For the past week, Goa has been reeling under the indignant insinuation of its longest-serving Chief Minister Pratapsingh Rane. Most of us fascinated with the idea of Goem, Goenkar and Goenkarponn must have attributed it to an isolated incident or incidents (how can we forget Rohan Khaunte and Michael Lobo’s utterances of the past). But it’s time to acknowledge that there exists a deep-seated divide, a deep-rooted dissension running through Goan society which subconsciously has been affecting us. There exists two Goas, and let us stop pretending and address the elephant in the room.
Rane Sr laid bare the feudal divide where the erstwhile ruling families are a different class that finds fault with the successes of the working class. In modern times the royalties of yore, including the Ranes, Nadkarnis and Deshprabhus, were matched with the business houses and the mining families. When you carefully observe the sphere of influence, the pie of Goan economy that these ruling classes corner the rest of the hardworking Goans who work in their business establishments would feel absolutely cheated.
Another of the classic divide is the Bamon/Bhat/Upper Class versus Bahujan Samaj divide. Despite the fact that Goa first appeared on India’s governance map led by Dayanand Bandodkar, a Bhandari as its first Chief Minister, the fact remains that there has always been an undercurrent of us versus them running in Goa. Social engineering has been successfully harnessed over the years to win votes and vote banks and caste-based pockets of influence abound. Strange though it may seem yes, a deep caste divide exists.
Religious divide runs equally deep as branding of thoughts on the basis of religion is not just being nurtured but well fed too. Congress, that has always prided itself on being a secular party, was perceived as a Catholics’ party while BJP made no bones about its Hindu leanings. The divide has been such that while in Congress it was always a thumb rule that if there is a Catholic CM, there should be a Hindu GPCC President and vice versa. As for BJP, their seniormost Catholic MLA Francis D’Souza was always treated as an outcast when it came to having Manohar Parrikar’s successor. Other parties battle with similar predicaments even though they are too small and significant.
The new age divide is Bhitorlo (niz Goan)/Bailo (immigrant) divide that has dangerously altered the geopolitics and demography of Goa. In the beginning, there were large swarms of migrant labour that came to work in MPT and Zuari Industries that created these ghettoes and soon these ghettoes spread. In the new age, there are sophisticated ghettoes called mega projects where the affluent from other States have bought their swanky, beachside dream homes in gated neighbourhoods that are often built on disputed land with questionable permissions. The Goans around don’t approve of it.
The State of Goa versus activists are the next generation of divide that has arrived as a result of a hopeless, romantic few’s efforts to salvage whatever is left of Goa as traditional institutions as the Church or the Panchayats and the Municipalities disappoint people with regards to the world around them as forests get destroyed, coastlines get eroded and pollution abounds in Amchem Goem.
The Coastal Goa versus Mining Goa divide is the politically created new divide that was borne to match the hard-working classes’ successes with greed and get-rich-quick mining bubble. Then there is the Non-Resident Goan versus Resident Goan who could not make it out there, their divide. The list goes on.
So where are we? A tiny little 150 by 100 km landmass divided by so many lines of deep-seated intolerance. The idea of Goa despite its uniform civil code and multicultural persona is still battling with the egos, the intolerance and the misunderstanding deep-seated and rooted in the past. Where we have failed is of sweeping these misgiving under the carpet of comfort and (Oh Yes!) susegad and let it accumulate over the past. Our forefathers wouldn’t have dreamt of a Sanatan Sansthan flourishing on Goa or a Yasin Bhatkal living honourably in Goa. Our grandmothers wouldn’t have dreamt that little girls get snatched, get raped and girls from other States would be trafficked in Goa. Somewhere deep inside, we let Goa be and hence become a nightmare.
Question is do we realise those innumerable lines that crisscross across our hearts. And are we, addressing it on priority?
