The Catholic as a political football
Frederick Noronha
Elections are near, and it's all so apparent how the Catholic vote is being
used as a political football. Or, is it apparent? Citizens and voters are once
again allowing their feelings, fears and frustrations to get manipulated.
In the past, the big 'C' that frightened everyone among the Catholic voters was
'communalism'. Today, it is 'corruption'. In the 1980s and the 1990s, Congress
governments rode to power on the fears of the minority voter. Then, the
politics and bias of the Maharashtrawadi Gomantak Party was a major concern,
and not without reason.
Later, in the middle and late 1990s, a number of breakaway factions - unhappy
with what their leaders got from the Congress - began to up the ante, and broke
off on their own. Given our electoral system here, most were hugely
unsuccessful in electoral terms, starting with Dr Wilfred de Souza's Goa
Congress.
By the late 1990s, factions thought it fit to waltz with the saffron and
conservative politics of the BJP. This trend, starting with Francisco Sardinha
in 1999 continues till Matanhy Saldanha, a few weeks back - despite the seeming
mismatch with his long protest ideology of the past.
Today, as the BJP's long-unsuccessful attempts to build a Hindu votebank show
signs of coming further unstuck, the party seems keen to woo the minority vote.
Notwithstanding its own statements, stands and strategies of the past.
BJP strategists need full marks for recognising the simplistic understanding
that the minority voters and their thought-leaders have. Corruption is seen
as Number One problem facing Goa today, even if the reality is more complex.
It could be argued that a Congress nominee gets support not only because he is
corrupt (though that helps), but because he also represents a long-deprived
caste group.
Likewise, another Catholic middle-class concern that verges on an obsession is
the need to protect our skyline. While this can be understood, the fear of the
uncertain future can also be manipulated for political purposes, as it indeed
is.
* * *
It is debatable whether citizens have exactly the same interests just because
of their shared religious background. But, even assuming this is the case, the
Catholic voter in Goa gained little by thoughtlessly supporting the Congress
for two decades and more.
If the Congress took the voter for granted, the BJP is seeking to manipulate
the very same voter, in a more sophisticated manner. Manohar Parrikar wants Goa
to believe that he can ride the Marathi-Konkani chauvinism on the MoI issue, at
the same time as fulfilling the aspirations of parents who want to choose the
medium for their children. Suddenly, the issues of (mostly Catholic) seamen
become important enough.
The issue of the minority's abysmal access to government jobs has long been
raised, and often glibly explained away. An earlier BJP government could
simply dismiss the issue of not having a Minority Commission for Goa by noting
that an earlier Congress (Rane) government had itself rejected the idea some
time around 1995 if one recalls right.
Controversial Catholic leaders are built up as much by the ruling as the
Opposition, only to find the wider community itself being mocked and defamed in
mega-headlines when these politicos do, as expected, something very
controversial.
Given our electoral system, many less-empowered groups face a similar fate.
They have a choice of being made use of by Tweedledee and Tweedledum.
Subaltern castes groups, like our aboriginal population - regardless of which
religion they hail from - have been repeatedly used just prior to elections, to
be discarded soon later. When will we wisen up?
http://www.heraldgoa.in/newscategory/Opinions/14
---
Protect Goa's natural beauty
Support Goa's first Tiger Reserve
Sign the petition at: http://www.goanet.org/petition/petition.php
---
