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Symposium on Pre-Primary & Primary School Education & Primary School Students Chess Tournament More information at: http://lists.goanet.org/pipermail/goanet-goanet.org/2008-January/068222.html --------------------------------------------------------------------------- To Goanet - Pamela D'Mello wrote: >Politicians will be politicians --- some more diabolical and crafty than >others. Quite clearly the strategy here is to whip up we-are-under-siege >sentiments among a section of the population; Ms D'Mello, A little rearrangement of the fenestration in the portals of your mind may help. My photographs of the violence inflicted on Goa's land, the flood of migrants coursing through Goa's border - you say these are being used to whip up the "we-are-under-siege" sentiments. But the Goans I meet everyday in different parts of Goa - almost all of whom have not even heard of Goanet much less seen my photographs or posts - have identical stories to tell of the land slipping out of Goan hands, of hill cutting in their villages, of widespread land illegalities, of ghatis encroaching, squatting, spitting, defecating in public spaces and so on. One possibility is that all the rest of us are hallucinating. I submit that this is statistically improbable. >and direct it against the Congress, when one is out of power. Partially true. Partial, because those belonging to the opposition parties currently out of power will no doubt have an axe to grind. But there is a vast group of ordinary Goans who harbour political loyalties, which is their right as citizens in a pluralistic political system, but nevertheless to whom the well-being of Goa comes before politics. It is conceivable that a certain percentage of the members of this group hold the Congress responsible for the sordid things done to Goa in the past couple of years since it is the Congress that currently has in its possession the reins of power. Perhaps they even feel any and every dispensation in power must be held to account. To impute motives to these folks, to allege that they have cobbled a skein of some grand conspiracy would be foolish. For we know that it is possible for people who hew to opposing political views to converge on mutually important issues. Perhaps holding two thoughts simultaneously in the mind is a novel idea to you? Don't worry, with practice you'll get used to it. >Development is alright only as long as it's on your watch --- and you're the >collector on duty --- that's every politician's motto in Goa, at least. Alright. I shall resist the temptation of a quibble with the "in Goa" bit. >Let's not forget the facts --- Goa has a BJP-dominated government from 1999 >to early 2005, nearly five years of the past decade ,when "concretisation >and inmigration --- those four letter words -- accelerated in Goa. > >But politicians rely on other facts --- that public memory is like a sieve. >And we will only react to snapshots across the bay! While we are at this business of not forgetting the facts, let us not forget to not forget a few other facts :-). When the BJP was in power, Goanet was rife with anti-BJP posts day in and day out, night in and night out. I wasn't on Goanet then but a coup d'oeil of the archives bears me out. Mr Noronha would saturate the Usenet group soc.culture.indian.goa with his anti-BJP diatribes masquerading as "news." I recall him seeing a communal snake hiding under every rock and behind every bush, insider every drawer and over every shelf. His complete and utter immersion in saffron would have made Bal Thackeray green with envy (to mix the colour metaphor). No stick was small enough to beat the BJP and Manohar Parrikar with in those halcyon days of Goanet. In my hurried survey of the archives, I must have missed your older postings chastising Goanet posters of having this "we-are-under-siege" mindset, and you no doubt reminded them about "every politician's motto in Goa, at least." And fair-minded that you are, you surely admonished them with, mutatis mutandis, "...and direct it against the BJP, when one is out of power." Warm regards, r ____________________________________________________________________________________ Looking for last minute shopping deals? Find them fast with Yahoo! Search. http://tools.search.yahoo.com/newsearch/category.php?category=shopping