt bizarre positions and make adept jumps…if only to land with both feet on a comfortable spot, which takes care of their own interests.
Dayanand Narvekar is repositioning himself as part of the Opposition. So is Dr Wilfred de Souza. They’re once again finding their voice, exercising their vocal chords, and running with long neglected issues. They’re not the only ones; every politician, ruling or Opposition, who feels he deserves better, is at the game. Smart men that they are, they know well how to cover up for their silence, how to rake up issues that sound almost credible. Public memory being short, we are quick to forgive, faster to believe.
But rackets over privatisation of state and common resources in Goa, is not restricted to Mapusa’s Asilo hospital alone. This is one of the most serious concerns that have hit us since the ancient regime was edged out and new elite took power here in the 1960s. Surely our politicians should know that; they have themselves been indulging in that too, regardless of party and ideology.
So many of our politicians are suddenly finding their voices, and fitting into Opposition space. Or, are they really doing that? This seems more like an attempt to take over dissent space, and even cash-in on it, for personal needs. Privatisation of a worst kind indeed!
But there is an even more serious issue than that at play here. That is, the failure of the Opposition to play its role, to systematically challenge the logic, the status quo, and to offer the people, a real alternative. This turns acute in Goa, because of certain factors at play here. For one, despite the different “parties” presented to the electorate at election time, there is very little of a difference in ideology, especially among the dominant players.
Parties themselves are run undemocratically, and without accountability of any sort, other than keeping top leaders in good humour. Politicians hop from one party to another with alacrity. For example, the “BJP” ruled Goa for nearly six years, only after depending on a whole team of “Congressmen”, who have subsequently “returned” to the Congress! Is changing ideology in Goa then, just like changing shirts, and is it being done whenever we feel like it?
Secondly, minor variations apart, the politicians who have ruled our state for much of the past five decades, come from very similar social roots. They may want to favour one section, instead of another; they may have somewhat differing levels of efficiency (or is it inefficiency?); and they may opt for a differing corruption-communalism mix, to stay in power. But their vision for Goa is very much the same, one that supports the interests of lobbies and businesses, rather than people and social capital.
More importantly, things have changed in the past decade and half. Some friends make it out as if there is a vast difference between Congress and BJP, a perspective I don’t share. But since 1994, when the logic of Goan politics shifted — to being a two-party race among Delhi-dominated brands — we have had to compete with a new reality.
The BJP plays the role of an effective Opposition only as much as it helps to discredit the Congress, and help it (the BJP) to slide back into the seat of power. Even while in the Opposition, it makes the most of its links to power. The Congress is worse; its leaders are into the business of politics in a way that ensures they gain maximum returns. Little attention is paid to raising issues that matter to the people that make a difference to the Goa of tomorrow. No wonder that the Congress is even willing to buy into communalism and the BJP is not aloof from corruption.
For their part, the small local parties have also failed the citizen. They would like to believe that they can compete in the race to power — which is simply geared against them, right from funding politics downwards. Goa’s small parties are deluding themselves by imagining the role in ruling the state, instead of seeing themselves more realistically as an efficient Oppositional force.
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Take a look at the issues raised, and one will quickly realise the manner in which the Opposition has failed the people. Emotive issues are given importance. Confusion is spread over concerns like mining. Communally tinged issues are blown out of proportion, with help from a section of the media. Issues involving the Muslim minority – whether it is vegetable vendors, scrap yards or ‘illegal shrines’ – are promptly played up.
With the Panjim civic elections coming up soon, the Hobson’s choice that faces the citizen is all the more clear. If one examines the record of the politicians contesting for power, and the godfathers behind them, their duplicity becomes all the more clear. It’s time the citizen realised that the problem is not with individuals per se, but with a system that is not meant to protect the common man’s interests. Unfortunately, even the media has not been able to campaign consistently over issues. Such work needs sustained attention, resources for a deeper study and the skills to properly understand the same.
All this would have not been so bad, if the common man was allowed to play an oppositional role of his (or her) own. But today, even that is prone to being manipulated. Ever since politicians spoke of setting up hundreds of NGOs, Goa has seen the mushrooming of all kinds of organisations. Some, of course, are genuine and reflect the concern of the citizen. But quite a few are turning out to be fronts, to push for certain political interests. This is to discredit rival politicians and thus promote reputations of others. Or, more seriously, even to push for certain vested goals, to promote the needs of dubious lobbies.
Despite all this, people’s power has a way of surfacing. Citizens need to be vigilant of the need to avoid a hijacking of their interests though, at all times. Or else, we could end up with a case like Egypt’s, where the US suddenly talks about the need for democracy, in a nation, whose corrupt military and discredited rulers, they have themselves bankrolled, for decades together.
The growing use of the Right to Information, to dig out crucial information, in Goa too, is a matter of hope. Yet, as Magsaysay award-winner Arvind Kejriwal has pointed out, we have a rotten system for battling corruption. Just digging out information is not good enough if action is not taken to ensure justice. Meanwhile, as scams get unearthed in New Delhi and elsewhere, the Goa links of these scamsters — and their projects here — also need to be unearthed.
Lawyers like Aires Rodrigues have shown a determined persistence to dig out information via the RTI Act. What we are left guessing about, is the basis on which the targets for such queries are chosen. Goa does need a class of campaigners who would look beyond individuals, and work for a wider, systemic change.
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A fresh look at the A/C loo
By Adelmo Fernandes
Much water has been flushed down the new air-conditioned toilet at Goa’s commercial capital, since it was inaugurated by the most powerful politician in the state. A lot of criticism has been passed by many since the inauguration of this state-of-the art toilet. There have been criticisms from left, right, and centre. Surprisingly, the opposition party did not castigate the government for building such an expensive toilet (The toilet is understood to have cost all of rupees twenty lakhs) during the winter session of the assembly. Probably, the opposition party was on the same wavelength as the government, as far as the most talked about toilet is concerned. The toilet has not just become the talk-of-the-town, but talk-of-the-state. Well, we need not look at the toilet with jaundiced eyes. I, for one, feel that there are many plus points to the project. We as citizens, should not raise objections to each and every developmental work of the government, even if it means building one solitary toilet. But then, it is not just another toilet. It’s a luxurious way to answer nature’s call. I heard someone say that the a/c loo is one of the best in the world.
We never had a construction in the state, which could be considered as world class. Now we have one. So what if it is only a toilet? Probably, the best part of the toilet is that it is situated in a garden, amidst all the greenery and the flowery surroundings. People have complained that there is either no toilet, wherever necessary, or the toilets in other parts of the state are in bad shape. There is no reason to complain. We now have a toilet for that experience of a life-time. The best part is that it need not be a once-in-a-lifetime experience. One can come over and over again. As for me, I have not visited the toilet thus far. Well, going from Vasco to Margao just to answer nature’s call, is not my way of starting a new day.
It is understood that the toilet has a music system which probably plays music 24×7. I wonder what music they play there. I am not too sure if music does stimulate bowel movement or the urinary bladder. If it does, it definitely cannot be heavy-metal. This kind of music gives me constipations. Be that as it may, if the commercial city lacked in one thing, it was a site of tourist attraction. Now with the inauguration of the new toilet, this need has been fulfilled. I wonder if this toilet advocates the use of toilet-paper, instead of water. It is understood that all the facilities and amenities at the toilet come with a price-tag. But then, at two rupees for the use of the urinal, and five rupees for the use of the toilet, the price is peanuts. It could be said that our politicians may not show much concern over how the common man fills his stomach, given the rising price of food commodities. But the government definitely has shown concern, as to how the citizens empty their bowels – in royal style. But the big question is, given the fact that we are so used to dirty stinking toilets all over the state, whether easing in such luxurious surroundings, will be any easy task after all.
