It is the autumn of the patriarch. Sitting in a Sankalim farm amidst an expanse of the forests with the Western Ghats looming over the horizon, Pratapsingh Raoji Rane is looking at a long winter of discontent. At the end of a life never lived with want, and never lived without position or power, this brooding monarch, is faced with a bribery charge unleashed by a controversial mine owner whose attempt to export illegal ore was facilitated by the Congress president John Fernandes. Herald puts its hand up and admits that it is indeed the catalyst behind this issue coming to light and in order to divert attention from embarrassment and his own castigation, Fernandes used the controversial mine owner to make bribery charges against the Ranes who have formally objected to mining eases being given in this area to Dahej Minerals, the said mine owner Naik’s company. When the heat was turned on, Fernandes behaved true. Not to his position as president, but to his lineage as a faceless partyman, who survived on the loyalty card but traded it, with the first signs of trouble.
This however, isn’t about a fly by night get rich quick
mine owner, or a loudmouth Congressman who rode the
loyalty card till he mimicked Sonia Gandhi’s accent in
the same press conference where bribery charges were
levelled against Goa’s senior most politician. This is about
why a Naik with an unsavoury track record of bribery
charges gets picked on almost on the run, handed over to
a Special Investigation Team and a case booked forcing
Pratapsingh Rane to appeal for an anticipatory bail.
While the principle of no one being above the law
holds, senior Rane has been done in here. Over the years,
having been in the helm of the Congress for the larger
part of his waking life, and not just his political life, he has
been the Khashe (the rich landlord) that he is. He sups
with royalty, mingles in a select class, a patron art and
theatre and commands respect by being aloof and royal.
He doesn’t pull at too many heart strings, and is losing
political ground even in his home base of Satari. Hence
when a charge of accepting bribes to clear mining leases
was levelled, there would be many who would celebrate
the taint on the monarch. The BJP by now should have
been on the streets, demanding his resignation as leader
of the opposition and the cause crusaders “I told you so”
stories would have clogged blogs and tugged at twitter
handles. Instead there is a quiet passing interest only
because a case has been registered and the police system
always follows a political manual. No wonder that Goa
has never had the need to have a police manual, but that’s
another story).
The long and the short is, that Pratapsingh Rane
positioned himself as an unreachable leader who
demanded respect from a distance, and less connected
Goa with a far less virulent media, kept the distance
between the king and his subjects that way. In the era
of his son Vishwajeet though, the family received its full
quota of charges and attacks as the younger
Rane looked and seemed far more fallible. His
father never did.
This FIR and an investigation by the SIT, is a
product of slow cooked vendetta, simmered over
coals and barbequed to perfection. Yet it leaves a
bad taste. Manohar Parrikar had a chance to be
statesman here but he didn’t see it. Surely when
MLA Babu Kavlekar’s proven irregularities in plot
allotment in the GIDC, haven’t warranted even
a ‘named’ FIR and Churchill Alemao’s issuing
of PWD work orders without advertisements or tenders
hasn’t yet led to a criminal investigation, unleashing the
SIT on at least Pratapsingh Rane is an exaggerated leap of
political cleansing.
In a sense, this kind of a reaction in the Ranes favour
is an irony because there is very little to share or relate to
or narrate about that can qualify as a deeply moving, or
educative or personal experience. Even in the course of
work, there has been no occasion to share time over a cup
of tea or even engage on issues of Goa which he chooses
to do very privately. On telephone, he is always brusque
to the point of being rude, and yet he is super sensitive to
criticism. The kingly demeanour is not pleasant most of the
time and when the carefully arranged make up wears off,
he comes across, unfortunately, as just another common
roadside bully. In 2012, this happened on the floor of the
house when a newly launched weekly of which this writer
was part of, published an interview with Babu Kavlekar on
the GIDC plot allotment scam. Kavlekar said “I’m only a
rubber stamp, all plot allotments were cleared by Mr Rane
(then chief minister). When the issue was raised, Rane
took off and said in the assembly, “Third rate journalists
thrown out of Bombay are starting newspapers”. This was
followed by calls to the papers owners, long-time friends
of his, expressing his displeasure at the audacity of this
new fledgling newspaper to carry reports about the king
in a manner so disrespectful to his status and lineage.
Hence when this same “third rate journalist”, puts
this bribery charge against him in perspective, it is not
with a single ounce of emotion or respect, because that
went for ever when he made that arrogant remark on
the floor of the house, towards senior Rane, but with
the acknowledgement that he is all of what has been just
said about him but he is not corrupt. Yes, any definite
endorsement is liable to be challenged but in the Goa
of today everything is relative. Weigh the senior Rane
against even 80% of former and current ministers tales
of corruption and he appears almost saintly. And weigh
him against the man who is throwing the bribery charge
against him, Mr Rane appears almost godly.
If Rane has to be investigated and arrested in a
bribery charge, Goa will be mocked to see this man facing
corruption charges when many politicians waiting in the
sidelines should be permanent residents of a government
provided accommodation– a jail, and be state guests for
life.
