<There is a general feeling that Parriker is a BJP moderate. Leaving aside Parriker's own sins of commission and omission, let us not forget, Parriker is part of a larger party, one that has never been able to reign in its extremists.>[Selma]
I think Selma is absolutely right in drawing the distinction she suggests between MP and the BJP party of which he is a well known member. It can be highlighted by referring to the proposed question (#19) regarding Goa's airport scene. After prefixing it with a lot of extraneous verbiage (seemingly intended to push the interviewer's own agenda of putting Goa back into the dark ages) it ends up as follows: "What is your stand on Mopa"? Let us first take the BJP party's stand on Mopa. It has coined the slogan "Never say never to Mopa". That is the party's stand. Its fine upto a point. But BJP was the party at the centre when the civil aviation minister bamboozled the Union Cabinet to pass resolutions to close not only Dabolim civil enclave but also those at Hyderabad and Bangalore way back in 1999-2000 (after CIAL set the precedent at the Dabolim-like naval air station at Kochi). Now the private developers at the latter two locations are ready to redeem the Cabinet's pledge to the horror of domestic air travelers there faced with the prospect of traveling 2-3 hours (besides check in etc) to catch a 45 minute flight . In Goa we can say "There but for the grace of God goes Goa". Since 2006 or '07 BJP may indeed have shifted to a "two airports in Goa" stance for PR purposes as proposed recently by the Kamat government.. But it is not likely to be committed to it. So Goa cannot breathe easy yet.. Here MP's own personal stand becomes relevant. A couple of years ago he declared to the local media in the context of Dabolim civil enclave that nowadays it was easier to boot a foreign power out of a country than to get its own military to close or downsize /relocate a base within the country. So, as far as Dabolim is concerned, MP would not lift a finger to try and effect any change there which will be in the interest of the Goan people as a whole. Goa cannot afford the dislocation (currently facing Hyderabad and Bangalore) in the name of a single "fancy" airport in the middle of nowhere at Mopa. The challenge therefore is to rightsize and grow Mopa so that Dabolim civil enclave is never at risk and to modernise and upgrade Dabolim civil enclave simultaneously despite all the dithering there so that it serves its historical and practical purpose for Goa as long as humanly possible. There is also a related issue of Sindhudurg just across the border from Mopa in Maharashtra. I dont know whether the land there has been cornered by NCP types (of whom the civil aviation minister is a leading crony) as some say, or (ex?-)BJP types as I believe is actually the case. It really is immaterial. But somebody has to watch out that by readily agreeing to a Sindhudurg airport to seemingly get one monkey off the state's back, Goa should not run the risk of losing BOTH Mopa AND the Dabolim civil enclave inadvertently. This would be a bigger tragedy than what Bangalore and Hyderabad are now facing. All this, if anything, should be the prologue for the question on MP's stand on Mopa.
