Every kingdom thrives or survives on the happiness quotient of its subjects. This is more critical than the wealth index, the per capita income and the GDP put together. But are nations with the best score across these fronts, the happiest or are smaller slices of paradise where people earn less, save less are happy and at peace? A slice of India called Goa, once was that land of Lotus Eaters, till the albatross of development came throttling it.
As the legislators of Goa prepare for yet another assembly session, an exercise they are compelled to go through, the only prayer – much less hope – is that the government will not leave us with another set of assurances and promises, which turn out to be lies.
While the monsoon session will begin, carry on and conclude, will there be anyone called to account for the solemn promises made on the floor of the house and not kept. If the Honourable members of the Assembly can have a right to privileges, shouldn’t the masters of democracy – the people – have the basic privilege of assurances made on the floor of the House, being fulfilled.
While the Deputy Chief Minister and his own Town and Country Planning department are making statements at cross purposes about the fate of the vexed Regional Plan, there are clear sets of promises made by Manohar Parrikar as Chief Minister about de-notifying this Regional Plan of 2021 and sending the same suspended plan to the people to not just suggest but vote on the suggestions. There has been a complete deviation from this path.
Meanwhile a resolution adopted by this very House that Goa should be accorded a Special Status followed by Mr Parrikar’s promise to lead a delegation to the centre to get this demand of Goa passed has become an absolute farce, with every demand for implementing the resolution countered by questions on why Special Status is needed. The sanctity of promises, resolutions and assurances made in the Assembly is getting violated with impunity.
When your newspaper had led a campaign for compensation for those who have lost their land for the Mopa airport, as per the new Land Acquisition Act, assurances were made and that too in the Assembly that compensation amounts would be relooked at. This issue has not been visited even once, as land prices for massive real estate projects are on the rise around the Mopa area.
There is so much to be discussed from across the state. From mining loans that are yet to be written off in all aspects, to doles for truck owners not being distributed, to the economy being in a shambles to all round corruption, to issues of bad roads, removal of casinos to outside Goa to corruption and mis-management in infrastructure bodies to corruption in the police ranks. But while outstanding issues is the baggage of every ruling party and government, the shame and dishonour of ignoring assurances given in the highest temple of democracy in a state – the Assembly – will be a permanent black spot on this government which has specialised in making untruth the leitmotif of governance.
This government seems to thrive on fiction, keeping reality in suspended animation. Truth is either not spoken or controlled making Goa look like one of those bohemian South American countries of old. We leave you with a little passage from Salman Rushdie’s tribute the great Latin American novelist Gabriel Garcia Marquez on his passing away in 2014. This passage of Rushdie’s was quoted in writer S Prasannarajan’s eulogy to Marquez, in Open Magazine called “El Realismo Gabo, Forever”-
‘García Márquez decided that reality in South America had literally ceased to exist: this is the source of his fabulism. The damage to reality was at least as much political as cultural. In Márquez’s experience, truth has been controlled to the point at which it has ceased to be possible to find out what it is. The only truth is that you are being lied to all the time.’
Today’s Goa is no different from El Gabo’s Cuba or Columbia, which is why Goa is not happy, a state of mind which could prove dangerous for the future of this government.
