then it is clear that the AAP has gone straight for the jugular of vote bank politics as opposed to the politics of Goan’s interests and identity preservation.
So how different is it from the Congress or the BJP which has always seen the slums as captive vote banks. Congress veteran, and now a turncoat saffron-ite Mauvin Godinho and the late Matanhy Saldanha had focussed their entire politics around the slums of Zuarinagar, which has mushroomed mainly on the land of the communidade of Sancoale.
Over the years, these slum dwellers have not just managed power, water facilities, ration cards but have even set up shops and business establishments in the slum areas. While not on the same scale as Zuarinagar, the same story has unfolded in Cambrabhat and Chimbel. Stories of criminality and fight for turf have emanated regularly from these areas.
What the Delhi Health Minister chose to do, over the weekend is significant and suspicious. He, as a part of strategy decided to discuss health related issues in the slums, while the more acute issues concerning Goa’s health services were nowhere on his radar. Primary health care is crumbling, basic infrastructure in the PHC’s in the villages is lacking, most patients are sent to the GMC increasing the load on the hospital to unmanageable levels, the emergency ambulance service needs augmentation and revamping, the procurement and supply of medicines at GMC needs to be studied and probed, the state of the GMC, the quality of all its machines and cleanliness needs a serious look. But did the Delhi Chief Minister address any of these concerns, if he had to come to Goa.
The current BJP government has already paved the way for the regularisation of slums through its illegal structures regularisation bill. The AAP now wants a slum policy to protect and preserve our slum dwellers. While on humanitarian grounds, Goa cannot throw its slum dwellers out, but we don’t see the Aam Admi Party show as much interest to take initiatives to protect Goa’s original Aam Admis. Have Arvind Kejriwal, Manish Sisodia or Satyendra Jain said a single word on pushing for Special Status for Goa, or preserving Goa’s age old community land or cancelling controversial eco tourism projects which affect Goa’s ecology or environment?
The priority given to slums is a clever political move. In Zuarinagar for instance, there are 12,000 votes, which is a massive number. Getting the votes of Camrabhat and the Chimbel slum dwellers is half the battle won in those constituencies. Goan leaders like Digambar Kamat and even Francis D’Souza, have based their careers around slum support. AAP has tried and succeeded by focussing on these segments in Delhi. Hence they are looking at the same voting block in Goa.
For a party with a difference, AAP should have taken on more pan Goa centric issues which affect the common man and not selectively target vote banks to win the game of numbers. If it is doing so, it is just another party, in the poll race to win it. Best of luck to them, but then it can no longer call itself, the true protector of Goan interests.
This is surely clever politics but is it good for Goa. This is something the AAP may think it does not need to answer, but this is something Goans need to ask, especially the Goan cheerleaders of AAP.
