goanet-digest Wednesday, June 12 2002 Volume 01 : Number 4073
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In this issue:
[Goanet] OBITUARY: YVONNE D'COSTA, COLUMBUS, OHIO, USA
[Goanet] OUTLOOK: Feni, Vidi, Vici Again
[Goanet] OUTLOOK: I am RSS, so I am not communal - Parrikar
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Date: Wed, 12 Jun 2002 09:52:37 EDT
From: [EMAIL PROTECTED]
Subject: [Goanet] OBITUARY: YVONNE D'COSTA, COLUMBUS, OHIO, USA
- -----------------------=20
OBITUARY=20
Yvonne Teresa (Soares) D=92Costa, retired school psychologist for the Columb=
us=20
Public Schools, succumbed to her chronic heart and diabetes ailments on=20
Sunday morning. She was the beloved wife of 43 years of Ayres D=92Costa (a=20
professor at the Ohio State University College of Education), mother of Rob=20
(Melissa) D=92Costa, and mother-aunt of Divya and Jitesh Soares. Yvonne was=20
preceded in death by her parents Aloysius and Priscilla Soares and by her=20
siblings Grace, Iris, Vincent, Ernest and Joseph Soares. Her loss is deeply=20
mourned by her brothers Aloysius and Maurice, sisters Angela, Eileen and=20
Barbara, sisters-in-law Martha, Freda and Vilma Soares, brother-in-law Alber=
t=20
Fernandes and many nephews, nieces, great nephews and nieces, and friends.=20
Yvonne=92s career began as a school teacher at Our Lady of Perpetual Succour=
in=20
Bombay, India. She also spent much of her time with Mother Theresa=92s order=
,=20
helping the poor and orphaned children in Calcutta, India. She came to the=20
United States with Ayres in 1963 and graduated with a Master=92s Degree in=20
Education from Ohio University. She spent most of her working career with th=
e=20
Columbus Public Schools focusing on the educational needs of handicapped=20
children. Yvonne was also a very active member of St. Anthony=92s Catholic=20
Church and a strong advocate for the disabled. She had a great appreciation=20
for the arts and was a very talented pianist. She will be most remembered=20
for her incredible sense of humor.=20
Friends and family are invited to calling hours on Wednesday, June 12, at=20
Schoedinger Funeral Home, 5554 Karl Road, Columbus, Ohio 43229. The Mass of=20
Christian Burial will be at 2 pm on Thursday, June 13 at St. Anthony=92s=20
Catholic Church, 1300 Urban Drive, Columbus, Ohio 43229 followed by burial=20
service at Kingwood Memorial Park, 8230 Columbus Pike (U.S. Route 23), Lewis=
=20
Center, Ohio 43035. In lieu of flowers, please make donations to the America=
n=20
Heart Association in Yvonne=92s honor.=20
- ------------------------------
------------------------------
Date: Wed, 12 Jun 2002 21:25:24 -0700
From: Frederick Noronha <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>
Subject: [Goanet] OUTLOOK: Feni, Vidi, Vici Again
GOA
Feni, Vidi, Vici Again [From Outlook www.outlookindia.com]
Call it the new polar cap. A hard, Gujarat-focused campaign by the Congress=
=20
backfires and the BJP pockets a fourth state.
MANU JOSEPH
http://www.outlookindia.com/full.asp?sid=3D1&fodname=3D20020617&fname=3DGoa+=
%28F%29
If you throw a can of Kingfisher in Goa, it will hit a former chief=20
minister. There are so many of them around. In the last 12 years alone,=20
there have been 13. But even in this crowd, the new CM, Manohar Parrikar,=20
stands out for having pulled off an incredible victory. In his last tenure,=
=20
before his government fell, he was the first BJP CM in a state that may=20
have never dreamt two years ago that such a day would come. Now he's back=20
with a bang, proving all his detractors in Panaji wrong.
Appropriately, only the Goan Magicians Guild guessed the outcome of the=20
polls correctly when they opened a sealed box after the election results=20
and revealed their prediction.
Father Valeriano Vaz "In Panaji, over 3,000 names, mostly belonging to=20
Christians, went missing from the voters list. The list was manipulated by=
=20
state machinery."
Seventeen seats to the BJP and 16 to the Congress. They were right because=
=20
they were magicians and not political analysts. But if the BJP high command=
=20
wants to point to the surprise in Goa and say that its merchandise is=20
working in the "nation", it will be a somewhat desperate analysis.
Before the elections, the Congress and the Nationalist Congress Party shot=
=20
themselves in their own foot. Says former chief minister and Congress=20
leader Pratap Singh Rane, "The Congress ruined itself by gross infighting.=
=20
The people were just fed up." And there are accusations against the BJP,=20
that it illegally wooed voters before the elections by promising many=20
populist social schemes. Another point that speaks against any immediate=20
resurgence of the BJP after Gujarat is the fact that a voter in Goa elects=
=20
"the fellow" in his constituency and not his party. A party in Goa is not=20
political but evidently a provider of alcohol and peanuts.
A factor that contributed to the BJP's win, says the Church, is that voter=
=20
lists were manipulated by "the government machinery". In Panaji, Father=20
Valeriano Vaz from the archbishop's office says, "Over 3,000 names, mostly=
=20
of Christians, went missing." The figure is significant as Parrikar, who=20
contested from Panaji, won with a margin of less than 2,000. It's the same=
=20
story in other constituencies too. Sisters Jaqlin d'Cunha and Petornila=20
Fernandes, who run a Christian institute for the disabled in old Goa, say=20
they were dropped from the list. The moral of the story is that the success=
=20
of the BJP was more because of, among other things, the Congress' suicide=20
and Parrikar's own image as a man who is progressive and not corrupt. The=20
success of the BJP had nothing to do with any "awakening" of the majority=20
community that makes up for about 70 per cent of the population in the=20
state. But the future may be different.
There is a slow change that has taken roots in a society that has so far=20
made a big fuss about being peaceful. Parrikar calls it "soft=20
polarisation". It's natural, says the first Hindu Brahmin CM in the state,=
=20
"for the majority community to view me as someone who will understand their=
=20
problems". The engineer from IIT Mumbai, who has an easy way about him,=20
comfortable in a loose shirt and trousers and slippers, as though he is=20
still walking from the hostel to his class, says it's very silly to make=20
laws that deliberately and specifically favour the minorities. "Good=20
governance is all that matters," he says.
That was his USP in the elections and among a cross-section of the people=20
including Congressmen who were licking their wounds, not many deny that he=
=20
in fact delivered. Time and again he stresses the point: all he wants is=20
Goa's economic prosperity. "And that's what the Congress, some sections of=
=20
the media and even the Church was opposing.
A corrupt party is fine but not a communal party. Some priests went from=20
home to home asking them not to vote for the BJP. Isn't that communal?"=20
Still, 4.5 per cent of the BJP votes came from Christians. "So, the point=20
is not all Christians think the BJP will come and kill them. It's a fear=20
that's being built up." Despite his obsession with "good governance",=20
scratch the surface and you find something familiar: "Students must know=20
about their culture. I want to make some changes in education (see=20
interview). "
Will he change the history syllabus? Answering that, he knows, will be=20
walking into a minefield. "Whatever I do on that front, I'll take great=20
care to get the opinions of all the concerned sections. I am not fond of=20
controversies." And he hastens to add, "I don't want to dilute my stress on=
=20
good governance with all this." Despite this reassurance, there is a fear=20
that he is hinting to the majority community=97through questionable=20
recruitment in the administration and police force=97that he has their=20
interests in mind.
Father Vaz, whose business it is to collate political matters for the=20
Church, calls it "the agenda". He says Christians were "systematically"=20
denied promotions or sidelined for posts like director of education,=20
director of prosecution and director of sports. "He's given away the=20
infrastructure of some 15 to 20 defunct schools to trusts floated by the=20
RSS." The CM doesn't deny this. "There are another 69 schools I want to=20
give away. To anybody who is interested in taking up these projects. I have=
=20
even asked the Church to come forward." But Vaz points out, "That's what he=
=20
says when he is questioned. But when he apparently made the offer to the=20
Church, we didn't even know such an offer was being extended."
These were among the "changes" the minority community experienced in the 16=
=20
months of BJP rule before the elections, though Parrikar will insist it was=
=20
18 months, counting the period after the dissolution. It was the fear of=20
this "agenda" that made the Church come out with a circular the moment=20
elections were announced. It asked its people to shun corruption and=20
communalism, which meant the Congress and BJP. But apparently, the sheep in=
=20
many constituencies went astray.
"There was too much money this time," says Father Costa, the parish priest=
=20
of Rosary Church in Navilni where, interestingly, the BJP put up a=20
candidate called Jinnah but later withdrew him. Even the Church admits it's=
=20
not fair to single out the BJP as almost everybody doled out money. Rocky=20
Fernandes, a masseur in Benaulim from where former CM and Congressman=20
Churchill Alemao suffered a shock defeat to BJP ally the United Goans=20
Democratic Party, says, "Two women went around offering Rs 500 to each=20
voter in a family. If there were six voters in a house, they gave Rs 3,000=
=20
after making them swear on the Bible."
So shocked are Congressmen that some of them allege black magic was used to=
=20
defeat them. A lady from Benaulim says, "A goat was beheaded in the middle=
=20
of the night and a man walked near our homes late in the night with the=20
head. The next day, many of us couldn't see the hand symbol on the list=20
when we went to vote." Must be the hangover after drinking for 500 bucks,=20
someone jokes. But Father Costa makes a graver observation. "Before the=20
elections, the Congress tried to use the Gujarat riots by showing a=20
cassette on it to many people. I think in some places, especially north=20
Goa, it backfired. I think the majority community, tired of being accused=20
of being unfair to the minorities, began to see the BJP as its party. It's=
=20
not a mass feeling yet but that factor is slowly creeping in."
Whatever be the reasons that gifted the BJP with another CM, the high=20
command should be very grateful. Till now, it had only three chief=20
ministers. Now it has four. ***
------------------------------
Date: Wed, 12 Jun 2002 21:26:06 -0700
From: Frederick Noronha <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>
Subject: [Goanet] OUTLOOK: I am RSS, so I am not communal - Parrikar
http://www.outlookindia.com/full.asp?sid=3&fodname=20020617&fname=Goa+%28F%29
INTERVIEW
"I Am RSS, So I Am Not Communal"
The BJP's triumphant CM, Manohar Parrikar, spoke to Outlook on the agenda
he has set out for himself and the impact of the Gujarat violence on the
elections in Goa. Excerpts:
What accounts for your success in the elections?
People say we won by default. But I believe that we won because of the good
governance we provided.
Were the Gujarat riots a liability?
Gujarat didn't have any impact on the elections. The Congress tried to
paint us as a communal party who will kill the minorities. But the voters
could see through the lie. My message during the elections was simple: you
are not voting for the CM of Gujarat. You are voting for the CM of Goa.
The BJP was insignificant in Goa till recently. Is there any change in the
outlook of society here?
I think there is a soft polarisation. And it's natural for the majority
community to view me as someone who will understand their problems.
Are you are an RSS man or a chief minister first?
Why can't one be both? I am a staunch RSS man and that's why I'm not
communal. What I have learnt from the RSS is to maintain justice. The RSS
never taught me to be communal.
Apart from good governance, what are the changes you want to bring about?
I want some changes in the educational set-up. Students must know about
their culture. What are the students in Goa learning? They know nothing
about their culture. They don't know anything about the freedom movement.
There is this accusation that you recruited RSS men in the police force...
This is all loose talk. There were 1,800 applications for constables and
other posts in the police force. As many as 1,100 were chosen purely by
merit. The Christian youth in Goa is not interested in the constabulary. So
it may appear as though it is majority community-dominated. That doesn't
mean I have saffronised the police force.
You are charged with giving away about 20 schools to trusts floated by the RSS.
Why 20? There are 69 more. These schools have no students. These are just
buildings and benches. I offer to give this infrastructure away to anybody
who is interested, including the Church. If the RSS has come forward,
what's wrong with that?
There is a fear among Christians in Goa about the BJP. What assurance can
you give them?
Catholics were among those who voted for us. That means they have faith in us.
------------------------------
End of goanet-digest V1 #4073
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