Politics is not a dirty game. It is the politicians who muddy the political arena in their quest to gain influence and power. If the decade from 1990 to 2000 gave India’s smallest state 13 Chief Ministers, the 4 years from 2017 have marked a new epoch in Goa’s political carnival. 50% of Goa’s MLAs have changed loyalties since the 2017 polls, with as many as 20 MLAs of the 40 member assembly joining political parties, different from the ones they won their seats from. If we elect the same politicians once again that’s a very clear message from the people of Goa that they do not desire any credible change.
Goa will not be destroyed by those who plot and plan to rape her, but by those who stand and watch without doing anything. There comes a time when we must take an affirmative position that may neither be safe nor popular. But we must take a stand because our conscience tells us it is right. For a state that gained liberation from colonial rule as late as 1961 and attained statehood in1987, there has been a tremendous amount of political instability with parties coming into power on the heels of defections engineered between the political parties. In a democracy everyone has a right to belong to a party of their choice or no party at all. But switching from one party to another which has a totally opposite ideology is not acceptable. 2022 is bound to be a difficult election for Goans. If we opt to be in a resigned, laid back state, then be sure to go through another five years of protests, demonstrations, endless satyagrahas and PILs. We are at the cross-roads today. It is high time we have to wisely put an end to this messy state of affairs. We need leaders not in love with power and money but committed to justice and humanity. What kind of Goa are we passing into the hands of Gen-Z? Have ethics, morals and values become a thing of the past? 2 months ago Porvorim Independent MLA Rohan Khaunte demanded that CM Sawant should be sacked for corruption. Today he himself has joined the party.
During the last elections there was a war of words, tearing of banners and much more between the sitting MLA of Cortalim, Alina Saldanha from the BJP and Olencio the nephew of the late Mathany Saldanha who was contesting from the same constituency on an AAP ticket. Madame Alina has now crossed over from BJP to AAP and Olencio as AAP’s blued eyed boy in the last elections has crossed over to the Congress party on the eve of election 2022. Alina has spoken to the press now and stated that her reasons for exiting from the party was because she had begun to feel suffocated and alienated from the party which now suffers from a total disconnect with people’s lives and concerns. She has also complained that the BJP which Mathany had then joined is not the same today. What is she saying anyway? Everyone knows that the late Manohar Parrikar came from the rank-and-file of the RSS. So does Dr. Pramod Sawant our present Chief Minister. While speaking to TV channels Olencio said that Alina had made her recent exit from BJP and entry into AAP in a mad rush and without a proper weighing of the pros and cons. Until the last minute he tried to convince his Aunty Alina with folded hands requesting her not to break the fragile Secular vote of the Cortalim Constituency where the BJP would stand to be in advantage and win the seat.
Political wars within families were something unheard of in Goa. You have a Churchill Alemao who has the DNA of a jumping and leaping frog. He has now landed himself from NCP to the TMC party with his daughter Valanka after hopping in an out of several parties. His nephew Yuri Alemao will be contesting the Cuncolim seat on a Congress ticket. What about Pratapsingh Rane Goa’s longest serving Chief Minister who in his early political life switched over from the MGP Goa’s oldest party to the Congress. His son Vishwajeet Rane forsook the Congress party on whose ticket he got elected and walked straight into the party fold of the BJP so as to be part of the ruling dispensation and secure his coveted ministerial post.
A government should work keeping in mind the welfare of the present and future generations, not just to win the next elections. Good governance is about putting people at the centre of all developmental work. Prime Minister Narendra Modi of BJP came to power on the promise of good governance. He and his party have miserably failed the nation. His arrival on December 19 to celebrate 60 years of Goa’s liberation has hardly aroused any excitement amongst the Goan populace. The Congress which hardly stands for anything at the moment is not sure about what it wants to do. It is utterly rudderless! The TMC of Mamata Banerjee has brought no change or development in her own state of Bengal. The only visible change is that the colour of the red flag has now changed to blue. Presently the TMC which has no base in Goa is trying to bite more than they can chew. As regards AAP and its Chief Minister of Delhi, Arvind Kejriwal, the less said the better. Here is a leadership in public which saw a Messiah who would end corruption in Delhi. But the public soon realized diferently. So what do you do when all major political parties are head over heels immersed in dirty politics and corruption at the cost, welfare and security of the masses? It is unfortunate that political players have reduced Goa to a laboratory where people of the state have become guinea pigs. We have a long way to go.
(The writer is a social scientist and a Sr. practicing criminal lawyer).
