After my consistent writings on this newspaper for more than a decade, this is the first time one gets a satisfying feeling, that the message that was intended to get across on politicians has made progress and hopefully one can see light at the end of the tunnel. While most of the messages had to be blunt, inconvenient, and ahead of time, the basic thought was to change the Goan mindset, so very important, after all half the battle is won in the mind. Does not mean that all credit should go only to my writings and this newspaper, there are also some changes on the ground that has transformed public attitude towards politicians.
First let’s discuss the changes that have come about in the Goan way of thinking; money spent by politicians on the people of Goa is actually our own money that is taken away from our pockets in the form of taxes, for that matter even the cars and perks politicians enjoy comes from our money. Today most Goans understand this equation very well, ready to point out any extravagance or embezzlement. Secondly, politicians are elected to serve the citizens and not to rule them. These changes might look small in the grand scheme of things, but mindset change is the most critical element needed to develop a high self-esteem among citizens, everything else automatically falls in place.
Politicians five years ago considered as formidable kings, worthy of only being revered, are suddenly scratching their heads, as to why Goans have become so demanding and expect nothing less in the service they are supposed to provide to the public. Blame it on a new political party that has arrived on the Goan scene, promising to dish out servants instead of kings, that has now forced the existing kings to come out of their comfort zone and at least pretend to be servants on cameras. That said, there are still some Goans with slave mentality that prefer only kings that provides free entertainment with dinner, once in a blue moon. However, these slaves are dwindling in numbers, and it’s just a matter of time they will cease to exist or become immaterial.
There is another factor that has changed the Goan mindset, thanks to the massive migration of Goans to Europe with the help of the Portuguese passport. Turns out, these newly turned Europeans from Goa have suddenly experienced how developed democracies work and the power and rights it provides to its ordinary citizens. Moreover politicians of those countries perform their duties with all humility and accountability to its ordinary citizens. These experiences are too powerful to ignore and are being relayed by these Portuguese passport holders to their kin that still are legitimate voters. Does not mean Goans were not living in these democracies earlier, but today technology connects them very easily and in a cost effective manner. They send messages in different formats that can be understood by their kin and suddenly you find them influencing Goans in a good way. Henceforth, a lot of European standards will be expected of Goan politicians, a ploy backfiring on those that encouraged migration indirectly, hoping to eliminate a section of the society.
Very few politicians have seen the writing on the wall and have made a quite exit out of politics, but there are some whose bread and butter comes only by playing manipulative politics and will refuse to call it a day. Unfortunately the Election Commissions role is much to be desired, as it is always one step behind the crooks that manipulate the election process. Does not mean we don’t credit them for lowering the decibel level of the election propaganda, but why not completely ban these chatter vans roaming around Goa creating noise pollution. If posters are not allowed citing defacement of public property, could they not think of phasing out this noise polluting primitive advertising?
Going one step further the Election Commission should not only ban such advertising but take it on them to educate the Goan voters of the financial and corrupt history if any, on the candidates in the fray. No point asking financial data on candidates in some long affidavit format which is only uploaded on their website, which most voters have no time to access or analyze. Thanks to this newspaper that collated the financial data and printed the net worth in a short and easy to understand format.
This local election’s biggest challenge has been to create confusion among voters by fielding candidates which are best known as split personalities, whose job is not to win but to create a division in votes that eventually helps the undeserving candidates to scrape through. Could be a legitimate strategy by political parties, but places the election commission one step behind a fast evolving situation. Unfortunately it never realizes that its job is a continuous one and not to act like a temporary circus troupe ready to wind up after the show. For example after the elections are done and dusted, why can’t it work in coordination with the Income Tax department in keeping a tab on the change of wealth of these split personalities.
Unfortunately split personalities thrive on the ignorance of voters, consistent media onslaught have mostly educated Goans to identify corrupt and arrogant politicians, however, it becomes difficult to unmask these split personalities. If only the election commission was a step ahead and identified these personalities in advance, it could have helped Goans to become more decisive. Since that has not happened, the best way for Goans to vote would be to follow the elimination method. Straight away eliminate the corrupt, the rest could be eliminated based on age, agility, arrogance and affiliation to the party they belong. Voting for fly by night small parties that can never form a majority on their own will only encourage corruption through horse trading, hence eliminate. Automatically you will be able to zero in on a candidate of your choice.
In this new world order the media is being bashed all around by politicians worldwide and locally. Despite all difficulties let’s not forget to acknowledge the role of the media in bringing about a change in the mindset of the Goan voters with their relentless writings on various newspapers, this one included.
(The author is a business consultant)
