BJP’s overwhelming veneer of pretence
Faced with a crumbling façade, can Party’s image in Goa be preserved for continuity asks CAETANO DE ABREU
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A party with a difference to make India shine, was the slogan semi-conceptualised by the party top brass in the run of general elections 2004, which came to a disastrous halt with Congress coming out of hiatus and romping back to power. The people’s verdict once again came to help Congress in 2009 to retain power, with the BJP, RJD, LJP and the Left Front, who were like the spokes in the rotten wheels of progressive India, biting the dust. The BJP did put up a brave front in Karnataka state while poaching into the enemy’s realm and assuming the full governance of the state, which is gradually back-firing on them as various cases of rampant corruption, ill-governance, nepotism, are lodged against that eclectic party. Take for instance, the case of rebel MLAs who wanted to dethrone B S Yediyurappa, but the hopes ran aground with the speaker of the house disqualifying the rebels, which included independents. But the Sword of Damocles is hovering over their head with swamping penal cases lodged against them from which they are trying to wriggle out of, hopelessly.
The BJP may have thought that good governance, as exhibited by Narendra Modi, the Chief of Minister of Gujarat or for that matter Raman Singh, the Chief Minister of Chhattisgarh, will make their flag soar unchallenged into that thin air. However, virtual reality bites, and it bites badly, as can be seen from the bye-polls held in Goa for Valpoi constituency which took place in October 2010 and in the Goa’s municipal elections, held on 31 October 2010 when the party with a difference was nearly routed.
BJP for that matter is a party where egos rule the roost which is evidently manifested by Pratap Singh Rane, the speaker of Goa assembly, when he pointed out that although Parrikar is very intelligent, he should give others a chance to speak, which in my opinion can never be the case. Parrikar is overlord by himself, and nothing can deter his train of thoughts. Parrikar is all rhetoric but no substance, which goes with the emptiness of BJP’s overall action plan. They want the Government to resign for each and every thing and over any trivial matter. They never even attempting to investigate or at least find out from the grapevine the root motive of their angst and what could benefit the party from the malaise which is engulfing the Aam Aadmi.
I definitely know that Congress, wherever they may rule, is corruptible to the core. Nonetheless, the minorities are rallying behind them as they prefer the known devil to the unknown one, which cannot be the case with the BJP as they made Hindutva their national plank and are living staunchly under that dogma, with the minorities being at the receiving end. However, as of late, the BJP is wooing the minorities with blatant canards, which in my opinion; they cannot infiltrate that perpetuated stoicism where people have learnt their bitter lesson gone horribly wrong from the BJP’s ill-practicing governance. It also spoke volumes over their return to power if ever they bid again. Some say that BJP when in power, the governance was incorruptible which I counteract in asking the same people what the BJP did right, when everything was wrong?
It can be said that in 1991, the BJP in Goa came to power with the squabbling within the Congress cadres who felt that everybody was fit to be a Chief Minister,without even considering the plight of ‘Aam Aadmi’, and it is now confirmed that they all wanted a share in the pie. Thus, they joined the BJP in formulating the Government for their own convenience which made our Goan politician Nirmala Sawant comment: “It is the Government for the BJP and not for the people of Goa”. Never mind that there are late repenters to bring forth a straight equation in which the records are being set straight, although in various degrees of variations, transparency and good governance is becoming the butt of a sorry joke. In contemporary sense, the BJP with all of its ‘shenanigans’ and chicanery, are feeling the heat locally and nationally as is being known that the party without any identity or conviction with its set Hindutva agenda, contradicts any Governmental policy. This makes me comment that they desperately trying to convert those issues into their own politics of convenience.
At the outset, in Goa, Parrikar devised a conventional wisdom to rule the state sans any controversy by keeping at bay its own elected representatives which endeared the populace tremendously. Goans, who were used to earlier autocracy whistled along but people still extol his abilities in governing the gullible. However, with the veil suddenly snatched, the BJP is finding itself in troubled waters and if I am to believe, only the media can save its scalded skin with the presspersons in wanting the sensational news are playing for the galleries at the behest of Editors. These outstation individuals applaud Parikkar’s virtues which bodes no certainty on Goa’s political horizon about the fate of that dying race. The joke that I have encountered is about BJP’s fanfaronade that they are penniless while the UPA is flush with money. My moot question remains: How can people vote for some unknown individuals .when there is no money at stake, or should they go for the uprighteous one when they know that venality will soon be overpowering and that they will left in the lurch with promises unfulfilled?
The BJP power is waning, at least in Goa, which was amply displayed in the recent elections with BJP facing an ignominy of rout in the Valpoi constituency. Vishwajeet Rane emerged a comfortable winner while his opponent Santosh Haldankar unceremoniously bit the dust. The municipalities of Goa with eight Congress supported candidates emerged as clear winners while three are still contemplating over their own dilemma of things to come. This is a foregone conclusion that somebody will rule their municipalities with the BJP known as poaching identities and greed for that elusive power, while the NCP will remain gasping for the much needed breath. The BJP can still make an emergence to bring about its own salvation, but it all depends upon its leaders to come up with a solution of appeasement to win over the electorate. First of all, they must display their fortitude, clear knowledge over the plight of Aam Aadmi, their love for the motherland so that it is not taken over by some rank outsiders, and shun their religious proclivities. This will bring out the evil within them. Can they do it or are they hoping for some miracle of sorts to regain lost power, which in my opinion, is like paradise lost and never regained?
The BJP’s facade is crumbling. What is the way out to preserve it for continuity?
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Graveyard Humour
By Anthony Simoes
Each morning I wake-up to the call of a Koel at 5:30am. These days, though, it is still dark as I shut my eyes and try to sleep. But soon the first light on my window reminds me that my Creator wants me to see another sunrise. I say a small prayer of thanksgiving and get on with a few exercises I must do before getting out of bed. Doctor’s orders.
When I got out of bed on Monday 4 October, for some unfathomable reason I remembered 4 October 1957. That was the day the Soviet Union put Sputnik 1 into orbit around the Earth. The Americans were rattled, just like on 9/11. On both occasions, the Yanks realised the futility of dialling 911. They were caught with their defensive pants down. Pearl Harbour all over again, but this time on the mainland.
It was now time to do my exercises, standing up, for my frozen shoulder. Then, like any good Indian, I attended to my ablutions. We are like that only. I silently thanked God that I did not belong to that group of 665 million Indians who have to perform their ablutions in the open because they have no access to a toilet.
The thought of 665 million Indians defecating in the open… A Sulabh Souchalaya toilet can be built for Rs10,000. For a crore of rupees, we can build 1,000 Sulabh toilets. We spent Rs70,000 crore on the Commonwealth Games (CWG). If we had spent it instead on building toilets, we could have built 70 million toilets. Presto! Indians defecating in the open would be history. And not just a footnote; it would be a watershed for the oldest civilisation man has known.
Prajal Sakardhande please take note. We have missed the gravy train. Never mind, we still have the Konkan Railway happily milking the public exchequer for Rs1 crore per day. The Bofors gun can only shoot and scoot. The Konkan Railway can loot, toot and scoot!
Sir Vidiadhar Surajprasad Naipaul once said that in India if you see a man defecating in the open, the shame is yours. The man knows instinctively that it is your indifference that has put him in his present predicament. Shame, like beauty, is in the eye of the beholder. Naipaul then went on to say that India will always be a filthy country; because in India, those who ‘clean’ are called ‘un-clean’.
But I digress.
By the time I had my morning tea, the newspapers arrived and my thoughts were jolted to the present in time and closer to home in space. Prominently on the front page was a red outline drawing of an apple with a green stalk and leaf. On top it said: “Resist this…” Below it said: “Turn to page 5.” Guess what I did. I opened the newspaper to page 5. Surprise!
Page 5 had a full-page advertisement; a much larger red outline apple with a big green leaf and stalk. Below the apple it said: “Goa’s first ever mall comes to life across 82,000 sq ft.” Above the apple, “succumb to temptation” was the message. Staring out of the corner of the apple was one Col Saunders. He is the weakest link in the US Armed Forces – he is always chicken. But before anyone else, the US Income Tax got him for running a fowl business.
The Fried Chicken, it said, was “finger-lickin’ good”. Others go further overboard and say “it’s to die for”. For the benefit of these people, the mall is strategically located alongside the ‘Living Room’. No need “to die for” it. Just look across. You have reason to go on living.
The manager of this mall tells me that they have a symbiotic relationship with the ‘Living Room’. It protects people who develop suicidal tendencies after eating chicken that’s “to die for”. The ‘Living Room’ is also going to diversify into coffin manufacture, for those who don’t make it after so much MSG-loaded chicken. That way, clients who cannot think outside the box can stop thinking, and lie down inside the box.
For some strange reason, the words ‘graveyard’ and ‘humour’ come to mind.
