Rico, Hope Rico is acceptable, since I like shortforms. Nowhere did I say that Raj T is right. But that is chauvinism. And Diana was talking about the same, the mind-based conflict leading to chauvinism when acutely threathened. Acutely threathened by what ?...you may ask :-)). The answer is 'Political popularity'. Raj T would definately want to cut to size Kripashankar Singh, a UP Bhaiya, who is the current MLA with a swelling slum-vote-bank which Raj T can never shake. Therefore the ire against North Indians. If the same MLA was a South Indian, Raj T would move against South Indians. Raj T will be alive and kicking taking any line ( against North or South Indians) from the understanding that 'Mumbai will burn if he is touched'. The conflict, my dear Rico is not economic, or ethnic or religious. The problem is political and nothing but political. If these rabble-rousers ( read Raj T etc) are kicked in the groin by the Election Commission and render them impotent, things will never get out of hand. But EC will not and cannot move in. That is the sad part of it.
Here in Goa, the fear is that someone like Raj T will be born some day if the Election Commission sleeps over this issue of migrants deciding what government we Goans should have. It is a matter of frustration when you know that you are going to be reduced to a nonentity in your own land. It is not the 'kicking the migrants out' that will help Goa. As a matter of fact 'kicking the Election Commission' where it hurts will help Goa. For Goa cannot survive without migrant labour force. Goa does not and will never have a blue collar work force. This was decided when Goa was liberated in 1961. One of the patrons of Goa who was in charge then, and who is now talking big, like we say in Konkani - Malun'ank don ton'dam ', is Dr. JC Almeida. He was partly responsible to open up Goa industrially to the rest of India when Goans didn't know head or tail of doing business except running bars and restaurants. What he could do was to start a training process to train Goans and channelise them into industrial vocations. Goa cannot allow every Tom-Dick and Harry who boards a Goa bound train and lands here to queue up in the voting line to vote for Digamber Kamat, Dayanand Narvekar, Babush Monserrate, Vishwajeet Rane and the likes who are working towards underming Goa rather than work for Goa. Diana has given you an example of Sancoal where the Panchayat is run by the settlers, so much so, that the Sarpanch cannot even speak a word of Konkani or English, but Kannad. You have your answers from this example and no more is required. And if you think that I am against this, then you have another think coming. I would rather prefer Kannad run Panchayats in Goa than to have our own Goans in the saddle. Call it the crab mentality or whatever you like. But that is the fact of life in Goa today. Our own guys are our own enemies. rgds fc ----- Original Message ----- From: "Frederick [FN] Noronha * फ्रेडरिक नोरोंया" <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> To: "Goa's premiere mailing list, estb. 1994!" <[email protected]> Sent: Wednesday, February 13, 2008 12:44 AM Subject: Re: [Goanet] Of Goans, non Goans and Ghantis > On 12/02/2008, Floriano_GMAIL <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> wrote: > > > > Diana, > > Tell Fred that Raj Thackeray is alive and kicking accross the border. > > Maybe someday the blinds that are covering Fredricks vision will lift and > > he > > will be able to see reality. > > Cheers to your argument. > > floriano > > > > Hi Floriano, "Fred" is my login-name. I don't use it to for myself. > > As far as Raj Thackeray goes, what are the lessons we learn from him? Would > you appreciate him if he had a campaigns in Goans in Mumbai too (estimated > at 100,000 in 1960, no figures since). Do you think he's doing the right > thing w.r.t North Indians? Who do you feel has granted him the rights for > him and his uncle to decide whom to target -- South Indians, Muslims, North > Indians -- as and when he chooses? > > Above all, can the concept of India as a federal entity (however flawed) > ever continue with more of this kind of "nativism in a metropolis" thinking, > as Dipankar Ghosh called it [ > http://www.amazon.com/Nativism-Metropolis-Shiv-Sena-Bombay/dp/0836409558] ? > Are you just rabble-rousing here, or would you be willing to forego the > advantages of belonging to one larger South Asian market (which needs to be > expanded, not shrunken) if you are not willing to pay the price that goes > along with it? > > (In fact, the "price" that most of the anti-"outsider" lobby on Goanet > blames on the migrant could be better attributed to stem from a range of > other trends (corruption, abuse of the system, the loss of control over the > political class, deep divisions and mistrust within Goan society, > land-related rackets, the spurt of middle class consumption and affluence > including by you and me, and the greying of Goa due to the contruction > plague which you know about.) > > Anyway, it's good that you raised this issue. I would like to hear from the > ultra-silent gruop who make the 'outsider' the main bugbear of today's Goa > over how they see Raj(an) Thackeray's campaigns against North Indians in > Mumbai, and whether this is the way forward for a multi-ethnic, > multi-cultural, multi-caste country like India to go ahead. FN > -- > Frederick Noronha http://fn.goa-india.org Ph +91-832-2409490
