Karsten Miranda
Margao: Even as parents from all over Goa protested in support of the hunger strike led by FORCE, the parents from Salcete in particular forced their ire on former Chief Minister Manohar Parrikar over the medium of instruction (MOI) issue.
Such was the anger towards the empty promises made by Parrikar who once held supreme sway in Xaxti land, that people were warning that the BJP government would not get their support as Parrikar failed to live up to the promises.
Times have certainly changed for the Defence minister in these parts whose time and tested formula of touring key Salcete constituencies and making promises galore always worked like a charm and he would receive a red carpet. This time around, it was the same MLAs who were forced to stop at various roadblocks and the mere utterance of promises made by Parrikar fuelled their anger even further as parents did not allow the MLAs to leave for the Assembly till they were convinced the MLAs understood the gravity of the situation.
The public for the first time expressed concerns to their own MLAs that there was a disconnect between the government and their aspirations and one just has to scratch the surface and discover how Xatikar’s feel let down by the government they elected in spectacular fashion. Till today, the BJP central leaders use the example of how Goa’s minority community supported them during the elections and it appears that the MOI issue has mobilised the anti incumbency factor against the BJP government. “The BJP failed to get a majority in these constituencies during the Lok Sabha elections and failed miserably while contesting the Zilla parishad elections on party lines. We will show the government that they have to comply with the people’s wishes and this government won’t be there next time,” said Zachirno D’Costa from Navelim.
It’s interesting to note that across the three constituencies of Velim, Benaulim and Navelim where the legislators support the government, the people openly reminded the MLAs that they came to power because the MOI issue brought down the erstwhile Congress government.
It is also interesting to note how all the protesters across the constituency repeated the exact same arguments while expressing their anger to these MLAs. They did not talk about the cabinet note issued last year but they kept talking about how this has been pending for ‘four years’.
To them, all the explanations given by the MLAs listing out what all the government had done since coming to power were mere semantics as the overall objective had not been fulfilled.
There were direct comparisons made to how the erstwhile Congress government had handled the matter with delaying tactics and how the BJP government is now doing the same thing. What must have definitely irked the MLAs was the number of their known opponents in the crowd and that they were left red faced on account of the government’s failure and had to listen to their naysayers criticise the government on their face on the MOI issue to which MLAs had no answer.
While the three MLAs kept asking them to wait till the next assembly, the parents pointed out that waiting was all they had been doing – be it at PTA meetings, watching prior assembly sessions and meeting with politicians in the past and enough was enough.
What incensed them further and triggered the widespread protests was the manner in which the government machinery was forcibly trying to curtail the planned ‘peaceful’ protests at Azad Maidan and this led to the show of strength.
“On one hand when permissions were applied for well in time in March and we have been holding meetings since that time where our focus was on a peaceful march to the assembly which was denied by the government, on the other if we protest about this we are accused of taking the law in our own hands. We had warned the government repeatedly against this but yet they did not stop the intimidating tactics towards parents sitting at Azad Maidan,” said Dominic Noronha from Dramapur.
The public cared a damn to all the criticism it was receiving and each of these three constituencies, some women who were concerned with the larger damage spoke politely to the MLAs and clarified that this was not a protest against them. “We have come to the MLAs as they represent us and we want them to take forward our protests. This is why we voted for them and while we have lost faith in the government fulfilling our demands we are hopeful that the MLAs can make sure our demands are met,” said Francisca Leitao from Benaulim.
Some of the women were even unable to control their tears with rising emotions and said they were pained that this issue had still not yet been resolved and would not give up come what may in their fight for the future of their generation.
The MLAs are now fighting their fight but it would be foolish given the fact that the patience of the people is wearing thin. This will be a litmus test if they can make the difference and amount to the people’s representatives they aspired to be. After all, the only reason the people were on the streets and refused to back down was because they held the MOI issue and FORCE general secretary Savio Lopes’ strike very dearly and have been participating in this fight for the last four years.
