Fellow Goans,
Carrying on from where we left off yesterday, please allow us today to send out a strong warning. This is for all of us. Let’s get straight to the point. Most of us have become absolute slaves of local power brokers and blackmailers, who are the fulcrum of our political system. It is this class which graduated to contest elections to local bodies and then finally the big one, the Assembly seat. Virtually each and every MLA has become what he is, through this route, inching his way up by forming little groups, often through coercion and blackmail till he got an Assembly ticket and won. Look around you and see for yourself a real manifestation of a rags to riches story. Normally, these stories are commendable and deserve salutations. In Goa, they are condemnable.
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Is there a single politician who is poor? And look how they started off. Most of them did routine low paying jobs if at all and were boys next door.
At one level, it’s easy to romanticise these stories and view their so-called successes as a true indication of a thriving democracy. But when you look at the hundreds and thousands of crores of rupees these people have made through politics, will you call it a triumph or a curse of democracy?
But it is not just them. People with privileged backgrounds and education, are in the same boat. Clearly wealth creation at your cost is not the preserve of only the formerly underprivileged.
Have you asked why ministers have huge business interests in Dubai and other parts of the Gulf, including in hotels? Do you know that many have millions of rupees stashed abroad? Have you bothered to ask where this money comes from when you vote for them?
Why does this hurt us? It does because we find it difficult to fathom such huge degrees of elevation in their economic status, knowing their known source of income. Can they afford it with their MLA or minister salaries? Even if they are businessmen and agriculturists, can they actually match their assets and their real wealth with their unaccounted wealth? That is a problem with politicians everywhere but it is Goa which is important to us.
This is how a politician transforms from a supposed friend in need, to a local dada, to a fixer, then a power broker in the village, to panchayat member or councilor and finally rises to become either an MLA or his close acolyte. It starts early, when he wins over people in the village or ward by simply hanging with them and buying them meals and drinks till he gets a little group going. Once this group expands, he gets a little power base, which he leverages to get some small work done. Then he takes it a step further. Here’s how. If there is construction activity in the village, he goes to the contractor and opposes it and then strikes a deal for an amount. A pittance of that amount is given to the group of supporters with the bulk going to this power broker leader. In short, this is the microcosm of the power movement that takes place. It’s the same formula which is scaled up as this man becomes a “bigger” politician with a bigger “black” balance. At this stage, he feels he can control and win any election by pumping money. They pump and people take. Do you realise that it is the money that they loot from the State and you, which is thrown back at you for your votes? If your conscience permits you to accept dirty money, do so. But at the very least don’t tarnish your future by voting for the same people. They have no friends. They will come to you now because they need you. They will be your servants before the elections and masters for five years. For all your life do you want your future tied to some fixer who will get your work done, who in turn is connected to a bigger fixer who is ultimately with the local MLA or minister?
Give change a chance. A change which will see you determine who will represent you. As we said yesterday, pick someone who is not in any camp or party or a part of a “fixed vote bank”. A fixed vote bank is nothing but a deal between a fixer and a politician to deliver fixed votes. Will you be treated like cattle in a herd to be sold as a fixed vote bank?
We have different names for Gods. Allah for Muslims, Vishnu for Hindus and Jesus for Christians. But they are names for one Lord for all of us. And HE does not allow us to be passive spectators of corruption.
If we see change in even one constituency where the people field a candidate, we would have won. Make that choice and bring the candidate to Herald. We will help and support him in every which way we can. You are your only hope.
