It's strange that a paper like Herald would encourage a biased as well as lopsided views from Aires Rodrigues in his piece, Poll Day Predictions, distributed over goanet as The Election Scenario. His predictions are no different from those of a common man. Sripad Naik maybe Aires's friend and fellow Ribandarite but his re-election is taken for granted as the grand old doctor, Wilfred de Souza, who Aires calls "grandfather of all political defections in Goa", is the dark horse in this predominantly Hindu constituency. His other prediction that Ramakant Angle will "likely edge Churchill Alemao" is also a general assumption because of past record. But an upset with Churchill winning it as he did against Eduardo Faleira is every much possible. He attacks the BJP as "communal and fundamentalist", a party which, I am told, Aires supported initially. What brought his change of heart is unknown to me. His dislike for the BJP runs contradictory to his support to Naik. True, Willy has played a deadly game for his self-interests. So has Aires in the past when he would go to great length in showing his loyalty to Churchill Alemao. As they say in politics, nothing is steady or permanent, Aires has moved away from Churchill's circle and I presume is now Churchill worst enemy. The political compulsions has brought old enemies like Luizinho Faleiro, Francisco Sardinha and Churchill together. Just few years ago, Faleiro and Sardinha were spewing hatred against Churchill. It shows political vacuum in south Goa that the Congress and the NCP had to settle for Churchill, a defeated candidate in the last parliamentary elections. The UGDP has thrown Auda Viegas, sister of Anacleto Viegas, president of UGDP, into the ring. Some political observers hope that Auda being a municipal councillor and a woman could make it a three-horse race. To me, it would rather be a three-ring circus. At least Rajan Narayan thinks that the UGDP has been bribed by the BJP to field a candidate in order to split the Catholic vote and make it easier for Angle to squeeze through. If the BJP has managed to influence the UGDP as the Goan Observer believes, it is to their credit of their political strategy. After all, elections, like war, depends on using strategic methods to win. Aires also mentions that Pratapsing Rane is under the BJP's "remote control". This again, speaks volumes of BJP's manipulative techniques. Aires blames Willy of having "I-Me-Myself" syndrome. In a piece that seeks to talk about the parliamentary elections, Aires has let himself be part of the story/analysis. He has harped on his role as a student leader before and he has done it again. The piece is not singularly devoted to analysis of the parliamentary elections but touches upon other issues like the police appointments, IFFI, equality of law and his own personal dilemma in who to vote. The salient feature is Aires's dilemma of who to vote -- fellow lawyer Sameer Bandodkar, who was student leader, and a Shiv Sena candidate or Sripad Naik, fellow villager and friend. He feels a bottle of beer who help him make a decision. How ridiculous. One need to be sober to make a good judgment. No wonder Goans seem to vote after consuming liquor and end up voting for "wrong" or "unworthy" candidates. I hope voters don't take the route Aires's has suggested for himself. It's a megroll (kichiddi). The journalism field needs serious political analysts and commentators instead of leaving it to someone like Aires to air his views. He could be consigned to the "letters to the editor" section, where he is a frequent contributor. The article could have been best headlined, Aires's Predictions, Predilections and Predicament.
Eugene Correia __________________________________ Do you Yahoo!? Yahoo! Small Business $15K Web Design Giveaway http://promotions.yahoo.com/design_giveaway/ ########################################################################## # Send submissions for Goanet to [EMAIL PROTECTED] # # PLEASE remember to stay on-topic (related to Goa), and avoid top-posts # # More details on Goanet at http://joingoanet.shorturl.com/ # # Please keep your discussion/tone polite, to reflect respect to others # ##########################################################################
