In the absence of any of the original Opposition or support to people’s voice from parties like the Congress or Nationalist Congress Party on people’s issues particularly related to mining, casinos,Regional plan implementation and that of the workers, individuals like Shiv Sena’s Ajitsingh Rane and AAP’s Valmiki Naik have turned into the new opposition leaders.
From the issues of the Marathi Rajbhashan andolan in 2012 to the cause of workers, whether the security guards or CCP, Rane has been the face of the working class to fight their battles.
Over 300 daily wage workers with the Corporation of the City of Panjim formed their union headed by Rane as president for the demanding of an increase in daily wage from Rs. 221 to Rs. 490, regularisation of senior and elegible workers, reinstatement of five
workers who were terminated, payment of salaries on or before the 5th of every month and provision of safety measures to the workmen. He was instrumental in causing the paralysis of garbage collection in the city in December 2014 and earlier this year.
The issue was finally resolved on July 9 after a 7 hour long meeting where both parties signed a MoU resolving to pay the workers Rs. 323, regularise the workers as the posts were vacant and balance the eight days striking salary with leaves.
145 workers of the Sports Authority of Goa (SAG) were sacked from their jobs by the sports department claiming that structures of the sports department in the state are over burden with employees. This was followed by hue and cry by the workers, activist lawyers Ajitsingh Rane came into the picture and lead the agitation. He demanded the reinstating of all employees who were terminated. The workers are still however jobless.
One of the most dramatic of the protests he lead was that of the security guards. Rane formed theGoa Recruitment and Employment Employees Union and announced its strike against the state government. Like the CCP workers, the security guards demanded regularisation of their services. Around 120 workers kept their faith its leader Ajitsingh Rane and declared ‘fast until death’. The security guards were on indefinite strike for over a month. The strike was only called off when the state government assured them of being given jobs in government services through the Goa Human Resource Development Corporation.
Like Rane, Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) Goa’s Valmiki Naik too has taken the limelight as the voice of the unheard. Take for example the case of the 10 year old girl sexually assaulted by her school teacher in Siolim. It was Naik’s and his party’s work that brought to light the loopholes in the case, from the CCTV footage to the lax in the police procedures that prevented the arrest of the accused. So too in the case of the Sudin Dhavalikar fake degree case . Had it not been for Naik’s smart methods, Dhavalikar would have probably not released a document thus substantiating the party’s suspicions.
A day after MLA Sudin Dhavalikar circulated copies of his B.Sc (subsidary) degree among several media houses AAP lashed out at the minister claiming the years didn’t add up. In a sworn affidavit, the minister listed as having completed his SSCE at A. J. de Almeida High School, Ponda in 1974- 75 and then a B.Sc degree from Smt. Parvatibai Chowgule College, Margao, Bombay University in 1979-80. However, the party questioned how a person could complete a professional degree after having completed his 10th standard within three years and also after the minister claimed to have failed one year.
Another issue Naik has been at the front of is the case of crimes against women. The gang rape of two Delhi women tourists was just one of the cases that raised questions and grabbed national headlines.
Days after party members demonstrated outside Tourism Minister Dilip Parulekar’s house, police summons were sent to leaders of the protest though no FIR’s were registered, and members looked to the turn of events as being a way of scaring them.
Clearly this Rane and this Naik are unofficially, the official opposition leaders of Goa, at this point of
time.
