Like the rest of India, Goan politics too has been infested with criminal elements. Records show that a good number of politicians in the Goa Assembly have criminal records or have been known or suspected to have links with criminal elements. We Goans have somehow lost our astuteness and our dignity, as we have been electing the same tainted and corrupt politicians over and over again. Now we have allowed the soaring eagles, to turn themselves into vultures.
Goa is know to be only second to Kerela in literacy, in India, but we certainly do not, do any justice to this record, as we mostly elect the corrupt, fraudulent, illiterate and the worst of politicians to run our government. If we do not translate our high percentage of literacy into effective understanding while electing able, capable and honest men and women, if we cannot display even a modicum of intelligence in electing good people, what is the use of our high percentage of literacy? It has indeed become an unmitigated and an unconscionable tragedy. Most parties are only interested in giving election tickets to people who can bloat up their party funds and do not look at the qualities and the character of their candidates. As usual all parties pledge that no tainted person will be given a ticket, but unfortunately, it’s not practiced by the eloquent preachers and most criminals are sheltered and feel secure under the ambit of these parties, as a result of which most parties have a striking similarity of afflictions. Thus the edifice of a supposedly good governance is raised on the foundations of criminality and we are least moved by it’s impact nor repelled by it’s horror, as it has only become a natural progression for us, Goans, a perfect hatchery for all the ills.
Though politics and corruption should be antithetical, the two entities are inseparable in Goa and one without the other is untenable. It has been that way for some time now. Our Goans politicians and bureaucrats are become the epitomes of corruption, once in a while our sleuths pick up one or two small fries for corruption trying to pull wool over the eyes of the common men, while the big sharks continue their plunder unabated, protected by the very same sleuths for a share of the spoils, if not, all the minister would have been picked up and locked in the dock by the sleuths with ease. Of late we have been hearing of the privatization of our heritage sites and forts, what’s our Government upto ? Our heritage sites and forts should be protected and preserved and not try to destroy those “signatures” or remnants of our historic past through commercialization, the authenticity and the exuberance of these places must be preserved at all costs, money only is not everything, these monuments are somehow connected with our lives and our past and they should not be left at the mercy of the highest bidders.
Our politicians have scant respect for nature and even more so for our environment, Governments round the world are worried about global warming, the depletion of the ozone layer and the receding of fresh water tables and are planning strategies for long term sustenance of what’s left, but our Goan politicians are going berserk to kill the goose that’s laying the golden eggs for them, not realizing the magnanimity of their callous actions.
Our politicians are going at break-neck speed to devour all our natural resources, not thinking of the future or our posterity and are further contributing to all the adverse causes of destruction and degradation. A lot of them are involved in illegal mining or support illegal mining, hill cutting, filling of mangroves, fields and low-lying areas, tilting the balance of nature in the wrong direction, which can only increase the misery and sufferings of the common men.It is indeed a tragedy that Maoist have spread over most of North-eastern and central regions of India, but what is worse, is the fact that we Goans elect politicians who are on better than the Maoist, and to avert this tragedy there is only one option. We must accord the same treatment to the corrupt officers and criminal politicians that we would plan for Maoist leaders. As one group is draining the life-blood of the country, while the other is out to destroy the state by allowing crime and corruption to flourish, with no constructive agendas as such, and both entities are equally dangerous for our survival, our upliftment and our developmental progress.
If we want Goa and Goans to survive, by all means, we will have to force viable variations, for a change in the present form of governance, which will have to be thought out carefully, it will be a daunting task no doubt but certainly not impossible, if we all think positively and be committed to the cause of Goa. If only we truly love Goa we will be able to bring this change in governance. Or good, sincere politicians in Goa , will only be a myth or a mystery?
Freddy Agnelo Fernandes
Dubai – UAE
www.goa-world.com
6 July 2010
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