Goans are so caught up in opposing the entry of Ram Sene and the latest PWD Minister’s latest remarks against women in pubs and wearing of bikinis on beaches, that they ‘can’t see the wood for the trees’. Selective targeting and demonizing of individuals and sensationalizing only certain aspects in the on-going controversy may help market stories and arouse public emotions, but will it actually help in addressing the root of the problem? Whether we are open to accept it or not, a Muthalik and Dhavlikar are only pawns being moved on a larger chess board while the issue of pubs and bikinis becomes the legitimate excuse to cover what
seems to be a larger anti-social conspiracy.
By crying foul only over remarks about banning women in pubs and bikinis on beaches and ignoring other related attempts like the push for a ban on cow slaughter and religious conversions, efforts to distort history and saffronise education by the very same forces actually amounts to abetting the larger problem of ‘intolerance’ and ‘violence’. It is most
unfortunate that the threat of religious and cultural intolerance gets
denied merely on grounds that there are no visible signs of communal
violence. One should not be surprised to over-hear a whisper campaign
on how a particular community is behind this controversy to defend its
western culture and destroy the Bharatiya sanskriti which gets equated
with an affront on Hindus.
Goans should not forget that promotion of western culture has
been deliberately attributed to one particular religious community even
though other religious communities these days could are more western
in their life styles. Bollywood films and tourism promos have been used
to portray members of a particular realigion as goons, drunkards, flirts,
and the rest. Noises from Salcete will automatically get attributed to one
community while that from Pernem or Canacona will be interpreted
otherwise. This is why Goans need to be more cautious about the source
of provocation and the intended outcome desired by certain forces.
Instead of focusing on these irrelevant entities who utter rubbish
and gain undeserving publicity, Goans need to increasingly be weary
of a political economy that is breeding this intolerance and violence.
Goans need to condemn those that monetarily and morally support
such divisive and violent elements. The peaceful nature of Goans should
not be allowed to be taken for granted. Fighting these forces needs to
be a two pronged attack with the tourism lobby exercising moderation
and modesty in their profit seeking ventures and society using the
information tools to isolate the actual culprits behind these divisive
agendas by formulating a prudent and discerning response to arrest, if
not eradicate, this fast spreading social disease.
(The author is Community worker for self-sustained/reliant
development and Social Harmony)
