Having personally watched the proceedings of the Goa Legislative Assembly since I was 10, I was on 27th July truly flabbergasted by the very autocratic and arrogant way Chief Minister Pramod Sawant’s government by its sheer brute majority bull dozed the proceedings in that lightning session and got a mega 21, 056 crore budget swiftly approved in just a few minutes without any debate whatsoever.
It is no surprise that Speaker Rajesh Patnekar was coerced and merrily succumbed to do what he was directed to do. Nevertheless he should have seen the ulterior motives of a failing Government running scared of proper scrutiny and transparency, and done everything to preserve the democratic values of the world’s largest democracy albeit in its smallest state. Even the most dictatorial Governments in the world would have a job competing with the high handed arrogance of the Pramod Sawant led government. The late American President Thomas Jefferson prophetically stated ‘experience has shown that even under the best forms of Government, those entrusted with power, have in time perverted it into tyranny’. The devious, arrogant and dictatorial way in which this Government acted in the People’s Assembly, forcing through important measures like the State Budget without any debate is a slap on the face of the people that elect MLAs and a nail in the coffin of democracy. People rightly expect and demand that these well paid MLAs, respect and uphold the rule of law and democracy by using the Peoples’ Assembly as the forum to properly discuss Government policy, proposed new laws and Budgets. Debates are designed to assist MLAs to reflect the views of their constituents and to reach an informed decision on a subject. It is only then that a vote should be held to conclude a debate. That one day session of which will now be historic, was a brute and autocratic display of political power bypassing all established needs and standards of debating in the Legislature. Pramod Sawant could have instead saved the taxpayers money and held that mock meeting of his MLAs at a Coffee Shop. A State Budget especially at this precarious time where the heavily debt laden economy is in a downward spiral should have been properly presented and fully debated by all MLAs to ensure that the proposals could have been examined, discussed, debated and agreed on to help the many and not just the few. Proper scrutiny is critical to ensure that expenditure and taxation is in the best interests of the people and not wasted on scam vanity projects. Let us all commend the united Opposition for standing up for democracy by trying to stop the government from subverting the will of the people. The people of Goa are very angry in the manner in which this Pramod Sawant government along with his failed and faltering but otherwise so potent Health Minister Vishwajit Rane are mis-handling the current Pandemic. The message from the people of Goa to this kind of abuse of power and a dereliction of duty is inevitably ‘You can run but you cannot hide from public scrutiny. You will always be judged and held to account for your actions”. Mr. Chief Minister, you may continue to rant ‘Bhivpachi Goroj na’ but the ground reality is ‘Hoi, Bhivpachi Goroj Asa ’ not just on account of COVID-19 but also because your government has exceeded all limits of bad governance. Aires Rodrigues Advocate High Court C/G-2, Shopping Complex Ribandar Retreat, Ribandar – Goa – 403006 Mobile No: 9822684372 Office Tel No: (0832) 2444012 Email: airesrodrigu...@gmail.com Or airesrodrig...@yahoo.com You can also reach me on Facebook.com/ AiresRodrigues Twitter@rodrigues_aires www.airesrodrigues.com