What happened in Goa over the past 48 hours is the growing realisation that we are being governed by a dangerous new form of governance. Mafiocracy. A state-sponsored, state-backed support of a monopolistic system where the common Goenkar is at the mercy of a failed government. This is a government which is quietly mutating the system to capital cronyism, institutionalised corruption and systemic denial of the common man. Modern Goa’s history should thence be looked at in the backdrop of a history of mafias. Mining Mafia, Real Estate Mafia, Taxi Mafia, Sand Mining Mafia, Drug Mafia and currently, the Fishing Mafia. But first the story thus far.
The fishing mafia that the State is waking up to has probably been the greatest attack on the idea of Goem, Goenkar and Goenkarponn. Look at their modus operandi. A politically well-connected man decides what price you should pay for the fish that your fisherman catches or what is the quality of the fish that we can eat. This man and his syndicate of agents would flood the Goan market with outstation fish catch and bring down the Goan fisherman to submission by dictating their own price. Not only did they kill the Goan fishing industry but have literally terrorised the Goan plate by deciding what Goans would eat. The State is silent. For two days while the opposition kept badgering the coalition government of BJP, MGP and GFP, a smug CM and his Cabinet Ministers who tried to fool Goenkars on the fish issue, sat quietly. The man, rather the men who are close to one of the parts of the coalition have neither been arrested nor have they been held accountable. Instead, the SGPDA continues to gift them the keys to Goa’s huge fishing industry and you, dear Goenkar still is at the mercy of the fishing mafia. And no, CM Parrikar is no authority on healthcare to give the fish a clean chit. If any Goan falls ill or is slowly being poisoned by formalin laced fish, this government is guilty.
They killed everything. They killed our nustem-koddi rice plate. They killed our economy by allowing stripping of our green Goan hills and forests all in the name of mining. The greed went overboard as bullocks made way to tippers and farmers turned mining barons. An artificial bubble that built dreams of Goa as a megapolis where the more you dug, the more you got richer till the bubble burst and the banker came calling in. Goa’s greed sent the economy into a tailspin. Strangely enough, this ruling dispensation which once shut down illegal mining now wants to bring it through the backdoor back thanks to its half a dozen mining affected MLAs. If you thought that it is only at the Centre that banks are being asked to waive off BJP funders bad debts, Goa is no different as the State itself is enabling an illegal mining comeback. And the list grows every day.
Why should Goa care? Simply because we never voted in MLAs that would be backing those who preyed upon and sucked an average Goenkar’s blood. In Vasco they are choking the citizens’ lungs with coal dust, in Pomburpa there are homes precariously tilting to fall into the river thanks to illegal sand mining, in Panjim a Smart City idea is flooding the city. Dear Goenkar, the MLA that you elected runs and is run by a cartel of selfish characters, who are using your electoral mandate to choke your savings and earnings. And they keep tactically quiet even as civil society rises up in outrage.
Shamelessness has reached its nadir in Goa when the CM, who has lost control of his own cabinet colleagues, tries to deviate our attention with knee-jerk course correction. He must remember that past karmas catch up through the ballot. This Goa isn’t keeping quiet. The stench of the fish may go away but the bone of responsibility shall remain stuck in this government’s throat.
