It will be close to a week since the director received his first threat call, for having the temerity to do a play on Hindu terror in Goa, but there has been no movement forward in zeroing in on the callers. Now after the release of his tiatr, he has received fresh threat calls. And what has been the Parrikar government’s response? To park police jeeps outside his residence, an ostensible show of protecting the tiatrist, while not arresting or getting close to arresting any of the callers, though all numbers were provided to the police. There has been a deliberate, willful suspension of governance, allowing the Sri Ram Sene plot of threatening and traumatising the director of the play, run its course. This has happened because the police seem to have given those threatening callers, a comfort zone from where repeat threats are possible.
From the context of the Goa government’s relationship with civil society, this is a vital turning point. The threats are not just on Tousif De Navelim, but on the commonest of the common man who loves his tiatr, for many the only source of entertainment, far removed from pubs, and nightclubs. The government has not been on the side of civil society. Nor has the Chief Minister, made a single statement saying that no group would be allowed to disrupt or prevent any art form being displayed and showcased.
Some, including the Chief Minister would argue that the state had provided police protection to the tiatrist and his tiatr, but that does not really pass muster. The threats were issued by elements connected to the same social fabric as the BJP and are married to the ideology of two ministers in the Parrikar cabinet- the MGP brothers Sudin and Deepak. Identifying the callers in a situation like this doesn’t need sleuths from Scotland Yard. And if the intention was to arrest those who have vitiated the sense of calm in Margao, the local head of Sri Ram Sene and his counterpart from Karnataka who is doing a regular Goa-Hubli-Belgaum run, should have been taken into immediate custody, holding them accountable for the threatening calls, since the callers spoke the same language. Instead the lingering silence on the key issue of investigating and arresting those making repeated threat calls, makes it seem that the Ram Sene, the Sanathna Sanstha and the Chief Minister have a cozy boys club in operation.
There has been some clever spin applied to smoke screen the government complicity. The Ram Sene has issued a statement against the Chief Minister for allowing the tiatr to take place by offering it police protection. Let there be no doubt about this. Atankvadi Goean Naka was staged due to people power and not police protection. The government as well those supporting Tousif, who wanted to score a point by holding back the release, had to step back rather than face the anger of Xaxtikars.
Moving forward if the Chief Minister continues to hunt with the hounds while putting up a front of running with the hares, he is running a politically suicidal course. In a matter of just four days, he has managed to unite Salcette against his government. Unlike Tiswadi and Bardez, the emotion and anger quotient here is volatile and people are quick to delve into history and pull out stories of revolt and protests. While Salcete’s triumph in the Opinion Poll is not quite related to Tousif De Navilms tiatr, the perception holds and grows that this taluka has decided for itself vociferously in the past. Violent threats from fundamentalists organisations will only help Xaxtikars unite against the forces that are promoting them. Unfortunately for the Chief Minister, he doesn’t find a place on the same side of the court as Xaxtikars, many of whom voted him to power in 2012.
