Adverse, Perverse or Worse
Pseudo-activism and cynicism are occupying dissent space
Miguel Braganza
There is an old saying that reads, "Necessity is the mother of all
inventions." What we are seeing these days is the yogic version of this
adage doing the "Sir-asana" or standing on its head. The political necessity
is to invent controversies around the undesirables and to eliminate them
from the running, even before the race begins. In T.B. Cunha hall and nearby
Azad Maidan, the caterpillars of the 'fifty percent bus concessions' were
trying to break free from the cocoons in which they had pupated since the
1980s. The rest of us would do well to remember the lyrics of an old song
goes thus, "It is one step from the jungle to the zoo. You better watch out
or they will get you, too." That is good advice to the people of Goa today.
Let us look at the ABC and LMNOP of Goan politics. A for Alexio Sequeira, B
for Babush Monseratte, C for Churchill Alemao, L for Lourenco, Alex
Reginaldo and M for Mickky Pacheco. That takes care of the catholic
aspirants to the throne. With B and C attacking poor Ravi Naik in the Home
Ministry, the Bhandari challenge can also be eliminated. The Kharvi
community has already been decimated and the finance is beyond their reach.
The GAKUVED champion has already been disciplined and the lone SC Manohar is
so confused between the Gram Sabha and the garam chai that the other Manohar
had recommended him to drink, that he was actually trying to wean away the
BJP strong man as if he was still sporting his political milk teeth!
Whether Parashuram had created Goa with his "Parashu" or battle-axe or by
building the dykes or "Bandh", I am not quite sure. Some of his 'down-lines'
claim that he had shot an arrow from his bow or "dhanush" and that the
khazans of Bandh-halli or Benaulim is a myth created by a Kannada-speaking
Churchill or Mickey Mouse. A devil's advocate apparently parked his car on
the road between the seminary and the DSTE at Pilerne and looked towards the
house of the former Chief Minister who, in the RSS terminology for the
active oldies, is "retired but not tired." He saw a pot of gold rise at the
end of the rainbow or Indra-dhanush. Mythology can be quite educative,
specially Indian mythology. Frederick's village of residence is now
re-christened . Oops! Shuddhikaran-ed .. Dhanushkodi. It is filled with beau
and errors!
Wrote my mentor and sparring partner in Goa's journalism, Frederick Noronha,
in an Op-Ed elsewhere "Is a 14-year-old's tragic struggle with adolescent
crises a good enough excuse for anything?" adding for good measure, "Yet,
for anyone who has the eyes to see, the manipulation that has gone into
pinning down a Babush should be cause enough for worry. An unholy trinity of
inconsistent activists, over-ambitious politicians and sections of a
sensationalist media has come together to cash in on the woes of a
14-year-old."
Frederick rightly emphasizes the point, "Rohit's alleged actions, however
despicable, would have never got highlighted the way they did, if he wasn't
his father's son. Nearly two decades after the Narvekar 'molestation' scam,
one can see a repeat of sex and sensationalism being used to settle scores:
Scores of the political kind." It was histrionics by Prashanti then and by
Prashant later on in life. If Sunita was convenient then, Aires is now.
Advocacy is what they call it in CSO jargon.
"Babush and Ravi Naik have kept busy targeting each other and their rival's
sons. In the meanwhile, the BJP juggernaut takes on both of them. Instead of
displaying sensitivity to a tragedy that could happen to any of today's
parents, sections of the media -- both print and TV-- are reporting this
like a cricket match. Maybe we need to learn from experience." That,
obviously, is hoping for too much!
This year I was in Tiruchirapalli during most of the masquerade. In 1989 I
was writing my M. Sc. thesis in Bangalore. On both occasions I kept track of
the political carnival in Goa, joyfully misreported by the journalists who
behave like stenographers of the politicians. Remembers Frederick, "We all
believed the charges against the Aldona MLA in 1989 It was only later that
the games behind this particular case became more apparent."
"The average citizen only later discovered that then ruling and Opposition
parties could waltz merrily on issues when suited them. The example of the
collusion over the drafting of an unimplementable Official Language Act is a
case in point." He takes the words out of my mouth! Perhaps, I would add the
name of the KPA leader and the then Independent MLA of Margao who is now
even revising his 'roadmap' for development of Konkani that he had presented
at XCHR in October, 2005.
He is not alone. The GBA fought for and obtained the revocation of the RP
2011, for which there was no legal provision when we began the battle on 03
December, 2006. Its former Convener now talks legalese. Wrote fellow
columnist Jason Fernandes in GT dated 22 Oct., 2008, "If we listen to Dr.
Oscar we would have to necessarily condemn the recent actions of the mining
activists in Quepem who blocked the roads to the mines that are destroying
their (and Goa's) access to fresh water. People have a right to protest, but
they don't have a legal right to block roads." It is another matter that
Cheryl, her 85 year old mother, Dora, and her 8 year old daughter were
detained by the police and at least two of them arrested on criminal charges
while the "Unknown" persons who cut 130 trees in the same taluka of Sanguem
to enforce a "bandh" roam scot free!
The final crunch is, however, in Dr. Oscar Rebelo's assertion on TV footage
that two fingers of Adv. Aires Rodrigues had been "cut to the stump" and the
apparently prudent commentary of an activist-turned- "dhirio" artist with
visuals to match. A smiling Adv. Aires addressed a crowded press conference
the very next morning. The night before last [22 Oct]he was allegedly at a
wedding in a mine-owner's hotel at Dona Paula. So was the LoO. An Op-Ed by
him this morning states thus, "I was lucky to escape with only my fingers
dented" and again "The masked men were out for my neck but had to go back
content with damaging the fingers of my right hand." There is no mention of
the word "severing". Stumped? So am I. When the truth is known, so will be
the credibility of some leading 'social activists'. Perhaps, they will get
fingered! (ENDS)
Miguel Braganza's column at:
http://www.goanet.org/index.php?name=News&file=article&sid=482
===========================================================
The above article appeared in the October 24, 2008 edition of Gomantak
Times, Goa
