A Pampered Superman EDITORIAL
THE mob violence at the Panaji police station was a show of strength by Mr Atanasio Monserrate, MLA from Taleigao. Or, we may be wrong: it was a show of power - power over everything. It was aimed at sending a message out to the world that Mr Monserrate is the most powerful man in Goa, ministerial cap or no ministerial cap, and could make the system do whatever he wants. And he had shown as recently as a few weeks ago how he could make the guardians of the system come bending down on their knees begging him to just say what he wants. If Mr Monserrate got inebriated - and often gets inebriated - the blame should also go to the guardians of the system, who are today so furious with him and who were those who provided the bottles of surrenders and compromises to him.
It sounded absurd when those in authority said, "We didn't expect this." What had they thought? That the mob will chant some slogans and melt away? Perhaps it could have. But then, what happened on Tuesday would have happened on another day. But it would have happened. Because the pampering, the surrender, the compromises were all leading up to it. If chief ministers and Congress top brass could be told to do what Mr Monserrate wanted, who would blame him for beginning to think that he was the maker or breaker of government in this state!
What would a man of such powers think of ordinary police inspectors and constables who would not do his bidding! He could just ask them to be stoned and transported to hospital, if there was anybody to take them. He could just ask them to be punished by government for not doing what he wanted. The issue, as we know, was that a man known by the name of Ryan Godinho, who is a supporter of Mr Monserrate, was taken into custody by police. This man is an accused in the attack on Babani Sheikh but had been hiding from police and evading his arrest. It was Mr Monserrate's contention that the gang of Babani Sheikh caught Godinho and battered him, but police instead of taking action against the Sheikh men took Godinho into custody.
The charge was partisanship. But more than that, the intention of Mr Monserrate in collecting a mob and then allegedly inciting it to violence against policemen was to show to his supporters that he could blow up things for a supporter. Such a show is needed for securing the loyalty of voters and vote-getters. But then MLAs do this thing not by inciting a mob to violence. There are ways of putting up your complaint against police functioning. You could file a case with the police. You could go to a court.
In more ways than one, Tuesday's demonstration of strength is going to be prove counter-productive to Mr Monserrate. His entry into politics from a different background and continued victories ( whatever his ways) had always kept the question alive in the minds of the public at large: will he prove to be a law-abiding and peaceful means-following democrat? With the mob violence, which has left more than 30 police persons wounded, his image as an MLA has taken a severe beating. With the reports of police assaulting him in a fit of vengeance, his image as a superman is eroded. With the court placing him in a week-long police custody, during which he will have to stay in the lock-up at the Panaji police station, he has started looking as still more fallible, vulnerable and weak.
http://www.navhindtimes.com/articles.php?Story_ID=022118
