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International Cuisine Conference on Traditional Asian Diet
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CORRUPTION AND COMMUNALISM.
Averthanus L. D'Souza.
People, even so-called "well educated" people (including professionals, as
it turns out) tend to become victims of their own lack of critical thinking.
There is a tendency to get caught up in over-simplified categories. There is
also the common practice of stereotyping. The issue of corruption versus
communalism is typical of this common error.
In the recent debates prior to the elections to the State's Legislative
Assembly, one of the main issues was the choice to be made between a
political party notorious for its corrupt Ministers and M.L.As and another
party perceived to be communal.. The common perception, as revealed in many
letters to the Editors of newspapers, and many articles was that one could
make a clear-cut distinction between the corrupt and the communal.
Over-simplification and stereotyping was strongly evident here. The BJP was
projected as being communal, and the Congress was denounced as being corrupt
and tolerating corruption among its candidates. The General Secretary of the
AICC in charge of Goa even went to the extent of declaring publicly that one
could not have politics without corruption. According to her corruption was
inevitable in politics.
The absence of critical thinking, however, became evident in the fact that
people, (even professionals and other educated people) perceived corruption
as a personal trait; they saw individual politicians who had a reputation of
being personally corrupt - people who had amassed personal wealth totally
disproportionate to the known sources of their incomes; people who started
out poor and acquired assets while in political power. It was these
individuals that came under attack by the general public. The pity is that
the Goan electorate did not pay sufficient attention to a form of corruption
which is even more destructive of democracy than the personal acquisition of
wealth. The Congress Party was - and still is - seen to harbour corrupt
individuals. The BJP as a political party is seen to be less corrupt.
However, careful analysis will show that the BJP has corrupted the very
system of government more systematically and more pervasively than any
Congress government. Corrupting the "system" of government is far more
lethal to democracy than the corruption indulged in by individuals.
In the run up to the election, a group of doctors - mostly living abroad -
placed a prominent advertisement is some of the local newspapers urging the
electorate to vote for Manohar Parrikar and the BJP because he was perceived
to be "honest" and "efficient" as an administrator. One would have expected
"professionals" to have made a more critical analysis of the political
environment in Goa, instead of falling prey to the stereotyping and
sloganeering which is common to the less enlightened citizens. If they are
applied their "critical" minds to the situation they would have seen that
the Parrikar government had actually created an "alternative" structure of
government while he was in the saddle of the Chief Minister. He ignored all
the Departments of the government and set up parallel "Corporations" to do
the work which these Departments were supposed to do. In the bargain, he not
only overburdened the public exchequer, but also provided a conduit to
divert public money to private operators - most (if not all) of whom were
known to be active supporters of his brand of politics - which is the
Hindutva brand of politics. Even the preparation of a highly controversial
CD portraying the so-called liberation struggle of Goa from the Portuguese
was entrusted to a rabid RSS movie maker from Bombay (Mumbai), who
completely distorted facts to suit the purpose of the RSS.
When discussing the issue of "communalism" in Goa, we once again come up
against an uncritical acceptance of a word which has a multiplicity of
meanings and implications. Communalism has always been prevalent in Goan
society. The Saraswat Brahmin (whether Hindu or Catholic) distinguishes
himself from the Bhandari and from the Gawda We have a "Bahujan Samaj" which
strives to attain political influence on par with the Brahmin. The division
according to caste is not anything new to Goa. It did not originate with the
BJP. The caste divisions existed in a social balance (however unfair) which
did not provoke people to murder one another.
The RSS and its political instrument the BJP, as well as its student wing,
the youth wing and other wings (the ABVP, the VHP etc.) have introduced a
completely new and toxic element into Goan society. This is a political
ideology which is fascist in nature and based on cultural norms which are
alien to Hindu religion and to Hindu society. The opposition to
"communalism" is, in reality, opposition to this fascist ideology which is
based on the principle that only Hindus can inhabit India. Non Hindus are
allowed to live here only by sufferance and at the mercy of the RSS. They
have no political rights and can claim no privileges. The writings of Veer
Savarkar, M.S. Golwalkar, K.B. Hedgewar and Deen Dayal Upadhyaya are very
explicit on this. The BJP tries to put on a camouflage of "secularism" in
order to gain political mileage in elections. It even inducts gullible
Christians and Muslims into its ranks, again, to project an image of being
secular. But these are only masks which should not fool intelligent people.
The "communalism" promoted by the BJP - at the behest of the RSS - is an
implacable opposition between Hindus and all other minorities; not only
religious minorities but also cultural minorities such as scheduled tribes,
scheduled castes and other backward economic and cultural classes.
The Global Network of Goan Professionals as well as other thinking Goans
should not be seduced by the myths of "honest" and "efficient" leadership of
Manohar Parrikar and his Bharatiya Janata Party. We are all well aware of
the moral of the story of the wolf in sheep's clothing.
Averthanus L. D'Souza,
D-13, La Marvel Colony,
Dona Paula, Goa 403 004.
Tel: 2453628.
