Currently the Mhadei river diversion issue is on the boil in Goa. It was quite clear that it would be raised in the Assembly. But the Opposition did not get any opportunity to bring up the matter on the day one of four-day winter session of Goa Legialtative Assembly as there was Governor’s scheduled address to the Assembly. Needless to say, everyone was expected to maintain decorum in the Assembly. At the same time, there was little to no possibility for the opposition to raise the issue. However, the seven opposition MLAs entered the House wearing black clothes, which grabbed the attention of the Government as well as the Governor. They also demanded that the Governor should begin his address only after making the Government’s stance clear on Mhadei. The Governor did not do that and began reading out the speech he had brought instead. This resulted in chaos created by the Opposition, who started shouting slogans like “Amchi Mhadei Amka Zai’ (we want our Mhadei). Of course, they kept interrupting the Governor’s address to the Assembly and the Opposition members were taken out of the House by marshal guards. The Chief Minister accused the Opposition of disrespecting the Governor, which is true. No one should be causing disturbance during the Governor’s address to the Assembly and must behave respectfully. However, the decency is not always maintained as Opposition resorts to different ways for voicing their opinion, including interrupting the Governor’s address. The ruling party of BJP had created similar ruckus when S C Jamir was Governor of the State. In fact, they had wreaked more havoc as compared what the current Opposition did on Monday. They had taken objection to the security provided to Jamir. The BJP MLAs led by late Manohar Parrikar had entered the House with placards which read, ‘Security Jamirak, Nuksan Goenkarank’ (Security to Jamir, loss to Goans), ‘Mr Jamir we Goans can’t afford you anymore’ etc. They had placed these placards right in front of their tables and were interrupting the Governor’s address with their slogans. Of course, they had to go out of the House to do the same as well. BJP was in Opposition that time while Congress was a ruling party and today it is vice-versa. The times may have changed, but the intention remains the same – to put forth their opinion in front of the Governor, although the BJP seems to be having double standards here. They see the recent incident as disrespect shown towards the Governor, but they seem to be forgetting the same done by them when they were in the Opposition. In fact, there were two incidents where the Governors were disrespected. How is it justified when these politicians call one incident as disrespectful while forgetting about another one? The then MLA Mickky Pacheco had requested the Governor to waive off his penalty of imprisonment. The Government too had recommended the same. However the then Governor late Mridula Sinha turned down the request. Agitated, Pacheco stayed seated while all the other members of the Assembly stood up as a sign of respect when the Governor entered the House to deliver her address. He also refused to accept the greetings from the Governor. The BJP followers seem to be conveniently forgetting these incidents. Once the very renowned leaders of BJP such as Manohar Parrikar, Laxmikant Parsekar, Ramesh Tavadkar, Damu Naik, Dayanand Sopte, Anant Shet, Dayanand Mandrekar, Vijay Pai Khot had halted the proceedings of the House. Which means the BJP has walked the same path which Congress has taken to now. How could one forget that that is the very way BJP came to prominence and became a ruling party? Instead of focusing on the disrespectful manner in which the Opposition is trying to raise the issue, the saffron party should instead pay attention to what they are really trying to say. The Governor too should have included the Mhadei issue in his address which the opposition was trying to raise. Of course, since the address is written by the Government, it was clear that the Governor would be reading what he is asked to. He should have suggested that the Government touches upon the Mhadei issue in his address. That much right a Governor definitely has. A government’s address to the Assembly is crucial as the people get to know the direction it has taken for their future governance. The public also gets the gist of what the Government has done and what they plan to do in the future. There was not even a simple mention about the Mhadei river water diversion issue which is going to affect the future of this State. What should people make of this kind of appraoch from its government?
