(An opinion forwarded to Herald on 28/8/2010. AN OPINION DELAYED IS AN
OPINION DENIED)
The recent proposal to carve out a third district for Goa is nothing new.
Such a ridiculous proposal was first heard of under the NDA rule in 2002. It
is nothing but the British tactic of 'divide and rule'. The larger plan
seems to be aimed at administratively reducing the entire State of Goa to
just three city corporations and thereby do away with the Village
Panchayats. Just like Mahatma Gandhi believed that India is in its villages,
Goa too is in its villages. Destroying the villages of Goa is about
destroying Goa.
This latest proposal for a third district only manifests the government's
intentions for rapidly urbanising Goa's villages, by destroying agriculture
lands, forests, orchards and constructing mega housing projects to
accomodate the huge influx of migrants in every nook and corner of the
State, with the tacit support from all the national political parties that
only shed crocodile tears on the plight of goans. The ultimate design is to
minimise goan political influence, erase the cultural identity and destroy
the sustainable livelihood options of the goan people and ultimately enslave
them into being arm-twisted by the union government. The merger into
Maharashtra, which could not be achieved after liberation by several freedom
fighters and MGP, is only being forwarded now in a round-about manner. It
needs to be remembered that in 1967 the Indian Government had no choice but
to prevent any dissent in Goa by winning over the hearts and minds of the
goan people because of the pending dispute of Goa's annexation in the U.N.
That explains the opinion poll.
As long as goans do not understand the larger issues involved in the various
struggles of Adivasis and the North East people, they are doomed. Those
struggles are not just about geographical and political history. What is
being done to Goa is also being attempted in those regions. There is no
underlying intention of those people to secede from the Indian State as is
being projected, but theirs is a struggle to safeguard their social,
cultural and political identity.
The recent propaganda by some politicians in the Congress party, that Pt.
Nehru would have granted special status to Goa at the time of liberation had
it been asked for then, is nothing but rubbish. It is like expecting a new
born child to ask it's parents to invest in security deposits that will be
needed for the future. If the Congress can negotiate a consensus among
political parties to approve a controversial Nuclear Bill, what prevents the
Congress party from celebrating Pt. Nehru's love for goans by granting
'Special Status' even now? Does Sonia Gandhi and Rahul Gandhi not love Goa?
And for that matter do not many in the BJP, NCP and CPI also love Goa and
it's culture?
Goans should not be surprised that like in the case of Belgaum, voices will
soon be raised to demand it's merger into Maharashtra or Karnataka. ' Vishal
Gomantak' sounds familiar, is'nt it? The much hyped development and
administrative realignment of Goa is all about killing goans softly, and
nothing else.
Soter D'Souza
Socorro
