GARY AZAVEDO
Taking the carpenter’s chisel from the hands of his dad Agnelo (better known in the Benaulim coastal village as ‘Patxa’) as a young teenager, Hansel Fernandes perhaps never imagined that sometime in his future he would be sucked into the dirty cesspool of politics.
Preparing to step into their family trade of carpentry, ‘Politics just happened overnight’ for the 25-year-old Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) Zilla Panchayat (ZP) member Hansel, who has studied engineering at the Indian Shipbuilding Institute, Vasco and also worked as a mechanic at Tata Motors, Margao. Since then Hansel ended the quest of the then AAP convenor Elvis Gomes for a suitable Other Backward Caste (OBC) candidate for the Benaulim ZP constituency, narrates his social activist mum Geraldine.
Geraldine divulged, “At the age of 12 years, Hansel used to assist his dad Agnelo in the carpentry workshop. Right from Class VIII onwards and even during his SSC board exams, Hansel would do carpentry and make cupboards. Hansel has now built his own boat which he uses for fishing. After my husband Agnelo’s retirement from this ancestral profession, Hansel gave up his job at Tata Motors and started working as a full-fledged carpenter making furniture.
“When I mentioned to my husband Agnelo that the AAP leaders had visited our home and had shortlisted Hansel as the Benaulim ZP candidate Agnelo laughed and said that ‘they will not come back for us as he is too honest to be in politics.’ When the nomination was being filed by Hansel, the Election Commission official pointed out that the caste certificate had expired and needs to be renewed and that ‘the creamy layer clause’ had to be removed which Hansel did before the Collector.”
When the final tally was counted on December 14, 2021, Hansel had won by a margin of 434 votes and had trounced his two veteran opponents – the former Benaulim sarpanch and Congress candidate Royla Fernandes as well as the former Benaulim deputy sarpanch and Nationalist Congress Party (NCP) candidate Menino Fernandes.
It may be recalled that Royla Fernandes has now filed an election petition before the appellate authority, the Administrative Tribunal challenging Hansel’s election victory by questioning his caste certificate submitted to the Goa State Election Commission.
(See box on the case details)
Fernandes told Herald “The All Goa Carpenters Association had given them a certificate that they belong to the Mesta caste which is an OBC. However, on that certificate there is no notification number because whenever a Samaj or an organisation is issuing them a certificate, then they must specifically mention the notification number by which they are entitled to. So this was not mentioned,” said Royla.
Replying to a query as to why she had not challenged this ‘discrepancy’ during the election nomination process, she quipped “At that point of time, we didn’t get this information. And in a day’s time, would I spend my time looking after the details if at all I knew at that time or would I focus on my campaigning?”
When contacted, Hansel exclaimed, “I am not worried or scared as I have not done anything illegal. If I had done something illegal then I would have been worried.”
