------------------------------------------------------------------------
* G * O * A * N * E * T **** C * L * A * S * S * I * F * I * E * D * S *
------------------------------------------------------------------------
To Goa with Love - Three unique Valentine Day packages from EXPRESSIONS
Say "I Love You!" in style this year
For details, photos and pricing check out:
http://www.goa-world.com/expressions/valentines/
------------------------------------------------------------------------
GOA’S FIRST, THE BEST
By Valmiki Faleiro
The MGP was poised to assume the reigns of power following the Dec-1963 polls.
>From its crop of 16 MLAs, PP Shirodkar was easily the front-runner for the
>CM’s chair.
He was a genuine Freedom Fighter, a man of learning and a leading light in the
MGP’s
think tank. But PP had a ‘handicap’: he hailed from the caste of goldsmiths, the
Daivadnya Brahman Samaj.
Daivadnya Brahmans sat awkwardly in society. They considered themselves equal to
Brahmins. Like Brahmins, they wore the sacred thread. But the upper castes
regarded
them as untouchables, because of "contaminating" chemicals they worked with (the
men surely, their attractive women were a different ball game.) The lower
castes,
Bahujan Samaj -- MGP’s votebank -- held goldsmiths as untrustworthy as Brahmins.
PP’s candidature was doomed.
Dayanand Balkrishna Bandodkar (DBB), the man who had extensively campaigned to
unite the Bahujan Samaj -- and enjoyed lion’s credit for the MGP election
victory -- was
prevailed upon to assume the Chief Ministership. He was not a member of the
Assembly. But he could be CM provided he got himself elected as MLA in six
months,
which he would after the Madkai party MLA, Vasant Velingkar, vacated the seat
for him.
DBB was sworn in as CM, Goa’s first, on December 20, 1963. PP Shirodkar was
kicked upstairs as Assembly Speaker.
DBB inducted a cabinet of three: himself, Vithal Karmali (Information & Tourism,
Education, Health & PWD) and Tony Fernandes (Law, Industries, Labour and
Agriculture.) Times were different, but the moral need not be lost. Three- or
four-
member Council of Ministers was the norm in that era. Only in 1977, his daughter
Shashikala Kakodkar increased it to five. With the dawn of the Congress (save
the first,
1980, Rane Ministry of four), the number steadily rose to six (1985), to eight
(1987),
then twelve, when Dr. LP Barboza, Churchill Alemao and others defected, to
forge the
PDF government in March/April, 1990. By June 20, 1991, tiny Goa ended up with 14
ministers! The rot had set in, in full earnest.
The first House was Goa’s best ever. Even if it was lopsided. The 12-strong UGP
Opposition brigade was like a colossus, generally decimating the ruling side in
debate.
Only Tony Fernandes from the Treasury benches could tackle the opposition
onslaught. Vithal Karmali often fumbled. DBB brazenly walked out of the house
when
cornered. A helpless Speaker threw his hands up saying he had no powers to
compel
the Chief Minister to remain in the House and answer questions!
The Opposition benches, of course, thoroughly studied their subject and arrived
in the
House fully prepared. Studied questions, surgical supplementaries, insightful
debates.
Such quality of debate was seldom seen again, save in the 1977-79 House, when
the
three member Janata Party battalion of Dr. Jack de Sequeira, Madhav Bir and
Ferdino
Rebello produced proceedings reminiscent of the First House.
Repartees could be vicious, but hardly ever lacked biting wit. Urminda Lima
Leitao, the
UGP MLA from Mormugao, and DBB were once locked in intense argument over the
Agricultural Tenancy Bill. DBB rose and told her, "I know you are
pro-Portuguese."
Urminda retorted, "And I know you are Portuguese!"
Son of a Pernem Kotkar danseuse, DBB was widely speculated to have been fathered
by an ethnic Portuguese, a mighty Judge of the ‘Relação,’ High Court.
Another hallmark of the first Assembly: it was absolutely clean and
non-corrupt. One
never heard of swindles and scandals. Almost all MLAs had their independent
professions or businesses. There was neither need nor greed to subvert public
office
into a moneymaking machine. MLAs not so well off travelled in public buses.
Government was transparent, even if there was little governance. Attention
centred over
Merger. Little was done by way of development except on two fronts: a
phenomenal rise
in Government Primary schools, mostly in Marathi medium, that made basic
literacy
accessible to the masses. The other was enactment of the Land-to-the-Tiller Act
(brainwave of St. Esvetam MLA, Dattaram Chopdekar.)
The first House holds a number of lessons for us, the voters of today. Let’s
consider
just one. We still succumb easily to the politics of caste and such other
divisive issues.
This only aids the crooks, practicing politicos, immensely. Unless we begin to
think as
Goans first and last, Goa will continue to harvest bad governments. Just a
thought.
ERRATUM: In last week’s column on Goa’s first election, I wrote, "Every Congress
candidate forfeited his deposit." That should have actually read, "Most Congress
candidates forfeited their deposit." As it happens, not all Congress candidates
were
male, and at least one who was not, actually saved her deposit: my esteemed
senior
friend, Irene Barros. Pitted against UGP’s Dr. Maurilio Furtado in Benaulim,
she was
one of the few who polled one-sixth of the votes to save face for the national
party.
(ENDS)
The Valmiki Faleiro weekly column at:
http://www.goanet.org/index.php?name=News&file=article&sid=330
============================================================
The above article appeared in the February 4, 2007 edition of the HERALD, Goa
