WANTED: People who will vote for honest politicians
[With 2010 around the corner, TOI attempts to gauge the state of the state
in the decade up ahead. To start with, Alexander Moniz Barbosa plunges into
the veritable quagmire of Goan governance]
A decade back, at the turn of the century, there was a breakaway faction of
the Congress governing the state in coalition with the Bharatiya Janata
Party that was tasting power in the state for the first time. Ten years,
five governments, a spell of President's rule and umpteen defections later,
Goa enters the next decade of the century hoping that a new crop of
politicians will pull the state out of the morass its leaders have currently
placed it in.
Comment:
Are you talking of umpteen Sarpanches and Municipal corporators who have
been showcased through advertisements across the print media on their
birthdays? Perhaps you are talking of the alleged rapist John Fernandes who
came very close to be one of the off-shoot of this crop?
The harvest of politicians can come only if the electorate begins to vote
differently. "Goa badly needs wise people to elect proper representatives.
The root of the matter is us. We should be the change we want to see. How
to do it is a difficult question to answer, " said advocate and political
observer Udai Bhembre.
Comment:
If wise people's vote must make the difference, then let the constitutional
provision prevail which stipulates that no person can be on the electoral
roll of two states or two places. I am talking about the influx of migrant
voters on Goa's electoral rolls. Advocate Bhembre should attempt to
re-write the constitution of the Indian National Congress and then talk
about the difficulty.
Since the first election to the legislature in 1963, Goan politics has been
characterized by defections. However, it came to be almost
institutionalized in the 1990s, a decade during which Goa saw 11 governments
and two spells of President's rule. If the last decade has seen less
governments, it is definitely not because of lack of defections. Throwing
ideology to the wins, Goa's politicians have changed parties at regular
intervals. Just last week the Congress high command cleared the decks to
welcome two of its Goa prodigals.
Comment:
Congress party has been the nations railway station where anyone can embark
provided one has sufficient amount of baggage full of currency notes. The
Congress ideology got buried or cremated (if one likes) with Mohandas
Karamchand Gandhi.
The Digamber Kamat government about 31 months old, has faced some tense
moments and been on the brink of collapsing, but has somehow managed to
weather the storms to stay in place. While in the past decade there has been
a stability of sorts, political observers hope for more than just stability
in the future.
Comment:
Digamber Kamat is an unusual rubber band which has the capacity to extend to
any length and remain at ease. This is the onliest quality that keeps him in
office where lootmar is the ideology of the day.
"The politics of today, could in the name of stability, throw up a
combination that could be dangerous for Goa. I would call that graveyard
stability. If Goa can throw up people of caliber, then we could have a
change," says political commentator Cleofato A Coutinho.
Comment:
I have just described graveyard political stability above with Digamber
Kamat in charge. Talking of people of caliber, we had and still have
Manohar Parrikar. But this type of caliber is not the caliber which Goa
needs, the caliber that falls flat on the ground like Humpty Dumpty no
matter how many time one puts it back on the wall. And the honorable Adv.
Cleofato could go on his wishful thinking but people of caliber will not
come floating by. One has to go to pains of identifying such caliber with a
powerful torch-light during the day like the Greek Diogenes.
The shenanigans of the politicians in the past two decades has led to a
feeling of anger among sections of the people. Former IAS officer and social
activist Arvind Bhatikar says, "All senior citizens are frustrated not just
because a majority of the politicians lack integrity and honesty, but
because the younger generation are falling prey to monetary benefits. The
solution is with the people. Unless they vote for honest people the
situation will not change"
Comment:
I call Mr. Bhatikar a perfect Ostrich with its head buried in the sand.
First, he will have to search for a system of governance which is bordering
on integrity and then go looking for people to walk the talk. Mr. Bhatikar
took part in 4 of the 10 brainstorming sessions which led to the formation
of the Goa Su-Raj Party and stopped because he found that integrity was high
on the agenda and he couldn't contribute to it. It is the only reason that
can be assigned to his complete disappearance from the scene. It is one
thing to talk about integrity but an altogether another ball game to look it
in the face. With due respect to Mr. Bhatikar, can he write a better
constitution of a political party than what Goa Su-Raj has written? Needless
to say that I am throwing a challenge here. Finding honest people is a hoax.
Writing an honest system is a reality wherein even a hopeless crook can be
made accountable and his attempts to manipulate the system frustrated.
Taking a broader look at politics in the country, analysts say there have
been instances of politicians with integrity making a mark in the rest of
India.
Comment:
Alas! this crop will not last in the corridors of power which is
underwritten in corruption. They will either leave totally dejected and
frustrated or be killed or kill themselves as has happened before. If one
cannot change the road one is walking on, what is the use of walking on the
road you cannot appreciate or is not appreciated?
" Throughout the country, some good people have been thrown up. One thing I
can say is that the element of integrity is coming to the forefront again.
don't see that rainbow in Goa yet, but lets hope we get such people" say
Coutinho".
Comment:
I highly respect Adv. Cleofato Coutinho but I am sorry to say that he is
totally and completely 'blind', and I refuse to accept his statement. If
only he had to read the Constitution and the Road Map for Goa of the Goa
Su-Raj Party, his eyes would be opened wide and he would be able to see a
colourful rainbow infront of him enough to blind him again. This breed of
'know all' is doing a disservice to Goa and Goans. My challenge to Mr.
Bhatikar is renewed herein for Adv. Cleofato. We have heard enough talk in
the air. For a change, let us see some concrete action. Or else it is
prudent that they shut up.
Bhatikar too admits that it won't be easy for an upright man to enter the
legislature. "In this situation it will be very difficult for an honest
person to get elected. Someone has to work towards it, and the number of
these bas to grow"
Comment:
It looks like Mr. Bhatikar comes alive in fits. But it is true what he is
saying. Very powerful words that M.K. Gandhi authored and which words
Barbosa has uttered in this write-up -- 'Be the change you want to see in
the world'. Both Bhatikar and Cleofato can be that change if they want to.
Goa and Goans will surely benefit from it.
There was a period, though brief, some three years ago when the Goa Bachao
Abhiyan (GBA) showed some light at the end of the dark tunnel that Goan
politics has come to be. That light dimmed and extinguished as quickly as it
was lit. "The GBA had the right faces, but lacked the organization." regrets
one political analyst .
Comment:
A week before the GBA was put together I am on record of telling Oscar
Rebello to contest the Panjim seat and that he will win. But a week later,
to my chagrin, he chose to declare himself and the GBA - 'apolitical'. The
reason is that GBA was infiltrated by politicians and wanted to lead it away
from direct confrontation. One has to read Part 1 and Part 2 of Rajan
Parrikar's '[Goanet] Goa Bachao Abhiyan (GBA) - 3 years of deceit' to
understand the subterfuge. The GBA was infiltrated by vested interests from
day one and any doubt of this has been wiped out by Dr. Oscar Rebello's
column 'Opinionated', Herald 23, 2009. GBA had all the makings of the Third
front for the 2007 elections. What a pity that a golden opportunity was
wasted by gullible people like Dr. Oscar Rebello & Patricia Pinto.
Hope, however, is not totally lost. In a rare case of mea culpa by Goan
politicians, speaker Pratapsing Rane at a workshop on sustainable
development organized by the Indian Environment Association (IEA) in June
last said, "Illegal mines in Goa are protected by politicians like me. They
are the ones who are cheating the government and the people of Goa." He went
on to say "there is a lot of criminal activity". This admission by the
senior-most politician of the state, however, didn't lead to any further
soul-searching from his colleagues.
Comment:
With due respect to Barbosa who is penning these words, he, being the
responsible scribe, he should have raised his voice to demand the on spot
resignation of this maha-corrupt-clown who has the cheek to admit publicly
of illegal mining and criminal activities and then go home and sleep
peacefully at tax-payer's cost. And we want more soul-searching from other
politicians? This very fact goes to show that we Goans too are clowns number
one so why would these political clowns not take us for a jolly good ride?
And to respect this Senior Rane clown on top of this is a cruel joke indeed.
Ethiquets demand that when a responsible persons talks the way Pratapsing
Rane has talked, his resignation must follow is one has self-respect. In
Konkani we say 'Anim self-respect bajun khela'
Former chief minister Wilfred de Souza has a simple solution to bring Goan
politics in line. 'Every politician should be responsible and responsive to
what is around him," he says. That again calls for politicians with
integrity, an ingredient thoroughly lacking in today's batch. De Souza added
that if the state is currently in a situation that there is nothing to be
proud of it is because the "government does not have will to do what it has
to do"
Comment:
This is another clown who is directly responsible for today's political
mess-up of Goa. I had told him a long time ago that he should retire and
push younger blood ahead. I have nothing but contempt for people like him.
If he had any self-respect, he wouldn't be dancing with a retirement present
in the name of a position in the planning commission. He should have been a
recluse within his own four walls. Goa has definitely not benefitted an iota
from his being in the political scenario of Goa for such a long time. A
disgrace, really.
What perhaps does go against Goa is its size. Not only is land limited, but
in numbers too Goa's population remains small, with some constituencies
having an electorate of less than 30,000 making it all that easier for
politicians to ensure victory.
Comment:
This is what Goa Su-Raj Party had pointed out to the Parliamentary
delegation which visited Goa some years back with Ram Jethmalani heading the
team, the meeting having been held at the Hotel Mandovi. We have suggested
reduction to Goa's Assembly Constituencies from 40 to 20 so that the
constituencies become larger and any two bit goon cannot hold a larger
constituency to ransom and ensure his win at the hustings. But Ram
Jethmalani & company had come on a free of cost vacation to Goa and not to
listen to reason of sanity from Goans. This has been proved yesterday at
NDTV's "The buck stops here" deliberating the 14 year old Ruchika
molestation V/s DGP Rathore where Ram Jethmalani has shown to the world how
senile he has become when he, with his derogatory comments on the media and
people seeking justice brought tears of rage to the eyes of the panelists,
and I am sure, the entire viewership of the programme. If I was around there
at that time, I would have wanted to slap him across his stupid face. And he
calls himself the legal luminary of India. Shame on him. All he does is get
criminals off the hook by twisting the already inadequate laws.
"Goa has a problem of smallness, which puts us in a bad situation. As I see
it, in a three cornered contest you have to purchase 2,000 votes to win.
The other votes come from the party organization and through your personal
contacts." explains Coutinho. It being that simple to win an election in
Goa, political commentators are not surprised by the 'quality' of
legislators the state boasts of.
"In the past there was not a single MLA who was elected solely based on his
money power. Today there are 2 to 3 MLAs elected on this factor alone.
Unfortunately, this trend is not declining," says Bhembre. He fears the
trend could increase in the next decade. "I don't see this change happening
in a decade and I don't know how long this will take, "says Bhembre.
Comment:
If the good Adv. Bhembre feels how he feels, it is time for him to get out
of his esteemed Congress Party, sever all ties with it and sit at home.
Because the cause of all ills is his Congress Party. Or, he should use his
good experience and re-write the constitution of his Congress Party to see
that it works. He is telling us nothing by simply putting his hands up.
Governance also involves the administration, and graft in the third estate
continues to be a major grouse among goans. "I don't think I could have
survived in this administration. This is an administration of money, " says
former chief secretary J.C. Almeida. "Is there anything done without money
and a minister's request? Unless corruption stops at the top, it won't stop
at the lower level. What has to be done is that the administration has to be
taken away from the politicians. Now you have the government executing its
own policies, this is taking the process backwards," he adds.
Comment:
J.C. Almeida has been the most weak-kneed administrator ... a Bandodkar's
'Yes' man, a stooge, that we Goans have ever seen. He is singularly
responsible for promoting Bandodkar's knee-jerk policies and handing over
Goa on a silver platter to migrant industrialists when Goans had no
knowledge of running industrial units. He was the first Development
Commissioner of Goa. These guys should not be allowed to crow over their
past now that they have been retired. On the contrary these charlies must be
held fully responsible for what Goa is going through,today, a messed-up
state of affairs. We want to know where and how J.C. Almeida had protested
against framing/executing policies he didn't like for Goa, if he at all did.
What Almeida suggests is bringing about discipline among government staffers
and forcing them to stick to the rules. "Two things lacking are discipline
among officers and readiness to follow the rules. If a minister wants
something done, the secretary is bypassed and the file is sent to the
minister and then goes to the secretary. The administration should be
streamlined, " said Almeida.
Comment:
Almeida will do well to leaf through Goa Su-Raj Party's Road Map for Goa.
He must know that discipline and will to follow the rules suffer when the
system of governance becomes a free for all business.
Changing the way Goa's politicians and babus function will again call for
changing the way the people behave. 'The weaknesses inherent in us are
reflected in politics and administration. The weakness are indiscipline,
inefficiency, intolerance and corruption. Unless we change ourselves, we
will not be able to change the system, says Bhembre.
Comment:
Bhembre is wrong, wrong, and wrong again. This is the attitude of passing
the buck. He knows that even if he suggests things to his High Command,
things that needs to be suggested, these will be rubbished and flung into
the waste basket. To change our psyche, it will take centuries. Goa's
governance must change in a jiffy as it does not have the luxury of endless
time. The System of governance must discipline the people and not the other
way round. The WHIP must be omnipresent and it must be used and used
effectively. Goa Su-Raj Party has developed a system of governance that will
show results within 15 days of its taking over the administration of this
state. If Bhambre has any challenges on this account, I shall want to take
him on, full blast.
He rests his case saying the reason why Goa has so many accidents is because
its people are undisciplined. Bhembre's explanation vindicates the maxim
"the people get the government they deserve"
Comment:
I should call Bhembre a classic 'fatalist'. If people are undisciplined, it
is because there is no governance in this state. If people are killing
themselves on our roads because they are undisciplined, then so be it. At
least save the money on running a government and its administration that
does not work. Pay the money that is spent on this useless government, its
politicians and its babus, to the victims of the accidents and all will be
fine. At most, Bhembres, Bhatikars, Coutinhos and Almeidas of this world
should be outcast and silenced altogether. Then only Goa will look up to its
deficiencies. We have seen enough hands going up in self-justification.
Goa, then should blame not its politicians, but its people, for the mess the
state wallows in.
Comment:
Wrong assessment again. People will vote and have a new crop of legislators
every five years. And the honest legislators they elect will be the same if
not excelling over the previous lot if these are working under the deficient
and corrupt system. Goa needs a systemic change. This systemic change
icannot be provided by the Congress, the BJP, the NCP nor the hardly alive
Goa's political parties, the MGP and UGDP. People of Goa must vote for the
best system of governance for Goa which has a self-scrificing entity tied to
it in the 2012 elections. It could be any one, the Congress, the BJP, the
NCP, the MGP or the UGDP. Let them come up with a convincing systemic
change, procedures and practices that will guarantee good governance. But I
doubt anything of this sort will be forthcoming from them. None can, and
will be able to compete with the Goa Su-Raj Party. And if anyone thinks I
am crowing, I'd love to be taken on in an all encompassing political debate.
Cheers
floriano
goasuraj
9890470896
www.goasu-raj.org
PS: I have nothing but respect for Alexandre Barbosa for putting things on
record.
PPS: Goa's Need of the Hour
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Communalization of politics has serious consequences
for culture of governance. It is when a party fails to
provide good governance but still wants to gain or
regain power that it plays the communal card.
Communal politics is, thus, a threat both to our
spiritual heritage from the past and our well being
in the present.
Swami Agnivesh
