All parties need winnable candidates to come to power, but do the people of Goa want MLAs who win due to various caste, community and other combinations or do they want candidates who are the pride of the society and the estate and have the clarity and vision to plan for a better Goa for our children?
We get the politicians we deserve
If you enjoyed reading this article, you can help support our journalism by adding OHeraldo as a preferred source.
When a new Assembly is formed, it will consist of MLAs who have got votes cast by you the people. And hence the people are responsible for whom they ultimately choose to represent them. It is therefore in the hands of (literally) each voter in Goa. The people must decide whether the values such as decency, education, care and compassion, a clean track record, no blot of corruption, should count as important factors in a candidate to mater in their decision to vote.
People must decide their future? And if they want good people
Yes, one knows that change is what people would like to see. But do people want change for the sake of change? Is there any point of change of one party is voted put and another party voted in without looking at the quality of those we bring to power. And this is something one understands. Let us ask: do we need divine intervention or prayers to understand this. Will people think of this? Will looking for change or voting for change without carefully thinking of the real change we need, be a disaster?
Therefore, more than visibility, shouldn’t we have the next Assembly full of MLAs with ‘vision-ability’
So what really is ‘vision-ability’. It is the quality that enables the MLA to plan the future of his constituency and his state in a manner that truly benefits the people. Herald has been saying this regularly in its Insight, based on what people have said and agreed – that if you fail to plan, you plan to fail. People need to decide if planning has to start from the ward, the panchayats, the district, the state. Should each candidate plan the development of his or her constituency for the next four years, looking at local issues? Should all candidates of the district of each party jointly plan the future of the district and all their thoughts and energies to do a blueprint for the district taking inputs from each of their constituencies?
Should the party seeking power, come up with a plan with timelines for crucial sectors like health education, employment, economy, tourism, mining etc? If yes, is the part setting up a team of experts beyond its MLA candidates to professionally do this?
Governance, after all, is the execution of the vision of people who have been elected as representatives of people. But it is the people who must choose to elect their representatives in a manner that ensure that those with ‘vision-ability’ are elected. And this is different from just winnability. People can of course decide to let things happen as they have always happened. If they want candidates to be selected based on their caste, community, and factors like money power, those candidates can also be called ‘winnable’ candidates. And again it is the people, who must decide if these kinds of ‘winnable’ candidates will have a ‘vision’ to plan for better Goa at the ward, village, district and state level.
Will winnable candidates fight for a Goa without coal, the Major Ports Bill? Will they protect our hills & forests?
Will these candidates win and fight for a Goa without coal, without the Major Ports Bill, without our rivers getting nationalised and out of our control? Will these candidates see to it that our villages are protected, our hills are not destroyed, our forests are not finished?
Will people, therefore, think and understand that anyone can win in an election because it is a game of numbers? But behind these numbers, will people also realise there should be informed choice so that Goa gets the best people?
Most importantly, will the people of Goa want accountability with winnability
The world has seen politicians taking accountability and resigning. After a devastating explosion in Beirut killed over 200 people, wounded 6,000, and left nearly 300,000 homeless, the Lebanon government resigned with its Prime Minister Hassan Diab taking responsibility.
Railway Minister under Prime Minister Jawaharlal Nehru, Lal Bahadur Shastri tendered his resignation on two occasions.
In 1957, India became witness to its first major political scam which resulted in the resignation of Finance Minister TT Krishnamachari.
Then Defence Minister Menon resigned after India’s defeat at the hands of China on receiving sharp criticism from both within and outside Parliament. He sent the last of his many resignations to Prime Minister Nehru on 7 November 1962.
While these are national and international examples Goa has no history of a single politician even offering to resign even after being indicted but the court. The illegal mining scam, the PWD tender scam, the medicine purchase scam are just two glaring examples.
The bottom line is this. People should finally decide the kind of elected politicians they want. To get the government they deserve.
