I appreciate your desire to enlighten the readers of Herald and the people. One definitely needs to congratulate you and support you for morally and empathetically standing by the people and giving us a front page Open Edit. This gesture reflects the concern and commitment you have to journalism, which is seen as the fourth pillar of democracy.
“The media is the most powerful entity on earth. They have the power to make the innocent guilty and to make the guilty innocent, and that’s power. Because they control the minds of the masses,” said Malcolm X.
Herald, the voice of Goa and Goans, needs to commit and dedicate its voice exclusively for the people and that definitely will make it a real people’s paper. We believe in Herald’s initiatives to start this movement towards 2017 elections with a promise of justice, integrity, loyalty and the principles of people’s governance.
To start with, Herald can empower the people in the forthcoming local Panchayati Raj election to highlight the issues enshrined in the Constitution by focusing on success stories, gaps in the local self government, publication of articles specifically on “Gram Swaraj”. For example the book on “Swaraj” by Arvind Kejriwal can be inspiring for the people to understand the concept of participatory democracy, its rights and duties. I remember purchasing a copy of the book, later sharing it with another person and further passing it on to another. Today I’m not aware how many youth have read it and where the book I purchased is.
We need a group of people who are sincere, peace loving, who have a secular modern outlook, are sensitive to issues, and concerned about security and communal harmony. They should be people with tolerance and patience, who empathise with the people’s problems and issues and have the ability and credibility to resolve problems.
Democracy with secularism needs to be the essence of governance and no religion or caste needs to be considered when it comes to the welfare of the State.
The time has come to rethink, find an alternative and form a real people’s government, setting aside the ones that are not credible, and whose credentials are suspicious. It is time to bring in a new form of democracy with a culture of honesty and integrity with a selfless service to people, to bring in the sanctity into our democracy by non acceptance of muscle and money power which is destroying the future of our children, our youth, the security of our women and the senior citizens.
A big “YES” to Herald to drive the change through its journalism. Under the theme ‘Let’s change Goa together’ let us invite suggestion for the people’s manifesto for 2017 so as to present a platform to the contestants to accept the demands of the people.
There should be ‘the right to re-call’ by an appeal on the front page of Herald if the peoples’ wishes are not fulfilled or the integrity of the elected representative is lost by means of malpractice or mistrust. This will bring in good people who otherwise shy away from politics.
Once again thank you so much for the enlightening Open Edit. Hope you will continue in your mission as a responsible pillar of our democracy and the purity of journalism to help people in addressing their issues. Our encouragement, motivation, support and participation will always be present.
