Going through the newspaper I chanced upon a heading that ran “In Goa it has become a trend to oppose everything: CM”. It got me thinking and very soon I realised that there was some substance in the CM’s thought. It is another matter altogether that the present day government is notorious for bulldozing its way through the people’s agitations by using its “other weapons”. The same weapons from its sinister armory which the CM threatened to unleash on the protesting Xaxtikars over the mobile towers imbroglio.
Post liberation, we were a people that always reposed our full faith in the government we elected. We chose people of some integrity and calibre as our leaders and reposed our confidence and faith in all their doings, blissfully assuming that he/she was doing it all in the Goan’s interest. Except for the blot of foisting an opinion poll on Goans to safeguard “amchem Goem”, one must give credit to Bhausaheb and Shashikalatai for relatively good governance. One must also admit that 1980-90 was a relatively good decade of governance under Mr Pratapsingh Rane. And then Goa got enveloped in a thick cloud of darkness and has been in that state ever since. This marked the beginning of the end of Goa. This darkness of corruption, greed, avarice, nepotism, shamelessness, thick skin and forked tongues barged in through the front door and are here to stay. In the quest for big bucks, politicians started jumping ships faster than changing their shirts. Being a small state, even the anti-defection law could not reign in these jumping jacks.
It was at this stage that the office of the Speaker was reduced to a sham. Speakers began openly displaying partisan behaviour in their ruling against defecting politicians. Some disqualification petitions against ruling ministers were dragged on for 4 years and were ruled disqualified two months prior to the General Assembly Elections. Such Speakers, responsible for setting the precedent of denigrating their office, act as holy cows these days. The people of Goa will never forget their prejudiced behaviour and have never trusted a Speaker since. That office is tainted forever.
We passed through the darkest period of independent Goa when we were made to memorise the names of 13 Chief Ministers between 1990 and 2000. Loot and let loot was the name of the game. All of them had their fingers in the pie and each was shamelessly determined to snatch the largest chunk. The sad part is that, instead of being accountable to law, they and their progeny are living lavish lifestyles and are moving around as honorable people. And some of our Goans notorious for their “lemdeponn” fall over themselves to get attached to these ‘leaders’. The sadder part is that most of these politicians, who are grandfathers, are still around and are still eyeing the coveted CM’s chair. The saddest day for Goa would be even if one of these is re-elected (although chances are bleak).If Nehru were alive he would have definitely tweeted “Goa ke log ajeeb hi nahi, bahut braxt bhi hai. Paison ke liye khooch bhi kar sakte hain”. (People of Goa are strange, they are also corrupt and will do anything for money)
Along came BJP to Goa riding piggyback on the MGP. Goans thought things would be different, better. But alas that was not to be! Jumping jacks were at it again.
Goa finally had two back to back Congress led coalition governments. These seven years will go down in Goan history as the most corrupt and directionless governance ever seen. Almost everyone was a chief minister unto himself.
Having been subjected to this debased polity and skewed governance; one would be perfectly justified in being circumspect and suspicious of anything and everything his governments put on his plate. And hence these two kinds of opposition emerged. The first is the “tit for tat” opposition. When in the opposition, the party/MLAs object to anything and everything the ruling party does. When this opposition forms the government it is now the turn of the new opposition to have its sweet revenge.
The second and the major cause of opposition of Government projects is the utter distrust of the motives of the government. The “always bitten but will no longer be shy” right thinking, law abiding, wary, environment conscious, watchdogs of Goa — the upright people of Goa give sleepless nights to the breed of corrupt politicians.
And what about the SEZ land and the Bambolim IT Park scam masters? What about the looters who owe crores to the EDC, show no inclination to pay and instead of facing the law are in positions of power? And if the ordinary man defaults in depositing his motorbike EMI, bouncers whisk his bike away. What about the collapse of the Ruby Residency in Canacona? Was nobody responsible? Don’t the lost lives have any value? Would the investigation be so shoddy had a couple of politicians lost their children in that mishap? What about the RP scam and the huge government recruitment scam at the fag end of the last government tenure? Why are the perpetrators of these crimes not booked? Why are the usurpers of Serula Comunidade land, the beach cleaning and the power tender scams accused still moving around as free rich men after duping the state Exchequer?
CM sir, the opposition by the people of Goa to any of the government’s projects is mostly due to utter mistrust and distrust of the governments. Goans are now street smart and have realised that BJP and Congress are both replica copies of each other. Goans are sick of this corrupt political class and are fully aware that any government, cutting across party lines, is synonymous with large scale corruption. If opposed, bring out the “other weapons” and annihilate them.
2017 is almost here. All politicos will now have to face the heat and the music. The only way out is to try and purge our polity off its dirty elements, get rid of distrustful and opaque institutions like the IPB, refrain from selecting notorious and corrupt candidates, bring a semblance of decency, caring and integrity in your governance which may just reignite the hope in the hearts and minds of Goans.
(The author is an engineer with a leading multinational company)
