Sattari is the closest Goa has to royalty. It’s a kingdom all right, with the kings crowned by power, and absolute subservience. It is still a place where 2017 could well be 1017 or even earlier. This is where at times, and at some places, the landlords sit in elevated positions in their versions of darbars while subjects sit on the floor. Sattari sits on a time warp, which is ancient, feudal and brooks no interference from the outside.
There also clearly appears to be an unwritten code of understanding that the Rane’s – the rich upper caste landlords may have political differences, but will never attack each other with hate and malice. And beneath the veneer of calm and civility and overt peace, the simmering discontent of those who feel that they are being targeted by the landlords is palpable. The reign of Vishwajit Krishnajirao Rane, now under the BJP, is unending in these villages, though he has never been MLA.
After 2005, when Vishwajit K Rane’s elder brother was killed by a rampaging mob, because the Rane’s operated stone crushers, leading to excessive pollution in the village, one expected mayhem to follow suit. Instead over the year, many in the village, who could have been involved in the violence which killed Prithviraj Rane have either quickly moved out of the scene or have continued to serve in a servile manner.
These Ranes, many narrated, do not retaliate at once. After marinating the revenge script, they quietly put it in into action.
However, even if there was substance in this hypothesis, the Saleli murder case, where the accused have been acquitted, for practical purposes, well and truly buried. But as it happens, in all investigations, including the Sheena Bora murder case, someone closely connected to the accused, decides to be a whistle blower. In this case it happens to be the driver of Vishwajeet K Rane, who was Prithviraj Rane’s brother.
Let is hasten to add, that we are not branding or concluding that the Poriem BJP candidate, Vishwajeet K Rane is absolutely innocent. But nor are we saying he is guilty. But we are surprised that in this land of ours, the investigation into the disappearance of Shanu Gaonkar is, in a literal cold storage.
It is now upto the government to ensure that Valpoi meets Goa, and allows Goa to enter Valpoi. The old order has to change, yielding place to new. The years of silence which fueled the building of a wall between truth and the government has led to the outsourcing of governance to feudal landlords and powerful satraps. Valpoi is the most glaring example of this though it is not alone. People like Babush Monserrate, Pandurang Madkaikar and Babu Kavalekar frame and play by their own rules. This pitchforks them outside the system, a system which is made for them, by them and for them.
The hegemony of regional satraps, including those who do not win elections including the landlord of Valpoi has to be broken, if democracy and the rule of law has to be given a chance.
