The Health Minister tells us, “Where is the question of leadership change? We have our Chief Minister in place.” (Herald asks: Is the Chief Minister in place in AIIMS? And there is no need for a leadership change because Goans voted for a CM to function from the USA, from home, from hospital and now AIIMS?) Then he says, “Right now, it is not the time for leadership change in Goa”. (Herald would spare asking him this because his party itself has been clueless since the past two quarters of the year). And finally, he nails it saying, “Today’s world is technology driven. Files can be cleared on e-mail.”
And this is where Herald asks the Health Minister if machines can clear files, why do we need human beings to run governments? Do we even know that it is the CM clearing files and signing cheques? Or is it that his cabinet colleagues and he would prefer a colleague as an incapacitated masthead whose virtual stamp can be used as a matter of convenience to shield and run this government?
In the past week, we have seen Goa’s polity touch the abyss of character and conduct. The seriously ill CM is being shielded by a Health Minister who needs to learn from the doctors that hiding the CM and his cabinet colleagues’ diseases are injurious to the people’s health. The secretiveness may buy him and the other ministers some time to negotiate a few more clandestine deals but cannot fool the people of Goa.
We know that the CM is not in place and that he and his cabinet colleagues with their constant U-turns are actually going around in circles. Those 26100+ voters of Valpoi sent him only as their MLA not to teach medicine to Goans? And yes, right now is the time for a change of leadership not because BJP doesn’t have a single capable sore thumb sticking out but because Goans deserve a CM.
Interestingly, the TCP Minister, leading the Group of Six who had once said, “Whatever they (BJP) are doing should be permanent and should not be on an ad-hoc basis,” suddenly says, “However, I want to make it clear that GFP has not indulged in blackmailing or making demands. We are a trusted ally of BJP and will continue to remain so.”
Probably the remote controlled, virtually running governance is more amenable to the seasoned Minister too. The signals are very clear. The 10516 people who voted for him in Fatorda for his secular credentials, now don’t find any problem with him aligning with the 9182 Fatordekars who supported the Hindutva BJP. Are Goan voters so naïve?
In all this game of one-upmanship, what has happened? Goa has lost. And so has our trust and faith in democratic institutions. If BJP at the Centre could very suddenly demonetise the currency and put 1.32 billion Indians to inconvenience, a stubborn suspicious natured ailing CM has been running the State not by being amongst the people but via remote control through friends and relatives.
As Goans look helplessly and aghast, it is time to ask some tough questions to your MLAs. If they support or are part of this government ask them who and where is the CM of Goa? Ask them to take a selfie with him and send you a copy. Ask them to share with you his medical reports and make you talk to the doctors treating him. If they can’t, ask them to vacate their chair, Goa still has some leaders of character and morality left amongst its people.
