In addition to the regular Editorial, today's (7th March 2005) Gomantak Times had an additional brilliant, and blisteringly critical, Open Edit on the front page by Sujay Gupta. I persuaded Sujay to send it to me by e-mail. Sujay agreed, and as an additional bonus he also sent me a peek-preview of the editorial that will appear in tomorrow's Gomantak Times - and gave me permission to circulate it!
Please forward the editorials below to right thinking Goans worldwide. Please copy all feedback to <editor at gomantaktimes.com>. Cheers! Cecil ---------- Open Edit Sujay Gupta A leopard never changes his spots, so let's destroy his jungle "You never ceased proclaiming that Islam spread by the sword You have not designed to tell us what the gun has spread" -poet Akbar Allahabadi Hindu propagandists have conjured up the image of Muslims as a community outside the national mainstream. The familiar representation of Indian Muslims was as aggressive fundamentalists, the descendants of depraved and tyrannical medieval rulers who demolished temples and forcibly converted Hindus to Islam. They were also portrayed as being tied to Muslim countries through the common Islamic bond. They were moreover demonished as 'separatists' and indicted for portioning the country in 1947. The demolition of Goa's secular psyche, at Sanvordem, has been done at the hands of the same propagandists, led, guided, controlled and orchestrated by two BJP MLAs, Vinay Tendulkar and Ramarao Desai with the covert but obvious backing of Manohar Parrikar. A leopard never changes his spots. Much as Parrikar tries to proclaim himself as an able and efficient administrator, his communal cloak emerges from his closet. It's a pity that an obviously intelligent leader misuses his intellect to parade in the jungle of hatred and divide. We must destroy his jungle. While the collaboration and support of the police in this mayhem needs to be elaborated and condemned, let us not fall into the trap of fundamentalists to divert attention only towards issues like the administration granting permission for a peaceful rally by Muslims and so on. These are peripheral issues, not critical to a crucial basic fact. The critical fact -and let there be no confusion or ambiguity in this- is that the BJP and its satellites, unleashed an unprovoked, cold-blooded assault on the lives, liberties and dignity of Muslims in Sanvordem, without guilt and fear of retribution. They further fuelled this hate by spreading the same rumours of Muslims arriving from Bhatkal with swords and threatening to wipe off Hindus (this demonisation of Muslims is exactly what Akbar Allahabadi, the poet whose work is compiled in Kuliyat-e-Akbar, one of Islam's most prominent texts said). Mr Parrrikar and the two MLAs claim that they pleaded with the police to release those arrested to prevent further violence. But these are the men who perpetrated the violence. So why should they have been released? And if the MLAs and Mr Parrikar himself claim that they are representatives of the people, why did they not go to a single Muslim home, comfort them and assure them that their lives, properties and livelihoods would be protected? Why did a Muslim mother have to flee from her rented house with her sick four year old daughter? Why was the bag containing live saving drugs for her child snatched and thrown away? It's a travesty of justice, that a former Chief Minister asks for the release of men who were clearly on the side of the rioters and does not utter a single word in support of the victims. Mr Parrikar, the boys whose release became such a big issue have lost nothing. But the people they and your party's supporters attacked, have lost their shops, cars, homes and most importantly their sense of safety and peace, which no insurance company can give back. Where is your voice of support for them? What have innocent Muslim men, women and children done to you and your party to deserve this kind of a backlash? One strong word from you would have quelled the violence. If a clear-cut warning had been issued that no attacks should be made, these attacks would have stopped. Right there. Those who infuriate mobs also have the power to control them. If they want to. This is a strange war where there aren't two groups fighting each other. There is one assaulter-the Hindu fundamentalists co-opted into the BJP, and one assaulted-the community of Muslims. Let us in fact look at the BJP theory that the riots in Savordem broke out because the police gave permission to Muslim groups to take out a rally. The fact is that no such rally happened, just a congregation of people who grouped together peacefully, with placards proclaiming peace and brotherhood. This congregation did not shout provocative slogans or create a situation that would have logically provoked a Hindu backlash. Given the manner in which things unfolded, the attack on the Muslims was pre-meditated. The disputed structure was demolished by a Hindu mob who had no jurisdiction over a disputed structure. They are not the "authority", the police is. This was the first real attack. How can the majority community which has initiated the task of affecting violence, have the gumption or gall to blame the minorities or the police for the violence? The police are really to be blamed for behaving like scared children, terrified to take action against the BJP marauders and at times even tacitly participating in the loot and attack on Muslims. They need to hanged for selling their conscience and not for the non existent reason that they gave permission for the Muslim rally. Yes, Mr Parrikar, the police is to be blamed. But not for the reasons you want to sell. We don't buy those. What we do buy is that the police should be blamed for not arresting your MLAs Vinay Tendulkar and Ramarao Desai and all the goons who were pelting stones, damaging a petrol pump, openly boasting that they would not let a single Muslim live and do business, burning cars and destroying shops, right in the open. Civilised societies like the ones most of us live in or at least hope to live in, believe in the rule of law, the strength of authority and the evidence of equality and fair play. This fabric was torn apart during Parrikar's tenure as Chief Minister, when policemen were forced to worship just one God. The Chief Minister. And one pantheon-the BJP. The force of this indoctrination was no profuse that even after a regime change, the virus of this indoctrination persists. How can a police force-consisting of lower constabulary who owe their jobs and employment securities to a regime that embraced them-albeit for their own designs, as evident now- stand up and see their masters, eye to eye, and stop them in the name of the law? Hence, the operation Muslim wipe out happened at two levels. At one level, the blame game against the police was only a front, initiated to divert attention from the fact that the police actually aided and abetted the marauders. It's a pathetic farce that the BJP blames the police for letting the situation go out of hand, when those responsible for the situation taking a turn for the worse are their own supporters, including MLAs. May I very humbly share a conversation I had with a group of young men inside the premises of a completely damaged petrol pump that shares its boundary wall with the Curchorem police station, in the full presence of policemen who stood watching: Me : Who damaged this petrol pump? Boy: Who the hell are you? Me: I am a journalist? Boy: Ask the police.. well what will you ask the police, I'll tell you, we damaged it, so? Me: Why? Another boy: (sidestepping my question): Go and see what all we have destroyed, 15 shops khatam kar diya salo ko (we finished them). There will not be a single Muslim shop in the market, nor will we let them live here. First boy: We will finish them, kaat denge(we'll butcher them). Those ba.***, they came with swords and threatened to cut us. We have taught them a lesson. Me: But you are breaking the law. Boy: What law? Our MLAs are with us. And our leader Parrikar is with us. That is the law. And you better not be recording this or it won't be good, we are warning you. Amen! This is precisely what we have been talking about. Portray the Muslims as outside the mainstream and cleverly convert this into the favourite outsider-insider issue to widen the scope of the opposition against them and get the support of the Christians. This is a dangerous divisive ploy that will break Goa. At the risk of sounding provocative, we say this with responsibility. This charade has gone on too far. When it is clear that a particular group and community has attacked another with not a single blow from the other side (where are the so-called sword brandishers from Bhatkal who threatened to kill? Do you think they would have fled or been silent spectators to the assault on their people if they were really here?); please arrest the gang of villains. And do not hesitate to include Ramarao Desai and Vinay Tendulkar. Ask the leader of the opposition to go and give an assurance to the Muslims that they will not be harmed and that they should return to their homes. These are real issues. A failed police, an equally guilty, weak and scared Congress and the absence of a clear leadership are other brush strokes in this communal canvas. But first things first. Get those Muslim families who speak Konkani and are more Goan than you think, back home. And arrest the cowards who have dared to mess with innocent lives. And the peace of Goa. ------------------------- Regular Editorial on Edit Page Does the Congress have a face to show Muslims? Ravi Naik and his merry men in the PCC and the entire Cabinet hid like scared rabbits and scurried for cover while violence intensified in Curchorem and Sanvordem. In their hour of need, the Congress has failed Muslims. Luizinho Faleiro preferred to hold meetings in Navelim, while Curchorem was burning, Churchill Alemao has time for myriad meetings on Mopa but doesn't utter a word on the attack on Muslims, Digambar Kamat, the champion of the Muslims with a committed vote bank from the Muslims of Moti Dongor said that he preferred to watch the situation before going there, Jitendra Deshprabhu was quick to pat the cops on the back on day one from the confines of air conditioned safety in Panjim, when privately even Chief Minister Pratapsing Rane, PCC president Ravi Naik and the Chief Secretary expressed annoyance at the manner in which the police handled the situation, others like Agnelo Fernandes, Subhash Shirodkar, Babu Kawlekar (who is an MLA from the same taluka) went underground. When the mob was on a rampage in the twin towns on Friday and Saturday, not a single Congressman was in sight. The Chief Minister Rane into the police station, flexed his muscles at the BJP MLAs and left. The Muslims were then left at the mercy of the mobs and their gurus. Politically, when disaster management was the need of the hour, the Congress has managed disaster. Interestingly, history has shown that the party's track record of secularism is at loggerheads with what they profess. It was under a secular Congress government's presence in Uttar Pradesh that police arrested some seventy-odd Muslims and unhesitatingly shot them all without trial and had their bodies thrown into the river. In Delhi, there was a secular Prime Minister Rajiv Gandhi then. In Goa, the Congress has stood as a hapless bystander, with no policy, no guidance and no control. Perhaps, the time has come for Goa to look for a non-BJP and non-Congress secular alternative in order to give peace and brotherhood a chance of survival. This bunch of Congressmen deserve to be banished. --------------------- Peek preview of Editorial that will appear on 8th March 2006. Tomorrow!! ------------- The Congress goes from bad to farce The Congress' handling of the Sanvordem situation goes from bad to farce. In a grim throwback to the days 15th-century France where farcical elements, such as broad, ribald humor, physical buffoonery, and absurd situations can be found in many plays such as the comedies of Molière, the cast of characters in the GPCC are doing a great job in their own version of black humor, buffoonery and absurdity. Here are some examples of what Congress leaders- including its South Goa MP and the Union Minister of state for home- did, when the Muslims of Sanvordem, had not yet begun to even assess the damage to their properties, livelihoods and their future lives. Minister of State for Home Sri Prakash Jaiswal flew to Dabolim and instead of going South towards Sanvordem, 35 minutes from the airport, he swung towards Panjim, 40 minutes the other side. He had lunch with the Governor, high tea with the Chief Minister, had a tete a tete with officials before flying back. Asked why he didn't go to Sanvordem to meet the victims of violence, he quipped "Everything is normal there, so I didn't go". That's confusing. But that is the Congress. If, everything was "normal", then why did the Union Minister spend time and the nations money to come to Goa. If he had to meet officials, the Chief Minister and the Governor, this could have been done through teleconferencing. The Home Minister was needed at the home of victims, he was needed to remove fear from their hearts, he was needed to tell them that the likes of BJP marauders and leaders who are no better than goons and matka kings, would be put behind bars. At the very least, the Union Home Minister could have met the family of the Youth Congress Vice President Sheikh Hasan Mansoor, from Sanvordem, who was quaking in fear when the Hindu mobs started attacking and had to be rescued by the police. The poor chap has fled to Karnataka and is screening all calls and openly admits that he is living in fear. Can you ever imagine a situation where the Vice President of the Youth Wing of the BJP, has to be rescued by the police, with a BJP government in power? This is the farce, we are talking about. How can Rane, Ravi Naik and company claim to run this state and party when its own youth leaders are not safe from attacks from mobs controlled by the opposition? The farce doesn't end here. South Goa MP Churchill Alemao, whose primary job was to be with the people of his constituency and take up the issue in parliament, is busy with his tomfoolery against Luizinho Faleiro to score brownie points for their agitation against the Mopa airport. The man holds a public meeting on the issue of the airport at Navelim, Luizinho's constituency but finds no time to travel for 30 minutes and be with people who have lost their homes and establishments. Education Minister Luizinho Faleiro, has not ventured any where near Sanvordem and Curchorem. It's not his problem you see. GPCC President Ravi Naik, had a strange answer when we asked him why he has not yet crossed the Zuari bridge to go to South Goa after the incident, he quipped "What can I do?". Congratulations, Mr Naik. This was perhaps the most brutally honest straightforward answer any Congressman has given of late. What can he really do? After all, he is only the President of the ruling party in Goa. The Congress is steeped in disunity, false egos and humungous contradictions. French playwright Molière would have been proud of this farcical script enacted by the Goa Congress. When homes and hearts have been torn apart; the Congress has paid a pathetic lip service towards restoring normalcy and healing wounds. ===================
