9 April 2014

It would be wrong for a man who has thrived on division to become Prime Minister of a country as fissile as India. We do not find the prospect of a government led by Congress under Mr Gandhi an inspiring one. But we have to recommend it to Indians as the less disturbing option…. But for now he should be judged on his record — which is that of a man who is still associated with sectarian hatred. There is nothing modern, honest or fair about that. India deserves better – The Economist, April 5, 2014, on Narendra Modi.

In the bedlam of electoral cacophony, there is one word which dominates the collective and the confused consciousness of India. Communal. While the word as an automatic response conjures images of conflict and strife cutting through the landscape in an orgy of sectarianism, there is a softer, friendlier, non-divisive connotation to the word- shared by all members of the community, for common use.

While we have made the word “communal” into a monster that it is now, represented through figures that now lay claim over this country, it has its roots in friendship and unity, with its origins in the word community, or a congregation of people who share.

As we get ready to make a choice about the kind of India we want, we in Goa need to reach that choice after we first decide on the kind of Goa we want. In 2012, that choice was clear. Corruption had not just torn into the very fabric of our community, it had torn that fabric into invisible shreds. With the stark nakedness of what it had done to our society, we hit back, to cover ourselves with the fabric of good governance, a regime of law and order devoid of corruption. In the run up to the Lok Sabha elections, it was felt and rightly do the vote will be a mid-term fact check, not for the Chief Minister, but for the people on whether they had chosen well. In many parts, especially in Salcete, on many dining tables, those who had voted for the Congress in a lost cause, looked at those who triumphantly moved away and voted the BJP to power, in the eye and asked if they still felt that way.

Let us however realise this. Given the constraints under which Parrikar has worked and the monumental mess that he inherited, even his own promises came back to hit him on the face. It will therefore be unfair to write off Parrikar as Chief Minister and these elections are increasingly becoming less of that as one man, Narendra Modi has singularly positioned himself as a man waiting to grab power with his party being an uncomfortable necessary evil.

As the poll process gets underway, Narendra Modi seems to have broken out of the shackles and the confines of party to pursue an agenda which is his. The mention of the Ram Mandir in the manifesto is not an after thought. It is a reminder the most brutal divisive act of the parivar, which had made even the moderates in the BJP cringe. The brutality of the violent definition of communalism is most felt when an idea is brutalised. When the Babri Masjid fell, the idea of a cohesive India was brutalised. What happened post Godhra in Gujarat when that idea took physical shape and spilled over into rivers of blood.

Can Goa really step back and pretend that this isn’t a part of its universe. It well could but at a great risk that decision of ostrich like aloofness will in the future come back and haunt us. Because divisiveness knows no boundaries, has no barriers.

Goa has always had the pleasure of imbibing goenkarpon, a way of life which has been communal in the way it was meant to be- A shared life of the community, with all for one and one for al. In fact Chief Minister Parrikar on April 8, 2013 in a speech had said that preserving goenkarpon was crucial, stressing on the village way of life as opposed to huge housing projects coming in villages. But goenkarpon is more than that. It’s the feeling of comfort, of being cocooned, of living a life where the goalposts don’t change according to caste or religion. And in a national election, we must ensure that the choices we make preserves not just goenkarpon but its national equivalent.

This is beyond Goa. Every vote that adds to the kitty of a divisive program of a divisive Prime Ministerial aspirant will be an act of a traitor. And every politician who we voted as an act of faith, and who goes against that faith and decides to support a Prime Minister who divides through hate, deserves the strongest condemnation of the people- banishment.

Avertano Furtado, Benjamin Silva, Caitu Silva and Mickky Pacheco and the one above them all, Churchill Alemao. Have any one of you asked your people if your act of gathering votes for a man still associated with sectarian hatred, can be justified? And are they at peace with their conscience when one of them does the unthinkable of attacking priests for guiding people as they have always done. The Chief Minister is allowing this to happen and getting dragged into this by stating that priests speak untruths. This is totally unnecessary and alienates not just Catholics but largely secular Hindus.

Goa has a special role to play because its vote for Parrikar became a test case for the BJP in projecting itself as party for minorities. But here, it’s not just them but every Goan, including countless Hindus who want to see India and Goa, as a cohesive nation, should now rise and send a message that good governance is possible but not unless we are governed by an all inclusive good man. While Parrikar may still lay claims to be that, even he, we are sure now cringes at huge hoardings with his and Modi’s across the national highways.

Because India will never forgive a man who divides India. Because India deserves better.