No soft landing
It’s a measure of the Goan’s participation in his/her democracy that every project, especially every major one, gets discussed threadbare before it gets off the ground. Public sentiment has won in some instances, in others it has been mowed over. In still others, politicians have been able to work their craft and fog up the road, to leave the public meandering in the mist.
With its long experience and history of an active participatory democracy, it was only to be expected that the hugely successful meeting of Goans for Dabolim Only would spawn a minute analysis of its motives, direction, leadership, aim and all the finer nuances of the political potboiler that the Mopa v/s Dabolim, or Mopa v/s Goa, or the Mopa-Dabolim debate has come to represent.
The presence of two MLAs supporting the government and two ministers at the Lohia Maidan meeting Thursday only adds to the political currents swirling in the foreground of the 2014 Lok Sabha election. Their presence is naturally fodder for their detractors in the Opposition. Are they for Mopa and Dabolim, or for Dabolim Only, is the obvious question. Of course a politician like independent legislator Vijai Sardessai could hardly be expected not to raise the question that he did at a press conference ~ How serious were Alina Saldanha and Avertano Furtado about the Dabolim Only cause? Were they willing to resign from the cabinet over their opposition to Mopa or was it just convenience, doublespeak and the hackneyed political ploy of keeping all sides happy?
With the spotlight naturally being put on them by the opposition, the statements of the BJP that their ministers had “informed” the party and chief minister of their presence at the meeting, and that there was “nothing wrong” in the ministers attending a meeting that opposed a government project can hardly help matters. Stirring up the waters further, Sardessai pointed out that the meeting set no deadline for the government to
scrap the project. Queried about this, convener Fr Eremito Rebello said the movement would take a step at a time, and refuted comments that the meeting spared the present BJP government for fast-tracking the project while reserving considerable ire for the Congress.
Given that both the BJP and Congress have batted for Mopa, much will depend on the subtle position taken by a movement such as this in determining any electoral outcome for the South Goa seat that the BJP now is sniffing to consolidate its entry into the once Congress bastion of Salcete.
But is there another political calculation behind the drive for Mopa is the new question being asked. This has stemmed from a comment made by Pernem Municipal Council Chairman Vasudev Deshprabhu on a recent television debate. Arguing strongly for the airport in Pernem taluka, Deshprabhu suggested that the opposition to Mopa may stem from worries that the BJP would carve out a further three assembly segments from
the region with the estimated 80,000 new settlers expected to follow post-Mopa. It may be superfluous to state that this comment can only be expected to further spur on opposition in south Goa to Mopa, besides the worry of it spawning a fresh impetus to in-migration ~ a subject Goans are particularly sensitive about.
How the movement against Mopa progresses and how the government reacts to the growing groundswell of opinion will no doubt be closely watched, given that Mopa has moved to centre stage in the Goan political discourse.
