The arrival of the EVMs is immanent, and the all-important Finish Line is in sight. We are now ploughing through the last lap of the race to win the elections in favor of the truly Goa-centric candidates. It’s high time to go full steam ahead, propounding maximum effort behind every calculated plan and tactical device that will ensure a positive victory.
The current incumbents, the powers-that-be, have already started to implement their masterplan to wrap up the results of the next election in their favor. Each day a new scheme is announced and our newspapers and news channels gleefully splash it all out to the public. The uninitiated lap it all to up, and this brings the smell of victory to the nostrils of the wicked perpetrators.
But every new scheme is but a dream, never intended to be fulfilled. They are nothing but pre-electoral shams. And almost all are scams. This is open season for the politicos for shams and scams. If any new proposal is indeed allowed to manifest, it’s simply because they release the extra “revenue” needed for election expenses.
The bitter irony is that it’s our money being used to impose further misery upon us once we elect them back to their “Seat of Power”! Rulers, that’s what they will again call themselves.
Then they need big money for this unique dimension, or rather “business”, of Indian Democracy: Horse Trading. “We must have a stable Government” will be the chant. “And hence we have stables. And ‘stables’ need horses”. QED.
It’s high time Goa needs to put a permanent end to all this Horse dung.
What should be our strategy? First the Party Manifesto. It has to be a highly potent, totally brilliant piece of work that will deliver a Win-Win result.
(At this point, all readers and all citizens looking for complete change, are encouraged to, and must access the web page created by the patriotic journalists of this paper:
https://heraldgoa.in/Insight/We-want-a-systematic-change-in-the-way-we-choose-say-Goans/179108
And please write in with your views and comments to:
change@herald-goa.com)
Please pass that on, and get as many folks involved.
We are encountering an uphill task, every shoulder is needed at the wheel. The battle intensifies, the heat is on, the need to win the race is more critical than ever, crossing first at the Finish Line must command our unwavering collective focus. The new Save Goa Party must win each and every seat in the assembly. Follow closely what the good folks at the Herald will be offering as guidance. Those who join in full time will not be sacrificing a life, they will in fact be creating a new one, more real, more vibrant, more fulfilling and more joyous. The greatest reward one can attain is to live his life for other people. “No man hath greater love, than the one who sacrifices his own for his friends”.
We need to device a clear and comprehensive Manual of Directions.
1. A Core committee of three wise men.
2. Determine the time and dates for meetings.
3. Select sincere full-time volunteers.
4. Communicate with each Constituency and enlist the influential leaders, and in the process allow them to select and appoint a worthy, dedicated, street-smart and charismatic candidate, in short: a winner.
5. Don’t list sins and evil deeds or even criticize the “opposition”, the present incumbents. Good Marketing Practice says “Never mention the competition, don’t even think they exist. If you do, your ‘client’ will identify you with them”. Bad-mouthing other candidates is an extremely low tactic which backfires on the one spewing the venom on the other guy. After all, he too is an honorable citizen, and one day will be someone you need to serve as one of your constituents.
6. Once the new Party is set in place with a proper majority, with the right legal advice, it can undo all the negative stuff they are trying to dump upon us.
7. For a start, reasonable and sizeable office space and general office devices and amenities will be necessary to control and respond to multiple levels of communication requests. As the movement grows, problems begin to be solved as if by magic. Especially the monies required to help the project move ahead with a positive thrust.
8. All this will happen as long as the people involved are clean and clear about their tasks allocated, their intentions and their commitment.
9. We need to identify and appoint Guidance Gurus who will determine People and Policy Management, and direct and instruct everyone who will get fully involved with the strategies and action policies as laid out by the core committee of Three Wise Men. This will avoid chaos and maintain a degree of cohesiveness among the varied characters and capacities of the people involved.
10. The most important of all the foundational inputs, is appointing the Power Pundits of the entire operation: The lawyers and retired members of the judiciary, ex-politicians, bankers, journalists, propaganda strategists, and the to be candidates themselves.
11. And of course, drafting, hashing and re-hashing of the Party Manifesto. The all-important document that tells the world who we are and what exactly we intend to do. It has to be short and sweet, and everyone who reads it should start to think about, and finally cast their vote for the new Save Goa Party. It must be a sincere promise that all that had to be done in the last sixty years, will begin to happen now. The Manifesto must offer hope and solace and a new life to everyone who reads it, whether they vote for us or not.
We have been saying this time and time again:
Everyone must get involved. It is truly a matter of life and death for Goa and the future of our children. If there’s anything you can do, you must do it. If you cannot, that’s OK. But if you can, and you don’t, then it’s a crime against yourself and your fellow citizens.
(The author is now a permanent resident of Goa after many years of living in Mumbai, New York & London)
