Union Minister for Road Transport and Highways, Nitin Gadkari, last week unveiled the foundation stones for various projects, prominent among them being three four-lane bridges over various rivers, including the much-needed bridge over the River Galgibaga in Canacona taluka. For want of a bridge residents of Galgibaga, including school children in uniform, had to wade through the waters of the river to reach the other bank. That bridge was imperative. Building bridges, 11 of them, was one of the election promises of this government as was listed in the Bharatiya Janata Party manifesto for the March 2012 Assembly elections. Work on a third bridge over the River Mandovi is already in progress and another bridge is planned over the River Zuari. Bridging the geographical divides in the State will readily get the government a thumbs up from the locals for whom travelling will be easier and less time consuming. The bridges are required and their need felt.
But what about bridging the growing communal gap in the State? There is a need for that too.
In the past few months there have been many instances that have provided reasons for a growing gap between the communities in the State. There have been acts and statements in the country and the State that have broken the trust that for centuries has existed between the communities. There have been attacks on churches, rape of an elderly nun, calls for Ghar Wapsi, the list can go on. Even in our State we have not been spared. The call for Ghar Wapsi also echoed here and then there was the statement that Hindus should not send their children to convent schools. Just where and to what is this all leading to?
Goa has always been a peaceful State with all the communities living together peaceably. There was a time when nobody foresaw the BJP coming to power with a simple majority of its own in this State because of the high composition of people from the minority community. But, then the Goan is so open and liberal that the BJP made it to a victory in the 2012 State Assembly election, surprising the rest of the country.
The BJP came to power in Goa after having worked out some ‘social engineering’ in the State in the run up to the 2012 Assembly elections. The party members had boasted about this after the election result and even said that the Goa method would be replicated in the 2014 Lok Sabha polls. The party had handed over tickets to five candidates belonging to the Catholic community and that was taken as an initiative at bridging the gaps between the communities. All five Catholic candidates of the BJP won, which further bolstered the view that the minority community had accepted the changed BJP. But, what has occurred in recent weeks has led to a widening of the very narrow gap that existed to a gaping-wide chasm, with the minorities getting nothing but lip service from the government to assuage their sentiments and fears. This does not inspire confidence in the alliance government that should have been a lot more responsive to the feelings of the people on this State.
The State government has to now do much more to bridge the gaps between the communities. It could start by laying the foundation stone for this by asking its ministers, MLAs and their family members to refrain from making statements that have the ability to lead to communal discord or could be construed as communal. The statements being made are in effect not gaining the alliance or its partners any sympathy, but only leading to further alienating the communities in the State. This is not healthy and should be stopped forthwith. Only the head of the government can ascertain that statements that hurt the minority communities are stopped.
There is little time to lose and the faster the government acts in building the bridges, the faster it will heal any wounds that have been caused by the recent acts and statements. The time for ‘social engineering’ of the type that builds bridges is now and it should be bridges that will last for centuries, not bridges built in a hurry with electoral purposes in mind. They should be bridges whose foundations are strong enough to withstand any attack of the communal nature.
