When we were children and had to travel to Bangalore or Bombay there was always the issue of getting a reserved berth on the train; otherwise it was better not to go as an unreserved compartment on the train was in no way an enjoyable ride, especially if you were going back to boarding school. As we all know it is not the destination but the joy of the journey which is fun.
Is it the same for our Goa MLAs as it was for us school boys? Supporters of ministers in various constituencies are beating the drums loudly to have their representatives get a pride of place in the Goa cabinet. Is it possible to make every MLA in the coalition government a cabinet minister? As is well-known all red-blooded politicians claim they do not want a cabinet seat, and only want to serve the people. For this reason, I cannot understand why their supporters want reserved sets for them. And, with elections around the corner we will soon hear how they wanted to retire in their old age but could not say no to their supporters, voters and higher-ups. The selflessness of our representatives makes my heart bleed. They need to be conferred sainthood on them while they are alive. After all, there is an exception to every rule. MLAs need to tell their supporters not to make the demand as in a parliament democracy, even in a coalition government, it is not the prerogative of the voters of an MLA to dictate to the Chief Minister of the State who should be inducted into the cabinet and who should not! Voters are taking a narrow-minded view of politics, not knowing the rights and duties as framed in our parliamentary system, making ridiculous demands which are exposing the arrogance and ignorance of voters and their MLAs. Women, for example, do not have have a fair representation and need to have ministerial seats so they have a chance to voice their grievances. The fight for equality for women in our country, decades after Independence is an an ongoing uphill fight even though our constitution gives the impression they have equal and more rights. Legal rights and social realities are not on the same page in India. And, every page turned is a new page which is not easily won. Is the absence of women, nay woman, in the Goa cabinet nothing less than an expose of our MLAs chauvinistic attitude to women in government? No power for our women legislators? Are our female MLAs intended to be only window-dressing? Are our male MLAs woman-haters? There has to be some kind of principle involved other than he is my MLA and so he should be given a cabinet berth. Or maybe because he will protect my narrow sectarian interest. That is simply not good enough. The cabinet minister has to work for the whole of Goa. This is the way parliamentary democracy works!
