Vote for Tony Dias in Benaulim constituency is a vote for ‘chemical’ Ibrahim – By Nisser Dias

Tony Dias

Mahatma Gandhi once said, “Be the change that you wish to see in the world.” What he meant was change for good and not for worse. Goa is going to polls and voters are going to cast their ballot on 14th February to bring about a change. While some parties and candidates are pleading for another chance to bring about a change others are urging to bring about a change by discarding old legislators and electing new faces to bring about a change. But in Benaulim it is a catch-22 situation for the voters. On one side we have the infamous jumping jack in Churchill Alemao who uses, misuses, abuses and discards political parties every five years and sometimes even mid-way. This time round he is contesting on TMC party and singing praises of Mamta Banerjee like a canary. On the other hand Congress party has fielded Tony Dias. This is interesting and dangerous at the same time. Though a new face in the political cauldron, he was an aspirant for TMC candidature 48 hours before he joined the Congress and was anointed for the party ticket side-lining five other aspirants. It is an open secret that he found favour with the party’s high and low command because of the influence of the notorious fish importer Ibrahim Maulana popularly known as ‘chemical’ or ‘formalin’ Ibrahim.

Ibrahim Maulana

In 2018 Goans were horrified to learn that raids conducted by the Food and Drugs Administration on the imported fish brought into the state by Ibrahim and his cronies had proved to be positive for being laced with carcinogenic chemical ‘formalin’. Formalin is a toxic chemical used to preserve bodies and prevent its decay in mortuaries. Chemical Ibrahim’s close rapport with former Congress chief minister Digambar Kamat and deputy chief minister in the BJP government and Goa Forward founder Vijay Sardessai is well known. This disreputable fish mafia chief used his links with Digambar and Vijay to corner the Congress ticket for Tony Dias so as to strengthen his hold and influence on decision making in the future. It is also well known that Ibrahim is also financing and funding Dias election campaign so as to ensure his victory. His ulterior motive is to form a lobby and continue to flood Goa with laced fish at the cost of health of gullible fish loving Goans. Which means that voting for Congress in Benaulim or Tony Dias would be strengthening the hands of ‘Chemical’ or ‘formalin’ Ibrahim, which is not the change we need to see.