CJSP decries splitting of votes
In her clearest electoral guidelines ever, the Church through its social wing Council for Social Justice and Peace (CJSP) advises a dispensation which is stable and secular. People are advised not to allow their votes to be split as the advantage would go to communal and fascist forces.
Voters are told to share responsibility for the electoral process and vote sensibly rather than regret later; not to elect people to merely serve their individual interests. Defections are a problem which only the electorate can control. Devices like affidavits are unenforceable in law.
One should not forget that there have been sudden fierce multiple attacks on minorities and their institutions during the Christmas season. Some persons have acquired a diabolic hold over voters in certain places. Offering of fancy schemes when our State itself is in debt, is to be condemned, as are publicised blessings by candidates and offers of free pilgrimage.
Appealing to people to take money but to vote for one is blatantly improper and illegal as is the idea of allotting posts after elections on the basis of castes and communities. Goa has a number of local issues like preservation of the environment and the Goan way of life and livelihood. The CJSP advises voters not to be carried away by political adventurism and political experiment as well as deceptive propaganda. So be responsible and vote wisely.
Rui Ferreira, Panjim
Happy to be back home
May I add my voice to Arwin Mesquita’s advice, as someone who lived abroad for many years, to the large number of Goans emigrating (Goans and financial freedom paradox, Herald, Jan 17, 2022).
In 1990, I was obliged to leave my birth place Bombay, armed with only a tourist visa and the then USD 500 quota that daddy scraped the barrel to help me buy, in search of an opportunity overseas, to enable repayment of my then employer’s housing loan.
I was always nostalgic, though, about my ancestral Goa and parents’ birthplace where we unfortunately had no property. A decade later I wired the money my parents wanted, to buy a humble 1BR in Goa. In 2017, on my annual visit home, I helped mummy move from Bombay to our Goa abode, as daddy had by then left for his heavenly abode.
While I was happy to be in the country where I lived and worked and with time spent in the company of my new friends there, I had no desire to make my stay there permanent. At some point, I kept thinking about retiring to Portugal on the Golden Visa, but the thought of returning to sweet home kept haunting and beckoning me to return – Goa’s swaying palms, the gentle sea breeze, the beaches, the golden sunshine, the open spaces, the relaxed pace, the easy going trusting humble devout Goan folks, the cantaram, the tiatr, the typical Goan poie and cannon, dodol bol and doce.
I am back now in Goa, to stay. I have no regrets over having passed up the right to stay back in a land of plenty. This beautiful place is home for me, as it matches my temperament.
Some parents decide to cut the umbilical ties physically and return to Goa, as it’s easy in this day and age to stay in touch remotely, while others choose to stay there. It’s a decision, as Arwin rightly said; a choice for each of us to make. I made mine and am happy to be in Goa.
Anita Pinto, Taleigao
Vote wisely on Feb 14
Poll dates are announced and Goa has entered a crucial stage of decision making. Within weeks each individual shall receive an equal opportunity to vote. This would decide our fate for the next five years. Politicians are changing parties, campaigning, circulating manifestos and trying their level best to convince the masses to vote in their favour.
While all this is going on we the concerned citizens should not forget to make a wise decision on the performance of various parties in the last few decades. Each one has to act responsibly and take Goa’s present scenario into consideration. If one is content with what Goa is heading to then one should definitely vote for the concerned party and if not please consider a change in party that would work for Goa’s betterment. Let us not make politics a profession and business for the one’s in power. Also we need to eradicate this family raj in politics.
Especially the youth who are going to be the future of Goa need to research a little and vote wisely.
Lisa Fernandes, Quepem
Poisonous caste cauldron in elections
As various parties announce their candidates for the politically hefty State of UP, it is clear that caste is the overriding factor and any outfit desirous of forming the government shall be ignoring this fact at its own peril. The underlying principle of social engineering implies that the caste one was born into determines one’s ability to win votes of different communities is totally normalised in Indian politics today.
The poisonous caste cauldron is stirred to frothing by all parties in the fond hope of winning the popular mandate. Healthcare, economy, education, inflation, unemployment, rising prices do not invite even fleeting attention from the State legislature. This is a vicious cycle where a neta wins at the hustings and then in his/her self interest deepens or reinforces schisms with much greater granularity than even religious polarisation.
Rekha Sarin, Benaulim
Choose persons who care for our welfare
Politics in India has become the most lucrative business, with the fastest gains in fortune. The politics of Goa is not new to turncoats. 60% of Goa’s 40 MLAs have switched parties during the current five-year term. Political parties opt for winnability over credibility, it’s the voters choice to decide if they want the cash doles or future development.
Election time will always be a harvesting time for politicians to grab money and power by jumping from one party to the other. Recently seen politicians jumping parties not for the love of Goa but, for themselves and their families. The unscrupulous politicians whom election is a business to buy your vote. The cash given by politicians is from the money looted from common man. But once vote is received, they show their true colour. The system is held tightly and manipulated for five years by deal making politicians. And for selfish interests neither for development, progress nor for the good for the society.
A politician who works for the public day and night and who leaves no stone unturned to keep it sailing on the tide of progress needs our unbridled support, admiration and acknowledgement. Citizens want a government that cares for the people’s welfare and not the one that cares its own agenda.
K G Vilop, Chorao
Check notorious massage parlours
Two years ago there was a crackdown on massage parlours since many of these were found to be sex parlours. It is now reported that besides legal massage parlours, over 40 illegal massage parlours and dance bars are operating in the coastal belt of north Goa which have now been temporarily shut down by the police. Not only are these massage parlours notorious and operating without licence but many of them are also reported to have hired touts who solicit tourists as customers and extort money from them.
If the tourists resist, the touts are said to beat them up and take their money. This is a serious matter and shows Goa in bad light. Imposing petty penalties and closing the cases is not the solution. It is a joke. The authorities should take this matter seriously and keep periodical check on the operation of such illegal and notorious massage parlours.
Rodney de Souza, Assagao
