After trudging along four labourious years, tired and weary we are all set to enter the last and final lap of the incumbent government. Tired and weary and disgusted and fed up of the coconut grass sham, of the arrogance in promoting DefExpo and heli-tourism, of the raping of the environment, of exploitation of Mopa and Tiracol landowners.
This Government has done a volte face over every issue it rode to power on. The same Goans who had ushered in this government with an overwhelming majority, are now shedding silent tears. At the national level, the country has witnessed the policy of religious polarisation. The government has failed to rein in the loud and motor mouths notorious for spewing communal venom. Places of worship, your kitchens and universities are ransacked with equal hatred. Are these the promised “acche din”?
And here in Goa we regret our misplaced faith on the ex-Chief Minister, who promised us zero corruption, solutions to Goa’s vexed problems of casinos, regional plan, MoI, Special Status, Mopa airport, garbage, etc. and the indictment and punishment of the perpetrators of the scams in mining/GIDC/regional plan/ JICA, the peddler-police-politician drug nexus. But alas none of this was to be! Tongue was all we got. Their own legislators joined the corruption bandwagon. And with a swollen head, this party thinks that the vast silent majority of Goans will be with them in spite of all their arrogant, lacklustre, corrupt and communal performance.
The grand old party, decimated and humiliated into single digits in the legislative assembly by an infuriated Goa and lying in a docile brain dead condition in ICU for the last 4 years, has suddenly decided to come off the ventilator. And guess what! The same old faces, rejected by the people and responsible for the dismal state of the party and the loot and plunder of Goa at large, are in the forefront ruling the roost again.
No lessons have been learnt. “We will field 50% new faces” their president boasts, as if he were bestowing favours on the electorate. Instead if he had promised “We will not field any tainted people and opportunists”, the Goan would have a tiny cause to cheer. And if he has the gall, let him field new faces in Margao, Quepem, Poriem, Valpoi, Cumbharjua, Benaulim, Ponda, Pernem, Taleigao, Shiroda, Calangute, Navelim, Cuncolim, St. Cruz and Vasco. The taint and opportunism will automatically lessen. Even this may be an exercise in futility, as we have seen that the newer MLAs are more eager and zealous to follow the tainted and corrupt path of their predecessors. If they could do it, why not us, that’s their refrain. After all, by virtue of the party they are in, they feel they have a right to have their Hand in the till.
Be ready Goenkaramno, to see opportunistic, corrupt, dishonest, deceitful, disgraceful and unfit fellows posing as “social workers” mushrooming in every backyard. Tried, tested and failed people will be at it again. As usual, the parties will put up candidates who have money and muscle power. Loyalty, grassroots level work, honesty and integrity will be alien words. How much you can pay for the ticket will be the moot question. Cutting across party lines, all the present and past tainted politicians of Goa who have plundered and looted our state silly and are freely parading as honorable men, will be the only ones who will be able to buy these tickets with their ill gotten wealth.
And after 5 long years, they will come begging for your votes with folded hands. They will promise you the moon and part of the sun. They will entice you with currency notes, saris, sewing machines, even motorbikes (if your family has enough voters). Standing instructions will be given to all neighbourhood bars to keep the wine and chicken flowing.
And then the saddest part of it all…… Some people will get enticed and swayed with these freebies and vote for these rascals. No. A big No. You need the money? Take it. You need the favours he is ready to curry now? Go ahead. You need the booze, chicken and freebies? Accept and enjoy it. Then think – Why and how is this rascal spending so much money? Obviously, he wants to win. But why does he want to win? Obviously he wants to come to power to loot and plunder enough for his future generations. Take a call then. Go and silently vote for a person of proven integrity. That will be a hard kick in the rascal’s teeth. That will be your good deed of the day.
And pray, just have a look at the joke called regional fronts of Goa. One lion hearted party, which had desperately tried to merge Goa with Maharashtra and was later relegated into oblivion, wins two brotherly seats every election and is always tangoing with the ruling side, irrespective of who’s ruling. Isn’t that strange? What can one expect from these opportunists?
Another old Salcete based front entertains anybody with enough money, rejected by the national parties. Anyone can walk into this party, get a symbol, win on their own strength, and then desert the party by joining the rulers. And that party then waits till that person (or any other person with lots of money) gets thrown out from his parent party, to welcome him into their fold with open arms, till that fellow does an encore. Is this a party?
A new front has recently been launched with great fanfare. It basically stems from Salcete (but claims support of Porvorim and Bicholim) with the leading face himself an ex-Congressman who enjoys a very good rapport with the grand old party, both at local and national level. It is alleged that all toppling bids in the last tenure were conceived and conceptualised at his sprawling bungalow. No prizes for guessing where his loyalties lie. It is openly being discussed that this ambitious man has already eyed the CM’s chair and is playing his cards accordingly. Do you want to vote for this outfit which is nothing but a “B” team of the grand old party? The same grand party that took Goa to the dogs!
Yet another almost extinct party was revived in Salcete at the last elections. Its “supremo” was a chronic party hopper until he formed this unit, whose two elected representatives are always at loggerheads with each other. The “supremo” himself was in the news in the recent past, for all the wrong reasons. His association with the ruling dispensation accused of “intolerance” and “ghar wapsi”, dismayed many in his minority dominated constituency. The “supremo” now wants to go it alone. Again, it’s a case of bargaining for power with the rulers, if voted in.
In the given scenario our best bet appears to be a fledgling national party which has recently metamorphosed from a national movement. For all practical purposes this was a regional party of Delhi, at inception. However, it was their honest and different approach towards politics and governance, which was like a breath of fresh air in the otherwise putrid political stench, which caught the public eye. Almost written off, after demitting office in two months in Delhi, it rose from the ashes and made a clean sweep of the Delhi re-elections. After initial teething problems and sibling rivalry and spats, it projects noble intentions and is well on its way to good governance.
In Goa it has some of the state’s trusted faces as members, and Goans could well be seeing a real good alternative to support.
This is an effort to remind Goans of the selfish and corrupt designs of the national parties and the regional parties being floated with motivated and vested interest. It is an honest effort to warn the masses and expose the wolves in sheep’s clothing that will be giving their hearts to it in a platter in the days to come, only to sell its soul.
Let us all say “Enough is Enough” and show these wolves what mettle we are made up of. Let us bring in better governance for ourselves, something we have not had in a long, long time, something we deserve and something which is our birthright. Can we do it? Of course, we can.
(The author is an Engineer with a leading multinational company)
