Greetings Floriano, I read with great interest your timely and pertinent open letter to Mr. Rane. In fact, I read it many times over, because it was so good, of course, like everything else that you write and you do. The fighting spirit, the spirit of truth in you, thank God, will never die. But here is a frightening thought for all of us. I have it from reliable sources that, unlike Mr. Parrikar (our common enemy!), who found time to read each and every letter, in each and every newspaper (overreacting of course, to the point of vindictiveness!), Mr. Rane, pitiably, doesnt even seem to find the time to read the bare headlines, in the front page, and that too, of his few favorite daily newspapers. I am told that Rane sometimes even brags that he only goes through the national newspapers. And, then, should his advisors have the audacity to draw his attention to something or the other that has escaped his scrutiny (as it happens most of the times), well, he couldnt care less. So, Floriano, I want you to know that your letter, written in the Goanet (which will presto be flashed in the computer screens all over the world), sadly, will not reach its desired and much-wanted destination: Mr. Rane, the Raja of Goa. And now, with this man at the helm, who prefers to see no evil, hear no evil, and speak no evil, well you can imagine that our sad plight is worse than that of a man shouting on deaf ears.
Ranes reflexes (and I have noticed this personally) have obviously slowed down with the passage of time, and ironically, and conveniently too, that allows him to sit tight on most of the issues where he has already made up his mind not to act. Such things come in his good stead and are a perfect alibi for him to sit on the fence when he most desires. For thinking and caring citizens like you and me, however, this is a distressing thought and may prove to be a disaster. When recently we, from the Lok Shakti, went to personally see Mr. Rane (after seeking an appointment of course, since we had become aware that it takes a lot to get his royal attention), to discuss about many issues, including some that you, dear Floriano, rightly raise in your open letter, we must acknowledge, Mr. Rane was extremely polite and gave a patient hearing to our delegation of seven. But that was all. It soon became clear that Mr. Rane had already made up his mind. He just does not want to act against the perpetrators of crimes of IFFI in a jiffy, possibly in deference to its main abettor. While our Datta Naik put lucidly our case, Aravind Bhatikar, another member of our delegation, gave many clear and incontrovertible reasons why it is so easy to start booking the culprits of the IFFI muddle. Mr. Bhatikar - to Mr. Ranes dismay - succinctly even demonstrated how the IFFI/GSIDC crime was a fit case for a CBI probe. CM Rane, however, no matter how much we tried to convince him, well he wants to wait...he wants solid evidence... and then, and only then, he will act (perhaps in a year or two from now, when definitely he will no longer be adorning that august chair). Mr. Rane, during the discussion, has even gone to the extent of telling us, Has any case against any politician been taken to its logical conclusion? Has any politician been ever indicted for his crimes? What do you expect to come out of this? So please, lets not act in a hurry. And that, without doubt, was his way of telling us, I will never act, rest assured. It is so sad that a man like him who has had relatively good innings in the past, is now for a long long time proving to be a liability to all, acting like a quinta coluna, irrespective of whether he is in the proposition or opposition. I know for certain, that within the Congress there are leaders (Ravi Naik in special) who want that the perpetrators of the IFFI crimes should be brought to book, and expeditiously too. Unfortunately nobody wants to take the initiative, because this is made all the more difficult with the gentleman CM (who definitely owes favours to Parrikar) acting the way he is doing. We, of the Lok Shakti, have decided not to give up. We will try to impress upon the High Command to impress upon Mr. Rane that it is necessary to act, for the sake of justice and the people fast, lest the ugly forces in the enemy camp (resting now for a while) raise their ugly heads once more. Further, letting the great looters of the IFFI go away scot-free will send wrong signals to the greedy Ministers within the Congress, who having grabbed the plum portfolios they wanted so much, are already set to embark on a spree of loot and plunder of our beloved Goa. Francisco Dr. Francisco Colaco Margao. Goa __________________________________________________ Do You Yahoo!? Tired of spam? Yahoo! Mail has the best spam protection around http://mail.yahoo.com
