------------------------------------------------------- CONVENTION OF THE GOAN DIASPORA FROM GOA INTO THE WORLD Lisbon, Portugal June 15-17, 2007 Details at: http://www.goacom.org/casa-de-goa/noticias.html -------------------------------------------------------
'SAVE GOA' BECOMES OPPOSITION BATTLE-CRY IN GOA FOR JUNE 2 POLLS >From Pamela D'Mello/The Asian Age [EMAIL PROTECTED] Panaji, May 21: "Save Goa" has become the opposition battle cry for the June 2 elections, with the BJP and the Churchill Alemao-led Save Goa Front adopting the slogan as its own. The Front has made the slogan a launch-pad for its new regional outfit, and reason for Alemao's break up with the Congress. Speakers from the BJP's line up of celebrities, from Navjot Singh Sidhu to its secretary in charge of the Goa campaign, Rajiv Pratap Rudy, have placed the slogan up front in speeches and electioneering. "Goa has to be for Goans. Goa is a composite, multi-religious, multi-caste mix and any additional influx will upset its compositeness", says Mr Rudy. "Goa is at the crossroads. If the Congress is sustained, you will have a Mumbai like situation. Goa will lose its identity" former cricketer Navjot Singh Sidhu told a press conference. Putting the spotlight on recent land sales, he said if the state was up for sale, it would lose all its touristic charm. For the party the slogan has come as a god-sent. Rapid in-migration from Orissa, Bihar, and Karnataka to fill jobs in tourism, industry and construction are leading to noticeable demographic changes in the state, overwhelming local populations. A real estate boom, growing second or holiday home market among rich Indians and foreign buyers, besides the advent of big money from overseas, Delhi, Bangalore, Chennai and Mumbai have driven up anti-outsider feelings in the state. As Goans grapple with the shift in the balance of power, wealth and business to "outsiders", the issue is clearly emotive, coupled with middle class anger at mindless investor-driven industrialisation and land acquisitions. Identity loss has long been a sensitive issue with this small state -- focussed on nurturing its Konkani language and east-west blend, despite internal contradictions. >From being almost out of a limb, the Save Goa issue came as a lifesaver for the BJP earlier this year, when NGOs and campaigners whipped up public anger against a regional plan that gave over acres of green areas to mining, tourism, construction and other commercial activity. The BJP strategically adopted the issue as a foil to the Congress's "development" agenda. Rubbishing the Congress's SEZs, information technology parks and "unlimited" industrial growth, the BJP posited the ruling party's achievements as encouraging in migration and effacing the state's ecology and character. PLAN 2011 TAKES CENTRE STAGE: Meanwhile, a rescinded Regional Plan 2011 has come to take centre stage in Goa's poll campaign here, with political parties jockeying to gain maximum mileage and deflect blame for the controversial document onto rivals. Scrapped in January 2007, the plan galvanized citizens onto the streets in protest against proposed de-greening of vast swathes for mining, tourism, and construction. The "Save Goa movement: was led by the umbrella Goa Bachao Andolan, and came to be tagged as the region's most spontaneous and successful people's agitation. Over the past weeks though, the Andolan leadership has had to issue several clarifications stating it was politically neutral. It dissociated itself from groups that appropriated its key slogan, including the newly formed outfit Save Goa Front, headed by rebel Congress ex-MP Churchill Alemao. Its clarifications though have not prevented parties from attempting to usurp its name, legacy and ride the wave, causing some consternation in the GBA. "Almost all political parties are involved in the Regional Plan. Proposals for six new tourism townships were already in the first draft done in 2003, when the BJP was in power. But what can we do if public memory is so short", says GBA activist Patricia Pinto. Its superior strategising skills with the media and a section of activists have given the BJP an advantage, focussing public attention on the Congress and ex-town and country planning minister Atanasio Monserrate. Mr Monserrate -- a financier, with stakes in the realty market -- was town and country planning minister right through, serving both in the BJP government, before switching to the Congress. On Friday, BJP secretary in charge of Goa, Rajiv Pratap Rudy, said the Congress's involvement in the plan was more than a mere money and land scam, but additionally a ploy to effect demographic changes, by inundating the local population. The Congress has sought to put the controversy behind it. "The people of Goa did not want the plan and we bowed to their wishes. The Congress has always responded to public opinion in Goa", said AICC secretary Margaret Alva. It's williningness though to give Mr Monserrate a ticket to re-contest, before he ditched the Congress, had angered the party's middle-class supporters. (ENDS) ------------------------------------------------------- Goanet recommends, and is proud to be associated with, 'Domnic's Goa' - A nostalgic romp through a bygone era. This book is the perfect gift for any Goan, or anyone wanting to understand Goa. Distributed locally by Broadway, near Caculo Island, Panjim & internationally by OtherIndiaBookStore.Com. 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