My column In today's OHeraldo A pungent politcal pickle
Eugene Correoa With just a few days left before D-Day, the voter has some time to wade through the political minefield. It’s mind-boggling that there are more than 200 candidates for the 40 seats. For the uncommitted voter, the task isn’t going to be easy in choosing his or her candidate. Pity the independent voter. Obviously, he or she will have to shift the chaff from the wheat. Many project themselves as squeaky-clean but once elected they show their true colours. The voter may face a Hobson’s choice, but the voter must choose. NOTA is one of the choice, but technically it’s an invalid vote. Voting NOTA means the voter isn’t prudent enough.. Instead, the voter is a shame to democracy. Goans cannot be said to be politically naïve, and, therefore, they should be able to see through the maze and vote for the right candidate. The election scenario can be said to be a pungent political pickle or sorpotel, that favourite Christian Goans’ dish, which could be termed as witches’ cauldron, depending on one’s political view. Besides the BJP and the Congress, there are many other newcomers into this unholy mix. The entry of AAP has raised eyebrows, and perhaps hopes. Will Goa be another Delhi? During the campaign, Goans may have found the floor-crossing or party-hopping either amusing or nauseating. We can call it, “Ailo Pedru, Ghelo Pedru” to give it Konkani equivalent of “Aya Ram, Gaya Ram.” The major split in alliance between BJP and MGP is something out of the blue. The parties were comfy twins. It seems like MGP didn’t want to play second fiddle to BJP anymore. Worse was the nagging fight between the BJP and the RSS, with the latter’s chief Subhas Velingkar having retaliated by driving a deep wedge into the Sangh Parivar family after he was shown the door. Why is the RSS gung-ho on the Medium of Instruction (MoI), when Marathi and Konkani have been kept alive by those who have been using the languages widely in their daily lives? Since this issue gave birth to the Goa Suraksha Manch (GSM), a political outfit of Velingkar’s Bharatiya Bhasha Suraksha Manch (BBSM), it seems inevitable that the MGP joined hands with the GSM, as both have common agenda. There was no point for Shiv Sena to stray into the language politics and give the issue a trident (say, Trishul) dimension. Aren’t Goans wary of this ‘language politics”? Notwithstanding the “fringe” parties, the addition of parties led by MLAs, such as Goa Forward by Vijay Sardesai, the United Goans Party by Atanasio Monserrate, and the Goa Su-Raj Party (GRSP) by Francisco Xavier Pacheco have created a unpalatable unpalatable soup. Does Pacheco’s deserting Goa Vikas Party mean that he didn’t want the party to be a silent supporter of BJP? Will Nuvem give Pacheco a last chance that he begged for and help GSRP make maiden entry into the hallowed hall of the assembly? The eclipse of United Goans Democratic Party (UDGP) from the electoral map is unbelievable. A party that hoped to replicate the United Goans Party, is badly wounded. By spurning both Pacheco and Monserrate’s return to the fold, a rift between the two brothers-in-law, Anacleto Viegas and Radharao Gracias, doesn’t bode well for the party. Deeply wounded too but carrying on gamely is Churchill Alemao, founder of UGDP. A never-say-die politician, Churchill has seen the best and the worst of days. To have risen to be the CM, however short, he remains an enigma in Goan politics. As we see the trend of changing political parties at the drop of a hat, none can beat Churchill. Churchill’s quest for power seems unquenchable. Driven helter-skelter in the political winds as they were unleashed during the campaigns, Churchill had to settle into the safe haven of NCP. Shattered in the last elections, the Alemao family isn’t used to living in political wilderness. If Benaulim, where his daughter, Valanka, came a cropper in 2012, Churchill hopes to teach his friends-turned-rivals a lesson as well avenge his daughter’s defeat at the hands of Cajetan (Caitu) D’Silva, and Joaquim wins, the family score against Congress would be settled. The widespread problems that resulted from the internal warfare in both the Congress and BJP should affect both parties at the hustings. That the anti-BJP parties failed to weave an alliance seems a mammoth failure, particularly since Congress wants to wrest power back from the BJP. It is obvious that there is “leadership deficit” in both parties, more so in the BJP with a vague message from Amit shah that Parrikar would be in charge of the BJP if the party wins. It’s an indictment of Laxmikant Parsekar. Some of the candidates from the national parties who held power in past times do not inspire confidence. To counter the charge that the Congress is a party of grand-parents, Luizinho Faleiro wanted a crop of fresh faces. It’s not new wine in old bottles, but old wine in old bottlesIt’s realpolitik at work in both the national parties. The Goan youth and the millennials are eager to see a change — a change for a better Goa. The recent rally in Panaji displayed the aspirations of the people. They are tired of the moralization by selfish politicians/ The great German poet and playwright, Bertold Brecht, said, “First comes the belly, then morality.”
