Goans have always been jolly good fellows who like to be happy and make merry every day of the year. Knowing this psychology of Goans, the Government keeps them distracted throughout the year with entertainment in the form of all sorts of festivals, music shows, sports, etc so that they have no time to delve into the real issues facing Goans today.
In fact if we enumerate the number of festivals taking place in Goa the state can score a record first compared to the other states of India. The prominent ones are the International Film Festival of India (IFFI), food festivals, the great wine escapade, Carnival, Shigmo followed by music and beach festivals in April and May, coupled with big football tournaments and other sports entertainments. Besides we also have privately organised Christmas and New Year dances. Goans are a perfect entertainment enjoying people.
Is there anything wrong with the above picture? No doubt it is nice to be happy and enjoy the good things in life. But we need to look at the flip side of it too.
We all know about the story of the Trojan horse. How the people who were dancing and enjoying were decimated by the army descending from the belly of the horse. And we Goans can be compared to the Trojans who like to enjoy and make merry without realizing where we have reached and the gutter we are likely to fall into. We have already become aliens in our own land and if our land slips out from beneath our feet we stand nowhere. Our land has already been brought by outsiders leaving no place for us Goans to enjoy our land and as an end result of this Goans are emigrating, sometimes selling whatever land they own.
When will all this change? If we are only enjoying ourselves and dancing all the year through we are being oblivious of the threats that surround us. Is not our own Government (past and present) the real anti–Goan? If the Government wants to save land for the Goans they can do it by framing adequate land laws since land is state subject and one has not to beg the centre for special status for Goa. But who will force the Government to do it if we remain unrealistic, short-sighted and continue to be a merry making and happy go lucky people?
Every state Government has a constitutional duty to look primarily after the interests of the people of the state. Otherwise there is no justification for the Constitution of India to carve states on the basis of language and culture. This does not mean that we have to exclude outsiders. They are welcome to the extent that they are needed without causing an imbalance in the population ratio of the state. The main grouse of Goans today is that builders, developers and big land sharks form outside the state have taken Goans for a ride. There is no land left for Goans. Then where will Goans go? We need an answer.
