It is not a reality show but a reality – Earl Fortes

By Nisser Dias

Earl Fortes 

From a small canvas like Goa – a small state in India Earl Fortes for Orlim walked on to one of the largest platforms in entertainment and talent industry – American Idol at a mere age of 20 years.

Interacting with me from America, he said the journey from one side of the globe to the other didn’t start with getting on a plane and flying to the USA but started off as a seven year olds dream to be on that stage at some point of time in life.

“Ever since I auditioned for the producers virtually right until the day I auditioned on the big stage I had to pinch myself every morning just to remind that it is not a reality show but a reality. And I’ve been feeling it all the way.”

 Earl travelled for 2 days straight, 15 hours of layovers and 24 hours in the sky and it really was an adventure amidst a global pandemic.”

He said that he had a couple stops on the way here in Delhi and Newark and used his time between layovers just soaking it in that, “I was just living my dream and I kept reminding myself, I’m on my way to audition for the American Idol.”

Talking about taking on the big stage he said that the feeling cannot be explained with words. “It is exhilarating I’m glad I am the one and I’m going to give it my all to do my family and everyone who’s supporting me proud.”

When asked about his experience performing before superstars in the music industry, he said that adrenaline kept pumping even though I was in a boot recovering from a broken foot. “The thought of singing for Lionel Richie and Katy Perry and Luke Bryan gives me goose-bumps even now if I just think about it.”

Elaborating further he said that from the second he was slotted up to go on stage he felt his nerves creeping up, “as I approached the main stage I was freaking out, I had sweaty palms. I had a conversation with the judges before I performed. I was extremely nervous as I started strumming my guitar and that feeling didn’t seem to leave me until I was back in my room.”

Earl disclosed that he started off with an original song penned by him especially for the audition called “Any other way”, “this song means a lot to me because it's about my life and how I’ve been on a bumpy ride full of ups and downs and how I overcame the obstacles life laid down in front of me. Singing my original to the judges was a satisfying moment and experience.”

About meeting other hopefuls Earl said he came across talented musician from all over the world since he landed for the audition, “we socialized, jammed and learned so much about each one’s genre, everyone I met was just setting a vibe.”

When asked about the outcome of his performance, he simply teased, “for more of about American Idol, you guys are gonna have to tune in and watch next year.” 

Central BJP leadership should immediately sack incompetent Pramod Sawant – By Nisser Dias.

Pramod Sawant led BJP government in Goa has failed completely, not only to administer the state affairs and economy, he has exposed himself as a total failure in combating the drastic vertical rise in corona virus and Covid-19 deaths in the state of Goa.

CM Sawant violating Covid-19 norms

For a state that was declared as a green zone to turn into a red zone overnight speaks volumes of the aptitude and competence of the chief minister. And for this he should resign as chief minister or his party bosses at the centre should sack him.

From March when the country was forced into lockdown, there have been numerous instances of him mishandling the fight against spread of novel corona virus.

Even the people in the street could envisage the path that needed to be taken to keep corona virus in check, but the chief minister always strayed from that path and the consequence are for all to see. Goa has become ‘numro uno’ in the country in corona virus cases in terms of size and population of the state.

And now he has resorted to lying to the media for which he was rightly castigated and reprimanded by Governor Satya Pal Malik.

It would be in the interest of the state and its people that Pramod Sawant gracefully steps aside and hand-over the reins of the administration to other cabinet colleagues or advice the Governor to impose President’s rule in the state.

CM’s awful handling, planning and executing strategies to curb rising cases of corona virus and Covid-19 is woefully amateurish. It looks like the chief minister laid the red carpet for corona virus to infect so many people.

After staggered lifting of the first lockdown, the chief minister was advised not to open the borders for people to enter, but he did so. He was asked not to permit interstate buses, but he did. CM was asked not to allow trains to stop in Goa, but he did not heed that advice too.

It was not the Goan seafarers or expatriates that brought the virus to Goa, but the covidiot non-Goan chief minister of Goa that is wholly responsible for the mess Goa is in.

The bad decision did not stop, he went against the advice of his MLAs to lockdown Vasco city when cases started increasing in Mangor hill but he did not. The result is increasing numbers of positive cases and deaths.

Nisser Dias

And to top it all, nincompoop, highly inefficient, incompetent Pramod Sawant has become more of an evening news reader to a local channel where he comes just to read out the numbers of cases, deaths, recoveries and to make a fool of himself by stating deaths are not due to Covid-19 but due to co-morbidity.

Sawant should know that Goans are not buffoons like the parliament of buffoons he heads as chief minister.

The latest bad decision was to open up the wholesale fish market where thousands people rushed to buy fish.

And the resultant of all these bad decisions is another awful lockdown 2 for just three days. We all know by now that spread of corona virus cannot be wished away in 72 hours. And what purpose will 3 days lockdown serve. The curve will not flatten but revenue generation surely will.

For all the mismanagement, either the central BJP leadership should sack him or the Governor should.

PI Sagar Ekoskar – the goon in uniform – By Nisser Dias

Kudos to the Goa Union of Journalists for standing up to the police force and inviting the villagers from Shel-Melauli in Sattari taluka to voice their opposition against the proposed IIT in their village, which was denied to them in their own village.

Maverick PI Sagar Ekoskar

Valpoi police inspector Sagar Ekoskar should hang his head in shame for violating the Constitutional Right of every Indian which is ‘freedom of expression’. For which he should be suspended, made to read the Constitution of India and then dismissed from service or rather dis-service to the very people who pay his salaries.

It is an open secret who is behind the move to gag the voice of people. But the police should know when to listen to their political bosses.

Speaking of political bosses, shameless police officers like Sagar Ekoskar shed their spine to corrupt politician in power.

This disgraceful officer should realize, he had stood up against Curtorim MLA Reginaldo Lourenco when the latter was supporting tourist taxi operator’s protest against GoaMiles last year at Dabolim airport, but was crawling and lapping at his political master’s feet in Valpoi.

Coming to the politician’s lap-dog questioning the protestors whether they had permission to address the media? People never have to seek consent from any authority to address the media. This is a democratic country.

PI Sagar is a coward and had guts only to threaten senior citizens. This ‘goon in uniform’ threatened, pushed and pulled the protestors and took them to the police station.  

Why did he chicken out when Congress and AAP addressed the media the very next day at the same very place? It is because his master too did have the nerve and mettle to challenge. Sagar acted like at dog acting on his master’s command.

In the video that is circulating on the facebook, it is very clear that Ekoskar’s face mask is below his face, who is going to take action against this violation?

This police officer should first lead by example before lecturing others and that too senior citizens. It is trait of the goons to enforce their view on others. And they do it for gains.

This police officer does not have a good record at all. In 2018 while posted at Sanguem Police station, the women wing of Shiv Sena had demanded his immediate transfer not only for shoddy police work but also aligning with law breakers instead of upright citizens. Birds of the same feathers do flock together.

Speaking about permissions has PI Sagar Ekoskar sought the authorization of the Supreme Court to adorn his car GA-08-K-4946 with the darkest glass tint. He might argue that the car is registered in his wife’s name, but as a law keeper, he should have not allowed his wife to tint the glasses of her car. That he drives it everywhere is a different matter.

Nisser Dias

Sagar Ekoskar should remember the old saying, “It is public that pay his salaries unlike politicians who pay them bribes.”

Not that anybody has forgotten that Sagar Ekoskar tried to physically assault his superior and was suspended for it. The superior is now the superintendent of police. The instincts of goons never desert them and it does come to the fore when they see a weak prey.

And these senior citizens were a weak prey and because it was in distant Valpoi, he escaped the wrath of it. if he ever tries it in Salcete, he would get a taste of his own medicine.

Has the maverick police officer Sagar Ekoskar and his master got the guts to take on GUJ for inviting his victims to Panjim to address the media. I doubt it.

‘Patkis’ are forgiven not ‘ghatkis’ -- By Nisser Dias

On 14^th June 2020, Goa Forward party supremo Vijay Sardessai on his 50^th birthday, apologized to the Goans and said it was his political mistake to support the BJP government after the demise of chief minister late Manohar Parrikar.

Undoubtedly, Sardessai is trying to pull wool over the eyes of his constituents and Goans at large. He very well knows that the political ground under his feet is shaky and hence the tricks.

It is not that Sardessai did not carve out lion’s share from the Pramod Sawant government. He surely did. After retaining plum and lucrative portfolios allotted by the Parrikar dispensation, he forced the chief minister Sawant to swear him as his deputy. And obviously, the Dy. CM tag will be under his name lifelong.

So this pretentious apologizing or asking for mercy for so called political mistake is a complete hogwash.

When Pramod Sawant was sworn-in as CM, he was seen as a soft target as compared to the arrogant, despotic Parrikar. But the former proved otherwise for ambitious politicians, who are now spewing venom.

Question that arises is why would any chief minister drop his cabinet colleagues like hot potatoes. To my mind there are only two reasons. Firstly the ministers could be grossly inefficient. Second reason could be that the ministers had become too big for their boots and the CM was losing control over his cabinet. The second option to my mind is more relevant as it was rumoured that GFP was getting out of hand and running parallel governance. Given Vijay’s mindset I personally do not rule it out.

If at all Fatorda MLA has to apologize, he has address it on a public stage and not from the top of his ‘Goemkar Ghor’. He has to ask pardon from those credible citizens who believed in him and went out of their way to convince other voters to cast their franchise for Vijay. He has to apologize to those who stood by him when he criticized Parrikar and BJP from public stage.

And he has to ask forgiveness from voters who wanted a change in Goa from the communal rule of the BJP and reduced the numbers of the BJP in 2017 assembly elections and opened an opportunity for other parties to form a government.

It is Vijay Sardessai, through backdoor manipulations and self benefitting politics extended his support to the BJP and brought the communal party back to power. To rub salt to the wounds he facilitated the return of autocratic and dictatorial Manohar Parrikar to Goa as CM.

Not only from the top of his new building, he could shout from the tallest peak in Goa, Goans will never forgive him for back-stabbing them. Voters of Fatorda were not very happy with his performance early also and that can be gauged from the slender winning margin of 1300-1500 voters he had over his closest rival.

His voters and Goans at large have seen through the working and tidings of the Goa Forward party president and now they not only wiser but are better informed who they want as their representative in the assembly at the next hustings.

At the gathering on his birthday to mark 50 years, Fatorda MLA said, his party won’t aid the establishment of such a government in Goa in the future. For his party, BJP was finished after the death of Parrikar. He said, we will never let BJP rule the state in future.

This man is a chameleon; these are utter lies because GFP continues to be part of the NDA government and the question why?

Sardessai claims that incumbent chief minister does not have a Goan heart. Basically he wants to say that the Sawant is not a Goan, but it did not bother him when he was being made the deputy CM. Did Vijay Sardessai sell his ‘Goem, Goemkar and Goemkarponn’ to ghattar at that point?

There are lot of fingers pointing at Pramod Sawant for having bought land in Goa being a non- Goan. At the same time as many fingers are pointing towards Vijay Sardessai for having sold Goa’s land to outsiders. Hence there is not much of a difference between a Goan like Vijay and non-Goan like Pramod Sawant.

Ironically Sardessai still praises and worships the worst chief ministero of Goa late Manohar Parrikar who did not allow any Goan to rise to take over the reins of Goa after him, but allowed a non-Goan to the CM of Goa for the first time in the history of Goa. And that is the reason that the non-Goan CM is building Parrikar’s memorial violating all CRZ norms.

Vijay Sardessai the trickster that he is, is keeping his option open. In case chief minister Pramod Sawant is replaced by his party for inefficiency and maladministration, he will have no qualms of jumping on to the BJP bandwagon.

Health minister Vishwajeet Rane visiting Fatorda to greet Sardessai on his birthday gives credence that there is likely to be an overhauling in the BJP and the junior Rane who recently crossed swords with Sardessai is pulling strings to present his strength for the top post.

The former Dy. CM of Goa who was dropped unceremoniously in July 2019 rightly admitted that Goans are suffering because of his mistake. And that he and his party men are ready to seek penance. Penance he has too voluntarily, otherwise his voters will make him do it.

On 18^th June 2020, Goa’s Revolution Day, let us resolve to take Goa ahead without Goa Forward.

Goa government deserts seafarers marooned at sea. Declaring zones is not akin to traffic signals - By Nisser Dias

On 14^th April 2020, more than 100 British tourists were leaving Goa for England on a special charter flight arranged by its government at the same time Indian prime minister Narendra Modi was addressing the nation to extend the lockdown by another two weeks.

The same afternoon hordes of migrant labourers converged at Bandra railway station in Mumbai to travel back to their homeland.

The English tourists and Indian migrants wanted to be at home with their families and loved ones.

For almost a month now, Goan seafarers stranded on cruise liners and vessels in deep seas. Their pleas to be brought home has fallen on deaf ears of the BJP government in Goa and at the centre.

Worse still domestic cruise liner which sailed to Goa with 93 Goan sailors were refused to disembark and sent back to Mumbai to be quarantined and continue to live on the vessel.

How insensitive can this BJP government be? In England more than 10,000 people have lost their lives to corona virus. But their government is making all the arrangement to take their citizens back to their country.

Maharashtra and Mumbai in particular has the highest number of deaths and Covid-19 positive cases in the country, knowingly Goa government refuses our seafarers entry into the own land.

Goa was in better situation to quarantine these seafarers. It seems very obvious that the ministers in the government had a hidden agenda and want to extract their pound of flesh from the helpless Goans.

Goa has been under lockdown and curfew since 22^nd March 2020. Was this not the best time to bring in the seafarers from all over the world and quarantine them? But our dim-witted chief minister of Goa Pramod Sawant did not think so. How will the non-Goan CM of Goa ever have feelings for Goans?

If at all there is pucca Covidiot in Goa, it is the CM. He is in a tearing hurry to manage to the statistics to show minimum deaths and positive cases.

A day after Prime minister’s 3rd appearance since the outbreak of the virus, Sawant has declared south Goa as green zone.

This inefficient chief minister should have first brought back the seafarers, quarantined and treated them and then declare it as green zone. Does he even know how much seafarers contribute to the economy that too holding on to the finance portfolio? I doubt it.

Pramod Sawant should have had the least common sense that declaring red, orange green zones and not akin to changing traffic signal lights. He should have been very cautious of it.

He should have brought all our seafarers who are waiting for government’s intervention to bring them home, quarantined and treated them before declaring zones.

The bunch of jokers including the chief clown governing the state should have accepted the advice and used the experience of Captain Venzy Viegas, Dixon Vaz and others to carry out the exercise of bringing the seafarers back.

The detailed document presented to the government and to the defunct NRI Commissioner Narendra Sawaikar should have been should have been put to good use. The document spelt out minute nitty-gritties like which batch of seafarers should be brought in first, what they should wear while boarding and alighting the flight. They had chalked out programmes for sailors while in quarantine and lot many other points.

But this obsolete and useless chief minister washed off his hands and threw the ball in union government’s court.

Pramod Sawant has made more than his nest in Goa, but he does not know what family means to Goans. Parents, wives, children are living in fear as the seafarers have not been brought home by the government.

Nisser Dias

Shipping companies have offered to charter flights for seafarers to be brought home without any expense to the ex-chequer. The government has to only open the airport. Captain Viegas, Dixon and other have offered help to engage the seafarers in obeying the medical procedures but the government refuses it.

What is the hidden agenda of this government – score brownie points in the eyes of prime minister by showing him Goa did not any deaths, that the state has fought corona virus with financial assistance from the centre.

Non Goan chief minister of Goa should realize that the worst is yet to come. We have not yet reached the peak, we are not yet done with the virus. Our economy is in shambles, unemployment due to this pandemic has gone through the roof, tourism is already hit and gloom hovers over next tourism season. Education system is affected and will have to be brought on track. There is lot more to do and I do not think that this government led by the incompetent chief minister has the foresight and insight to do it.

Is Covid-19 an event and Goa’s CM a stage manager? – By Nisser Dias

Two persons have lost their lives while undergoing treatment for Covid-19 like symptoms but the BJP government in Goa is in denial mode.

8000 Goa seafarers are stuck at sea in international waters, CM is playing the ball game.

7000 government servants basically teachers packed in a room for training to undertake survey throwing socials and physical distancing to the winds.

Chief minister Pramod Sawant claims the two deaths while in isolation are not due to Covid-19 but other health complications. He relies on the tests conducted on them indicated negative for corona virus.

Is it so bad that our doctors at Goa Medical College cannot treat pneumonia and diabetics that a person dies at 38 years? Or is it another mutated form of Covid virus that was not detected during the tests?

It seems to be very much evident that the chief minister is trying to stage manage the Covid-19 statistics to cover his sins of commission and omission. Without a shadow of doubt Vishwajit Rane would have done a much better job.

Chief minister Pramod Sawant

A report in a national daily Times of India on 10^th April has carried a news item about emergence of false negative reports conducted on suspected individual have Covid-19 symptoms. The item goes on to add that studies from Wuhan in China from where this strain of virus took off had also found false negative reports.

Two persons who have succumbed while in isolation were admitted because they showed symptoms of the novel corona virus. CM immediately jumped on television to claim their tests were negative. It is nothing else but stage management of the statistics to show Goa does not have a Covid-19 death.

Another individual was discharged from quarantine when his reports came negative only to summon him back after another set of tests came positive.

Yet another patient visited GMC 5 times in as many days complaining of fever and sore throat but was not admitted. On the seventh day the authorities had to rush to his residence to bring him in as he tested positive.

This is an indication that these tests are not 100 percent accurate and as studies in China has collated false negative reports can be as high as 30 percent.

Are these instances not enough to say that the chief minister doesn’t really understand whatever his saying and doing?

Secondly around 8000 seafarers are stranded in the seas in faraway international waters for more than a month and chief minister Pramod Sawant and his NRI Commissioner Narendra Sawaikar has no clue how to tackle the situation to bring them back.

Retired seafarers including captains of the ship have provided detailed inputs to embark upon a plan to bring back the seafarers, but the bunch of jokers in the cabinet including the chief minister has throw the ball in the Union government’s court simply because the clowns in the Goa cabinet are incapable of applying its mind.

This ineffective, weak and useless chief minister of Goa and his sidekick the NRI commissioner has to understand these seafarers have brought precious foreign currency into India and during this crucial juncture the government is deserting them.

Thirdly when even the public is sensitized about social and physical distancing, government servants mostly teachers are packed in the hall throwing all caution to wind to train them to conduct a survey in the state.

Nisser Dias

This exercise by the government is an exercise in futility or rather maybe to enter the expenses in the account books. We should not lose sight of the fact the state government has receive Rs. 6 crores as initial payment and have to receive another Rs. 5 crores to fight the pandemic Covid-19. Whether the money would be sincerely used for the purpose or diverted elsewhere by smudging accounts is a question mark.

The government should have roped in panchayat members to carry out this survey in their respective wards and immediately taken up ‘testing and tracing’ on war footing instead of roping 7000 government servants to do it. With this move the government has violated its own lockdown.

Chief minister Sawant is not capable of comprehending the situation because he is not at all practical or pragmatic in his approach to fight this pandemic virus, but is just theoretical.

For the BJP government in Goa Covid-19 is event and chief minister is the stage manager.

By Nisser Dias – Chief Minister has goofed up big time in Goa on Covid-19.

Chief Minister Dr. Pramod Sawant

Is Goa safe in the hands of the chief minister in these trying times? This is the question that keeps popping up in my mind while observing and analyzing the battle against Covid-19. With three Goans testing positive the answer to this is emphatically NO.

On 20^th March 2020, chief minister Pramod Sawant made a statement to the media that he was not aware of the seriousness and the gravity of corona virus and realized only after communicating with the Prime Minister Narendra Modi via video conferencing. Can one imagine this coming from an individual who is supposedly an ayurvedic doctor? His qualification and credentials are in doubt too.

More than 21,500 persons have fallen prey worldwide to this novel virus at the time of writing this article, but the chief minister did not know this.

Since 23r^d March a day after Janata Curfew, the state has been plunged into utter chaos by the irresponsible chief minister by extending the curfew without applying any mind to how the masses are going feed themselves and their families.

That Sawant was clueless about handling the situation was exposed when he allowed stores and markets to be open from 6.00am to 11.00am and then ordered its closure. This was completely idiotic. It laid bare his capabilities of running state administration.

Secondly, he ordered migrants or domestic tourists to leave Goa or threatened to quarantine them. Then he asks them to stay put. This is childish and showcases his ignorance. How could migrants and tourists leave the state when all modes of transport were shut?

He casually says lockdown and curfew. I doubt whether he even knows the difference between the two words? Does he know the impact it will have on the state’s economy? As it is Goa’s financial situation is in the red and he is taking loans of more than Rs. 100 crores almost every month.

With no money coming in due to lockdown he is digging a deeper grave for the state finances.

Sawant has not applied his mind how to provide groceries or provisions to the masses. From 23^rd March he should have drawn up a plan of supply chains and lines to make food items available for the masses but he did not. Maybe it did not even strike him that people need to eat. This is the very reason the lockdown and curfew has been a total failure.

General public are moving about freely, there is crowding even if a shop or vegetable is open. And the reason is the government has snapped the supply chains and links. People are venturing out in search of food. They have to feed their families. They have to feed their infants and toddlers and kids and senior citizens.

CM is now trying to shut the stable doors when the horses have bolted. He should have listened when his health minister Vishwajit Rane had advised him to seal the borders and allow only essential commodities to come in.

Nisser Dias

Second most important, could the chief minister spell out his plans during the lockdown period? Has he any plans in place to start testing the general public? Has he initiated the process of procuring the equipment required for testing? Has he the necessary masks, scrubs, covers for the doctors, nurses and others involved? Has he worked out a plan on how the doctors and nurses are going to work? Has he made arrangements for ventilators? Has he made arrangements to take over private hospitals under Endemic Act?

Pramod Sawant is a complete failure. Till last week he was campaigning for his BJP Zilla candidates. During press conferences he would advocate social distancing and then address political meetings contrary to his advice. He wasted precious weeks by taking Covid-19 virus casually and now he wants to shift the blame on the general public. Such a useless and ineffective chief minister has been placed at the helm of state’s affairs.

Shame on you Mr. Chief Minister. With your low IQ, lack of intelligence and lack of administrative knowledge and experience you do not deserve to be occupying that position. You need to step down and let more capable take over the reins.

I am Goan -- By Nisser Dias

In the first month of January 2020, sweet truth emerged for the Goans from the mouth of a railway officer. Though some may term it as ‘controversial’ or ‘slur’ or ‘insult’. I strongly refer to it as the ‘truth’ nothing but the ‘truth’ but mixed with lack of knowledge of history

It all started with south western railway general manager Ajay Kumar Singh’s spat with a delegation of Goans led by Cortalim BJP MLA Alina Saldanha.

To Alina’s objections of double tracking of railway lines as it would cause damage to Goan houses which are 500 years old, Singh retorted, "India has houses that are 5,000 years old. Goans were the invading force who came about 500 years back. When you all came, you also must have destroyed houses here...By you I meant Portuguese."

By this Singh supposed we were Portuguese-Goans or from Portuguese lineage and ancestry.

To this BJP MLA Alina’s countered stating we are Indians.

Both of them were wrong, we are neither Portuguese nor Indians. We are ‘Goans’ in capital letters.

Firstly Goa was never the land-mass of India, millions of years back we drifted from European continent and attached itself to currently where we are.

Secondly when the fight for India’s independence from the British rule began, Mahatma Gandhi travelled the length and breadth of India by train as the initial steps towards independence from the colonial rulers.

There is no history of the great Bapu visiting Goa ever, this is a clear indication that Goa was never part of India.

Thirdly India was freed from the British rulers in 1947 and Goans had to request the Indian government to free Goa from Portuguese shackles in 1961 that is 14 years after India got its independence. Indians came, Portuguese fled but Indians never left Goa too.

 To commemorate that we were liberated from the Portuguese and we continue to celebrate our Liberation Day. In real sense we were never gained independence.

Alina Saldanha and Ajay Kumar Singh

We were cornered by India. They took our huge tracks of land and gave it to the Indian Navy and the army. They even took our civilian airport and turned it into a naval base. They took our mineral ore and paid us only royality and foreign currency earned from tourism industry and from our Goan brethren working abroad is being deposited in Indian banks. What is the benefit for us?

The Indian Constitution too was authored much before Goa was freed. Hence interest of Goa are not reflecting in it, but we are forced to abide by it.

Diverting a bit. Union government headed by the BJP has spent precious Rs. 3000 crores to build the statute of Unity in honour of Sardar Vallabhbhai Patel.

Patel is recognized as the person behind the unification of India after the departure of British in 1947. He oversaw the incorporation of more than 550 princely states into the Indian union, thereby blocking splitting of a country into miniature nations.

This is the proof that princely states fought the British and then were incorporated in the Indian Union. That is where ‘Unity in Diversity’ was coined.

Goa was not even in the picture during this amalgamation of princely states into Indian state, nor did Sardar Vallabhbhai Patel even try to incorporate Goa into India. Yet another indicator that Goa was never part of India.

During Jawaharlal Nehru’s visit to Goa after being liberated from the Portuguese, he said Goa and Goans were different and promised Goa would be accorded different status. Sadly it never got done and the fault can squarely be placed on the shoulders of the politicians who were elected after liberation and immediately thereafter. 

Like Nehru’s observation, Goans are different. I cannot be Portuguese, I cannot be Indian simply because I am Goan.

‘Journalists kindred souls’ exposed to abuses of power. GUJ a spineless entity. - By Nisser Dias

Freedom of the media has been deteriorating around the country over the past 5 years. In Goa muzzling of the media began much earlier. It roughly began during the reign of Luizinho Faleiro as chief minister and was carried forward by late Manohar Parrikar.

Parrikar used not only schemes to lure journalists, he even offered party tickets to contest elections. Those whom he could not entice or tame, he abused them during media briefings.

Hence the recent taunting of a journalist by Fatorda MLA Vijay Sardessai at his party office in Panjim does not come as a surprise. This politician is undoubtedly a control freak. He just wants to have total control over journalists.

He does have some journalists lapping him all over, he does have journalists doing his PR work, allegedly there are snitches among the journalist fraternity who pass information to him and there are others who even send video and audio clippings to him.

But there are other journalists who are true to journalism and care two hoots for his chips and goodies. These guys have the courage to ask him embarrassing questions. These are the type of journalists he abhors and resort to insulting and abusing them.

At the moment he is a spent force, he was stripped of his powers. Non-Goan chief minister of Goa has questioned Vijay’s growing graph of wealth. His construction at the residence has been stayed hence the frustration.

These are concerted attempts by the politicians to throttle the independence of the press. These are signs of repression. Because of few journalists who display guts and grits to question politicians is what keeps the light of journalism being extinguished.

The Fatorda legislator, who sold his soul for power and was then unceremoniously dropped as deputy chief minister of Goa should first know that journalism, is all about asking questions till the truth is unearthed. Press conference or briefing is held so that the journalists can get an opportunity to question otherwise press-note could be issued.

Press briefing is not about journalists taking dictation, journalists are not stenographers. Briefings are about cross-examination, it is about finding the truth among the heap of lies that politician adopt to show themselves in good stead. For politicians like Vijay lies are “alternative facts.”

Thus Sardessai’s outburst of being cross-examined by the media at a press conference is misplaced and tantamount to abuse of journalists and demeaning its freedom of press.

The erosion of press freedom is both a symptom of and a contributor to the breakdown of democratic institutions and principles. Legislators like Fatorda MLA thrive is such situations and condition.

Goa Union of Journalist is just toothless identity. The union does not have the spine to take on erring politicians. After some explosion on the social media, things are back to normal. The journalist who was abused has to swallow the insult and get on with his work.

The executive committee of the GUJ should try to bring unity among journalists. GUJ should urge its members to boycott Sardessai’s functions in his offices or in his fiefdom and instead direct him to address the media in the press-rooms. Fatorda MLA should not be even given importance during state functions or other events.

He should be made to realize the importance of journalism and journalists and that they are not his secretaries to take down dictation.

But what can you expect of individuals who have come into public life after spending major part of his life in the company of anti-social elements, the mannerism learnt and adopted with goons and the likes tend to surface when dealing with civilized world.

The language that the Fatorda MLA used to abuse the journalist, smacks of such attitude.

Nisser Dias

Now coming to the ‘regret’ expressed by Vijay Sardessai. It is ridiculous for GUJ to even accept it as sincere regret. He clearly says that he does not feel his statements were unwarranted and unethical. He regrets that Goa Union of Journalists and its member Harish Volvoikar felt it that way. There is absolutely no genuineness and sincerity in his regret. That is Vijay Sardessai.

And for the journalist’s body to even accept it is hogwash and outright nonsense and injustice to Harish Volvoikar. By accepting it as ‘regret’ GUJ has exposed itself as spineless and incapable of safeguarding the rights and freedom of journalists and journalism.