Why does the CM keep raising ‘injustices’ of the Portuguese era when Goans are fighting daily injustices now?

Even when saying that he does not want to keep repeating what he calls “injustices” during the Portuguese era, Chief  Minister Dr Pramod Sawant does mention it at least once or more per week. At the inauguration of the new space for the Goa Konkani Akademi in Panjim on Wednesday, he flashed the Portuguese card yet again, while saying he doesn’t want to look into the past since “it is my habit to look into the future”.

But he did just that- look into the past- and say: “Injustice was done by the Portuguese on the people of Goa but people feel bad as I say it because I speak as the Chief Minister.”

It is important that he understands that people feel bad, but the reason for this feeling is the totally disproportionate and uncalled-for time being spent in raking up the  Portuguese rule narrative and wanting to wipe out all signs of its presence, at a time when India’s relationship with Portugal at an all-time high. Portugal has a Prime Minister who has strong Goan roots, and belongs to a family of this soil and has an excellent and productive diplomatic relationship personally with Prime Minister Modi.

The Indo -Portuguese diplomatic relationship is at its strongest now

If elements in one country picked up fragments of history in its relationship with another, then Germany would never be a part of the European Union and have trade and diplomatic relationships with very many countries in this world. Germany the most important Axis power in World War 2, deals extensively with two of its most bitter Allied Power rivals, the USA and Britain, on mutual grounds of growth and prosperity of their nations. The UK-Germany Strategic Dialogue was set up in 2021, with the aim of agreement in areas across foreign and security policy for the years ahead.

The same is happening with India and Portugal. 3 IITs joined hands with Portuguese institutions in 2017 for joint research collaboration. On May 8, 2021, the first full-fledged India-EU leadership Summit was held under the EU Presidency of Portugal with the participation of PM Modi, the EC and European Council Presidents and all 27 EU member state leaders. Portugal has always contributed to the Goan cause.

CM’s Portuguese bashing is out of sync with current realities

In the light of all these developments, Goa Chief Minister Pramod Sawant’s constant Portuguese bashing is out of sync with current realities and is detrimental to the firm diplomatic friendships forged between Prime Minister Costa and Prime Minister Modi.

The bigger injustices: Goans are grappling with larger and crucial life concerns which aren’t being spoken about

Injustice 1: In villages across Goa there is not a drop of water to drink and cook food. People walk for miles to fill water and in some places, they simply keep their empty vessels at a spot on the road hoping that the water tanker will come and fill them up for them to collect later.

They do not have power for days and even on days they do they face frequent power cuts. Yet their water and power bills keep rising.

The situation is the same in industrial estates where businesses are run on generators. This doesn’t quite fall under the “ease of doing business” principle.

Injustice 2: Farmers have not got subsidies to buy seeds and fertilisers. In other places their fields have been acquired without compensation or filled with construction debris, depriving them of any cultivation. What happens to their earnings and livelihood?

Injustice 3: Destruction of forests, sand mining and assaults on the Mhadei forests had far-reaching environmental impacts with not enough hope of arresting them. On the other hand, the expansion of coal handling capacities in the Mormugao Port will lead to gross environmental and health damage in the Goan villages of upper coastal South Goa.

At the same time, funds in the District Mineral Development Fund out of mining earnings, meant for the development of mining-destroyed areas have been purportedly diverted for other needs including infrastructure out standings far away from the mining areas. Minerals belong to the people and the wealth is theirs. It cannot be diverted. This is also an injustice.

Injustice 4: Our small fishermen, even to this day fight against the might of LED-fitted trawlers which suck away fish from their waters, then they do not have money to repair their boats and nets and compensation due for damage to their canoes has not only been drastically cut, but even the reduced compensation has not been given.

Does reminding Goans of supposed injustices of 500 years ago, wipe their tears of today?

These may seem small, but these are daily injustices that Goans of today face every living moment of their lives. They want a shoulder to lean on, their cries to be heard, and their pleas to be responded to. Does reminding them of supposed injustices of 500 years ago, wipe their tears of today?

The underlying pattern to these injustices is that in virtually every village there is a line of conflict established between the people and some state or central authority where the former feels its rights have been violated. And this is the feeling from the capital Panjim, which is dug and devastated to -for example, the remote village of Cavrem-Pirla in Quepem taluka, where the tribals fear a future loss of access to water resources and taking away of their forest rights.

Therefore, the reminder of what the Chief Minister thinks is — Portuguese injustices will not fry when existing daily injustices are in the pan. From the ease of doing business to developing skill-based training to opening up jobs and filling posts for which hundreds of applications have been received, the gap between promises and reality is increasing. And if that is not injustice, then what is?

A well-intentioned Chief Minister will realise this and Dr Pramod Sawant has time to course correct if he understands the injustices that need to be addressed on priority.