In historian Jill Lepore’s words, “In kindergarten, you can learn how to be a citizen of the world”. When your society is your kindergarten, what we learn to be and behave – as citizens, is where we Goans stand. So earlier last week when the unfortunate incident involving young footballer Januz Fernandes happened, every conversation on social media, on balcaos, in tintos went speculating about organ trade. So fascinated are we with spices in our cafreals, balchaos and other recipes that we were more in a hurry to pass off the incident as a racket rather than administrative failure. This is the curse of Goa – we prefer someone else to decide our understanding of an event or an issue. We like to be led by the proverbial shepherd. The shepherd is our straight-jacketed schoolteacher or professor who teaches us to accept our texts the way it is written and not read between the lines. The shepherd is our society, our parents, our peers – who acclimatise us to follow leaders, political parties, established practices and we, don’t use our brains. Rather have you noticed yourself blaming the politician, the political party, the system? Isn’t that what we did as kindergarten children? Blame others for our failures?
For over past eight months, Goa has become a joke of democracy. The State seems to be on one long holiday as sick ministers float in and float out, ministers feign confidence that all’s well on camera but fail to address major concerns of governance, MLAs feel shy of bringing the government down as they themselves are not sure about others supporting them – who are these weak and self-centred men that we send back every half a decade? They are the product of our own ignorance, greed, myopia, spinelessness and lack of principles. The society that teaches us to compromise when an event happens, rather than making a deterrent example of it, conditions us to go ahead choose and believe blindly that our elected representative is the only right choice. It’s not a civil marriage but a blind date turned arranged marriage. We are paying that price. And hilariously, even blaming the system for our own failures of in raising our voices and correcting it!
The family of the young and promising footballer from Aldona may have not witnessed his last journey and took a high moral ground to demand better healthcare amenities for the village but here lies the crucial question. How many such cases might have happened earlier where so many Januz’ families may not have been heard by the government? It was a systematic systemic failure. The aftermath required an investigation not only into protocol but also into the morgue facility. But then emotional Goans had their anger doused by an emotional Minister and MLA and the real investigation, not into the event but the system got compromised. We whine only when someone of ours is dying, just like small children do but look elsewhere when someone else gets affected. As a result, our Ministers and MLAs play with our emotions and manipulate our priorities.
So many private messages are circulated every day and posted on social media forums insinuating the elected representatives and ministers. The amount of vitriol that is belched out shows Goa as hypersensitive that takes every issue ultra-seriously. Why then, do we suffer government and governance? It’s because of the fact that every individual in Goa, every neighbourhood, every ward, every constituency does not look beyond itself. So if you thought that the Health Minister did not deliver well in his responsibility as the custodian of the morgue it is because his electorate did not elect a Health Minister but a Valpoi MLA. That is how we elect MLAs in a democracy. The only problem is when we expect our local votes to translate into a pan Goan selection of able and capable leaders. It doesn’t happen. In Goa, what makes a perfectly electable MLA is (a) one who enrolls maximum electorate in all social welfare schemes possible (call it institutionalised bribing!) (b) one who helps get his electorate employed in as many government jobs and personal staff as possible (c) one who dishes out the maximum donations to anything from a coconut breaking competition to building of a temple. Do you then expect a well-read, transparent and no-strings-attached to be your MLA? We vote bad, we get bad so why get mad?
Calangute MLA Michael Lobo makes a very interesting observation. In his recent trip to London, he came across scores of Goans (both Catholics and increasingly Hindus too) who were there for better prospects, better jobs, better futures for their children. Why because their government wasn’t employing them or their children despite the fact that they voted them in? But if you thought some went out because they couldn’t have jobs or decent lives for their kith and kin, that isn’t the whole story. The owner of a Goan media house tells of encounters with Goan entrepreneurs and contractors in London who migrated because they were denied a level playing field back home. Everyone had an MLA or an MLA turned Minister they elected who betrayed them to favour a chosen few as they were just numbers of votes in the great number game. The sad part is despite having elected MLAs over a dozen times since Goa was liberated, Goans still haven’t understood that the MLA is not the charitable institution that dishes out doles as their democratic right nor is their MLA turned Minister a kindergarten school teacher turned judge. Our leaders are the reflection of what we are – a mix of compromises, greed and priorities. Whining that the government is bad is as good as admitting that your choices were pathetic.
The democratic realisation on a personal level and realising democracy on a Goa level is a battle of the self. The choice is between this guy is good to me versus this guy is good for the State. Often the first choice wins. Winnability is a chimaera created by every individual voter who succumbed to the fear or helplessness that their vote didn’t count. Your friendly neighbourhood MLA and his political party strategist just assume it as experience and knowledge. What Goans don’t realise is that if their CM governs their State from a hospital bed it is because they decided that they wanted an Assembly of power seekers and power grabbers – men who looked larger than life in their glitzy campaign and a member of their families in the door-to-door campaign.
The Constitution of India starts with the magical words, “We the People”, Goans included. From the Special Status that we demand to the protection of our environment to job security and law and order in the State to see this land of plenty be sustainable (not an El Dorado for real estate sharks and Ponzi schemesters), it is the Goan who decides what he wants. Then why complain? We created these runaway monsters and we need to break their vote banks and political support systems and only we can do it. The weapon – plain, pure and simple democracy. Are you ready to wield it?
