Every elections some of us predict the death of Goa in the same way some
pessimists predict the death of India as a democracy. For such people Indian
elections are a tamasha or a that makes its round every five years. In more
than one way, Indian elections are a theatrical exercise. Many have described
it as aya ram, gaya ram syndrome.
Even as it looks like a farce for western observers and political pundits, the
elections are the strength of Indian democracy. No doubt many will agree that
Indian democracy is indeed mobocracy. The shouting, the hate speeches, the
vilification of rivals, the horse-trading, the jumping jacks from one party to
another and, lastly, the collection of fronts by whatever name they can conjure
up, just like a magician.
Since the first elections in Goa, many things have changed yet they appear to
be the same. The voting class is perhaps more educated. It may not be
responsible in selecting who to vote. But given the slate of candidates from
each party, the voter is faced with a Hobson's Choice.
If you see the TV commercials, one with the filmstar Amir Khan, pleading with
voters to cast their vote, it makes one wonder whether such TV messages go to
the minds -- and hearts -- of the voters.
One commercial says that if a voter does not vote, then the voter must be
asleep. So, Tata tea is the remedy to keep awake -- and vote. The elections
make for good TV images, as the great Canadian media guru Marshall McLuhan
said, The Medium is the Message. In Indian elections, the messages gets complex
because of the variety of parties and their manifestoes on which the ink dries
up immediately after the elections, particularly of the winning party or
parties. A coalition further confuses and confounds the message.
The national parties in Goa are also promising the moon and the waters of the
Mandovi in every home. Some of them want to do away with SEZ and some, on
winning, would do away with your daily pez. Some of them may want to preserve
Goan identity but perhaps do not know the formula for it. A few wish guys on
the forum think they have the formula, which is unworkable in the current
circumstances in Goa. Goan identity to be saved and preserved remains in the
hands of Goans themselves. How best they do if another matter.
Those who have predicted Goa's death, let me remind them it would not come with
this elections or with future elections. If one believes that the slow death
Goan identity is undergoing, in fact, means that the death of Goa is nearing,
it is then in the realm of the posibility. Give or take another 50 years for it
to become a reality. It would be an emotional death, not physical.
Why are some of us going to great lengths to make such gloomy forecast? Why
can't they concentrate on the political realities of the day? To say that no
matter who or which party is elected to power, it would still mean the death of
Goa is to write our own obituary. I know that the whole Goan environment
appears hopeless. Could we still retain hope under the shadow of death?
Having written this, I lay exposed to those who may choose to hit back at me
saying that, I as a non-resident Goan, would care less if Goa dies or is in the
throes of death. I care and many of us living abroad do and we are aware that
we can make no or little difference. Some of us here have said that Goan NRIs
could have a big voice in Goan politics. I do hope it happens some day, though
Goa-based NRI critics would tell us to come to Goa and make the difference. Or,
they would tell us to put our money where our mouths are. Such criticism is
easy to hurl those who are having foreign citizenships, even though some of us
may have dual citizenship. In a way, Goan NRIs working in foreign lands,
particularly in the Middle East, can escape such criticism, even though some of
them are living in such places for more than two decades. In the past, Goan
NRIs have fallen for the dangling carrot by politicians who promise to look
after the woes, such as losing
illegally their homes and landsto relatives and tenants. These promises are
nothing more than differential politics. Goan NRIs do not constitute a bloc
of voters. Patronising Goan NRIs is part of the larger scheme of getting
monetary support for campaign funds of individual politicians or the party.
As I have said before on this forum, there is no politician worth his salt to
deserve a vote. As some have pointed out in the case of the South Goa
parliamentary election that Mathany Saldanha is the best bet while at least one
former goanetter has called to support the lone lady candidate, an unknown
quantity, on other forums. If strategic voting is considered then Mathany
could be the man to elect. The voters would have to ignore his political
sommersaults or his deafening silence in the assembly when he was a minister.
Even in the circling gloom of the financial crisis, there is a ray of hope that
things will look better in a
