Well done, Rane, but Goa's tinderbox begs... By Valmiki Faleiro
Even if a bit belatedly, Goa Chief Minister Pratapsing Rane displayed he can act if he has the will. His handling of the so-called *communal* flare up in Curchorem deserves praise. Had he done last Friday evening itself, when police intelligence was available, what he did March 4, a lot of damage would perhaps be averted. He visited the area, sternly warned the trouble mongers, and called in the CRPF and RAF. His cabinet resolved to compensate innocent victims. Lost innocence, however, cannot be compensated and one hopes that Time, the great healer, will. There is no doubt that the Sanvordem-Curchorem trouble was inspired, instigated and orchestrated as part of a perverse political strategy to polarize vote banks. Rane must order a judicial probe into this disturbing trend, once police formalities are over. And, more importantly, address the larger issues underlying public ire that stare Goa in the face. Like migrants, an issue which the Congress tries to push under the carpet and the BJP cleverly uses as a mask. No gainsaying that nature abhors vacuum and migrants will fill in the void left by natives. Imagine the fate of the construction industry, for example, if migrants were chased away. From unskilled labourers to shuttering carpenters, from steel bar benders to plastering masons, from plumbers to painters, from tile fitters to paving layers -- we depend almost entirely on migrants. That is the stark reality. Migrants need not be painted in a single brush. Like almost anything else in life, they too come in categories. We must be wary of those that leave social and economic friction at the local level. Of the type who ply all kinds of things on our beaches that give tourism a bad name in Goa. Or the ones who help spread malaria by day and prowl into housebreaks by night. Or the migrant vendor, who is slowly elbowing out the local counterpart... Look into any of Goa's markets. From vegetable and fruit vendors in Curchorem, to the fish vendors in Canacona, from the SPDA and Gandhi markets of Margao to the Friday market at Mapusa. In Margao, migrants actually outnumber local vendors. This has spewed social tensions. Pent-up angst showed in the manner perfectly peace-loving and sensible Goans so easily fell victim to rumour, closed their shops, took to the streets and acted almost insane in Curchorem. The problem of white-collared migrants has surfaced before. The government of Manohar Parrikar actually hounded activists of the Goa Hitrakkan Manch, sons of the soil, like how municipal staff hound local vendors who sit at odd places and refuse paying bribes (as migrants do.) There is the other issue that has full potential of easily stirring emotion: mushrooming religious structures, few of which are legitimate, several illegal and on public land. Time, for instance, was when Margao had two mosques, one Sunni, the other Agha Khani. Over years and increasing legitimate needs, two more Sunni mosques were constructed, at Chandravaddo and Sirvodem. (It is another sad, but true, story of the legitimate Muslim need for a burial ground around Margao not seeing the light of the day -- despite the willingness of the community to purchase land at market rates. Reflects badly on Goa, as a civilized place!) During the last few years, however, about a dozen mosques have sprouted all over. The Muslim segment of migrants is without doubt the smaller fraction of migrants, the bigger one being the Hindu and a minuscule one being the Christian (mostly from Kerala) -- in proportion to overall ratios in India. Despite the far larger numbers of Hindu migrants, not a single new temple has been built nor clamoured. Comparisons are odious, but these are the underlying problems that fill Goa's tinderbox. Problems that can be brushed aside only at Goa's peril. Problems that offer fertile hunting grounds to political fundamentalism that borders on lunacy. Problems that need to be addressed, by the government of the day, up front. Before Goa throws up its own Adolf Hitler. (ENDS) ============================================================================== The above article appeared in the March 7, 2006 edition of The Herald, Goa