The Congress may not have got many things right yet in this pre-campaign stage of the 2017 elections. But it has surely scored a hit with a dose of bold courage and conviction on the issue of moving casinos out. Here the party has clearly done what no other party has by unequivocally saying not just once but on a couple of occasions, before the GPCC president said that it isn’t enough to get casinos out of the Mandovi but out of the waters of Goa.
It is now upto all the political parties to match that, or at the very least come up with a response. Haven’t you noticed that each one of the mainstream and the new stream political parties have ducked when it comes to a stand on casinos. Why even the AICC general secretary, Digvijay Singh, shocked his own party, when he suddenly said at a press conference that the Congress party was not against casinos, leaving Luizinho Faleiro and many local Congressmen shell shocked.
It is in the light of this that Faleiro’s statement “I don’t know what Digvijay Singh meant, but casinos should be removed from the state”, assumes significance because it reflects the Goa Congress’ decision to not compromise this belief with political compulsions, even if this might means loss of casino related revenue. The price to pay for this conviction will be expensive because a revenue model has to be planned and executed for the state, which depends on manufacturing and jobs and alternate employment and business opportunities. And these challenges will have to be addressed and faced. But it does take courage to dismiss an industry which has been contributing over Rs 200 crores, because it is rightly felt that it is changing Goa into a place it wasn’t ever meant to be, a sentiment which was even echoed by the BJP in opposition.
While the BJP does need to respond to this during the campaign, so does AAP and Goa Forward, parties which plan to fight this race as “alternatives”. The Goa Forward which is looking for an alliance with the Congress should come out with a statement immediately in clear terms and state if it agrees with the Congress president’s stand that casinos should go out of the Mandovi, with no ifs and buts. We need a clear yes or no. Faleiro did say that there should be an opinion n poll on this too.
Meanwhile the AAP, which ostensibly plans to bring in corruption free and clean politics should do three things. A) Say if it agrees with the Congress statement in toto with a Yes or No answer, b) State clearly whether it will take any kind of a party donation, in cheque or cash from the casino lobby directly or through their allied businesses and c) If it does not agree with the Congress view and feels that off shore casinos should indeed be in the Goa waters, it should publish its own white paper on the casino industry and state if their presence in Goa is important and justify the same.
Meanwhile activists and groups fighting against the presence of casinos like AAAG should state publicly and immediately, if it supports the view that casinos should move out of Goa. And will AAAG declare that it will work against any party which does not state that it wants not just off shore but even on shore casinos completely out of Goa? All members of the AAAG, even if some of them are AAP supporters should declare if they will continue to support the AAP even if the party does not clarify its casinos policy to match theirs.
This should be done to prevent hypocrisy and double speak and ensure absolute accountability on the part of not just those who rule the state but those who pontificate on and agitate on major issues, like Aam Admi and AAAG. Now when it is time to bite the bullet, Goa will keenly watch if AAAG politically supports even those who do not share the same causes and convictions, it does.
Clearly, it is time to not just play but open your cards, because the people of Goa are watching.
