We have lost one of India’s greatest sons, a man of space, who will make this world a lot poorer. APJ Abdul Kalam, the people’s president, went beyond the amazing scientist he was, the missile man he was, the dreamer he was who sent India’s dreams soaring and converting them to realities, the man who put India on the ‘wings of fire’. He went on to become perhaps one of the greatest ever Indian’s born on this land.
But as India and the World mourn the loss of indeed one of her greatest sons, can we reflect on the Goa of today and how deeply saddened Dr Kalam would be to see that every value he stood for or imbibed, or hoped to pass on has been eroded from the political class of our state. And let us speak for ourselves, let us speak for this very state because this is where we live, work and vote corrupt governments to come to power.
Let us ask ourselves the pain the great man would have felt in his heart, more than what he may have felt when he got his attack on Monday while delivering a lecture at the IIM at Shillong, if he knew the Goa of today and what it has become. Here are a few examples of today’s Goa
1) 3 Goan MLAs, Benjamin Silva, Glenn Ticlo, Carlos Almeida and one Minister Avertano Furtado spent Rs 84.59 lakhs, to go on a junket to Brazil to watch the world cup initially at the tax payer’s expense. After a massive furore they agreed to cough up the money themselves but even after repeated requests the money (about Rs 12 lakhs each) has not been repaid for a year. They spent Rs 48 lakhs on match tickets alone that included a buffet, a bar, a guaranteed gift and multilingual hostesses. Rs 7.65 lakhs was also spent on sight-seeing. Why has the government not recovered the money yet?
2) A former Goa MLA, from North Goa, has recently bought a car worth Rs 4.5 crores to add to his collection of super luxury cars worth crores. He is of course only one of Goa’s politicians who makes dealers of Audis, BMWs and Mercs laugh their way to the bank. Has any government done any investigation on whether the cost of these cars is commensurate to the incomes declared by politicians, especially MLAs or former MLAs or election contestants who have declared their incomes officially.
3) Goa claims that it has an excellent primary education system. However the reality is that almost half of Goa’s primary schools need repair, multiple classes are held under one roof and schools do not have power, water or even toilet facilities. Dr Kalam kept stressing till his last breath that we do the greatest dis-service to the nation by not looking after our primary education system. Has Goa done anything to do what the great man desired in the field of primary education?
4) Dr Kalam was a man of scientific planning and growth which also involved not changing the intrinsic rural character of our villages but equipping them with modern facilities. Goa has ruined its villages by bringing haphazard urban structures built over fields, thereby the throwing farmers out of the system.
5) Dr Kalam was man who, when he left the Rashtrapati Bhavan, went to a one room flat in the Delhi cantonment. He had no possessions donating all his life’s savings and salary to trust which works towards giving more amenities to rural India. Name one Goan politician who has donated his entire life’s earnings for a cause.
Therefore when tributes started pouring in from Goa’s politicians including Chief Minister Parsekar, all we have to say to every politician in Goa that none of them are worthy of even offering him any tribute because they have never, nor will they ever, follow a single ideal or even a slice of the way of life of India’s beloved son, APJ Abdul Kalam.
