Uniting for Goa is the need of the hour -- By Jose Maria Miranda

Jose Maria Miranda

Goa will be going to the polls in around seven months’ time. Yet, it seems early to decide which Party will get our vote. Perhaps, none of the Parties, in the fray, will deserve being voted for. And, perhaps, it would, once again, be a negative vote to prevent the rise of an undeserving candidate.

It is rather disheartening that this time too, we could be in a dilemma: Either undeserving candidates thrust on us or if one or two happen to be different, they are unlikely to save their deposits. Hence, a vote for these could only favour an unwanted. People of good standing or of known integrity are generally unwilling to enter politics, solely because these very qualities come in the way of them being elected. Often, they themselves are apprehensive, not so much that they may not be able to resist temptations, but that they may not be strong enough to withstand pressures and thus refuse to sail with the tide. After all, the development of one’s constituency depends often on one’s ability to keep one’s mouth shut or to toe the line. And that is, unfortunately, the sole measure of the representative’s capabilities. Fear of defeat is also a major factor deterring people from venturing into the election arena. And this stems from the fact that good people are generally unwanted by most, because of their unwillingness in obliging law violators. A retired Chief Justice once remarked that corruption starts from the bottom. I beg to differ. It is the elected representatives who have trained their constituents to go ahead with illegalities, generally at a price or in return for votes or other favours. Had, on the contrary, people been warned that illegalities would be punished, we would have not reached a stage where an Act was brought to regularize illegalities.

If our democracy worked well initially, it was solely because our elected representatives and even our bureaucrats were of different mettle. They were generally honest and of impeccable character, who felt that they needed to be accountable to the people. Their conscience demanded that they do what is right and perhaps even feared being dishonest or unscrupulous. People, at times, would accept moral culpability for acts or accidents which they were not directly responsible for. Lal Bahadur Shastri’s offer of resignation, as Railway Minister, was rejected when a train accident in Mahbubnagar killed 112 people in 1956. But, it was eventually accepted when he again insisted on the loss of 144 lives in another mishap, a little later, in Ariyalur in TN. Nehru, while reluctantly accepting his resignation, stated emphatically that he was doing so solely to set an example in constitutional propriety. Can today’s politicians, even those holding the highest positions in the country, ever match the highly dignified behaviour of our revered ex-Prime Minister Shastri?

In Goa, perhaps there are no regrets that Congress was driven out but surely there are that a worse Party was brought to power. Goans are a desperate lot today, having witnessed the betrayal of trust and cheating both by Congress and BJP. We cannot afford it again. Having tasted the inefficient, ineffective and corrupt rule of the first and the equally corrupt, but surely much more destructive and highly despotic rule of the second, we Goans ought to have come together to have a credible Goa-centric Party. But it may remain a distant dream. While there may be dearth of qualities and caliber of leadership in many of us, surely there isn’t of people who love Goa immensely and are angry at the wanton destruction of our land by greedy and unscrupulous politicians and their accomplices. But our inflated egos, minor hurts, crab mentality, suspicious nature of distrusting or mistrusting everyone, doubting one’s sincerity and our inability to sink petty differences for the sake of a greater cause, have stood in the way of us coming together for the love of Goa. Sadly, these shortcomings seem a part of our ethos.

Though surveys and our own assessment indicate large scale discontentment against the present dispensation, we need to be reminded that BJP got a substantial majority in Lok Sabha, despite a vote share of only 31%. This is sure to happen if anti-BJP forces do not unite in Goa. It is difficult to convince political leaders to stay away, particularly when they overestimate themselves or have other dubious reasons to contest. But that is not the case with the group of credible citizens and spirited activists who have come together with the sole desire of uniting for Mother Goa. They are genuine and selfless and their love for Goa can never be in doubt. But for these very reasons, it may be imprudent for them, at this stage, to turn into a political force, giving margin to further vote splits and defeating the very purpose of their unity.

Our greatest blessing in this country has been the united efforts of Opposition parties to derail the obnoxious and determined plans of the BJP to impose their agenda of religious and casteist hatred among the people of India. Besides the minorities, the dalits and a good section of students are also up in arms. The BJP will not have it easy in the country. But when parties from various regions, with different ideologies can unite because the need of the hour is not to allow a greater enemy to rise, why can’t this smallest State emulate them, if our love for Goa is sincere and we are willing to put its interests above our own? Is it too much of a sacrifice for our land and our people?