Dears, Obviously, Remo Fernandes does not read what the GT publishes as my Friday column. On "Friday, the 13th June" 2008 I wrote for the column of the same title that Matanhy Saldanha [still the "angry man" but, alas, no longer young!] LOST his job as the Minister of Tourism when the M.Parrikar government uncermoniously "fell under the weight of its own contradictions" [as Babush, Madkaikar, Dhavlikar ....and Digu-Kaka ... so contradicted Manohar-bab that it naturally brought tears to his eyes]. A clipping of that is attached below and the whole article is available on Goanet. Remo THOUGHT Matanhy had RESIGNED ....just as he thought exactly a year ago [on the eve of the Goa Assembly elections] that the infamous VCD of Parrikar-bab depicted the true HISTORY of Goa correctly! Obviously, Remo's knowledge of Goa's history, colonial or current, is not as good as his singing. Therein lies the crunch!
Remo Fernandes stated that the common trait of Goans is to CRITICISE. I am a Goan and am doing just that , blatantly. No apologies like Remo before he went ahead and criticised Dr.Francisco Colaco from Margao [for criticising Remo's trumpeting about his un-plugged music for a paying audience on some beach in North Goa] and the eternal humourist and my favourite GT columnist till he stopped writing,[ temporarily I hope, and so do dozens of other readers] Cecil Pinto, for daring to criticise Remo. Remo was only 'chiding' them gently and publicly ...and in their absence ....at the obviously saffronized [they could not find enough sem-culhera "haldi" in time and so used a liberal dose of "kesar", blessed by Bismark] "Goa People's Assembly" . That is not to be wrongly contrued to be CRITICISM. That is a dirty word to use in the same sentence as a Padma Shree! Unlike Jason Keith Fernandes, I did not see the "Rape of Goa" in the airconditioned [and illegally built, if other Goanetters are to be believed] Conference hall of the Hotel Mandovi, Panaji. I had seen the sub-liminal messaging "Rape of Goa" in the "Art Gallery" of Institute Menezes Braganza and on one sultry evening at Calangute [See photo of me standing next to Rajan Parrikar in the first row at Goa Newsclips of 26 May, 2008] ...and promoted it extensively on various net groups, because it helps to awaken the sleeping giant. I have already bench-marked the GSB technology of SUBSTITUTING THE TARGET IN THE END GAME [such as replacing "Goan identity" with "PERPETUAL Mining Concessions" in the Opinion Poll that did not stem the flow of either the dreaded, but needed, "deputationists" or the migrant labour to operate the mines before mechanisation made their job easy. The mines continue to flourish. Has anyone noticed the "Goan identity" at the polling booths that elect our MLAs today?] Jason writes candidly about the substitution of KONKANI with ANTRUZI IN DEVANAGRI after the Konkani Porjecho Awaz was silenced and two men ...Adv. Uday L. Bhembre and Luizinho Faleiro ... walked out of the Goa , Daman and Diu Assembly in Palacio de Idalcao on 04 February, 1987. Not for nothing was that day marked with the award of the first "Konkani Martyr FLORIANO VAZ Puroskar" close to LOHIA MAIDAN at Margao last year. Today is 18 June. The day we remember Ram Manohar Lohia for his courage ...and most of us have it not in us to even brave the rain to mark the day! Just last evening at our favourite haunt in Panaji, Anand Salgaocar from Ribandar was heard saying that the "double bhattke" [once converted to Christianity and then saffronized] had no option other than being the "bhaddve" [palanquin carriers or 'hamali' of heavy loads] of the Saraswat BJP cadres. Ralino Sequeira, Soter D'Souza and Rajan Parrikar shared the "chai" table with Annand. Only Soter reacted to it. [ I have already ticked Annand off on the subject, in the presence of Dinesh Dias .... who is otherwise also a Matanhy supporter. I do not wish to REACT to it further. I will RESPOND to it appropriately, in my way and at my convenience ... and it will not go unnoticed by Annand Salgaocar. This I promise.] So whether it is the Goa People's Assembly or the Goa Legislative Assembly, it is not about the GOA you and I love: it is just about the amassing of wealth by a few and the cost of many. Otherwise just look at the data: 1. Who owns the TEN largest family-owned perpertual MINING CONCESSIONS[given by the colonial "Estado da India" Portuguesa]in Goa? 2. Name the Goan families that own the companies that applied for SEZ in Goa? 3.Name the Goa families that own CASINOs on the ground and proposed to set up floating Casinos in Goa? 4. Who owns the hotel premises where the BJP National Executive met in 2004 in Panaji? 5. Who owns the hotel in Panaji where Digamber-Kamat led Government holds [or graces] most of its functions, including the first celebration of a tabloid Editor's 60th birthday? 6. Whose projects are devastating the bank of the Zuari river near Siridao? 7. Which families occupy posts of Directors in various Government departments and key officials in the Secretariat? 8. Which families control the major business houses in Goa? 9. To which families do the bulk of the persons sponsorred by Fundacao Oriente to study architecture in Portugal belong? 10. Which families of Goa traded in human slaves and merchandise during the colonial rule? 11. Who was/is the leasee of the "River Pricess" and "Andheri Nagri" ships that ran aground on Goa's beaches? Once you find out the answers to the above questions, can you HONESTLY say that the Portuguese colonial rule benefitted the Catholics then or now? Mog asundi. Miguel PS Further reading: "The Rape of Goa ...... as a tool to Save Goa?" by Jason Keith Fernandes, GT 18 June, 2008 [Perhaps, Jason will post it on the net group.] ....................................................................................................... Friday, the 13th June It reminds me of the childhood song, "Ask it and casket, green and yellow basket. I wrote a letter to one Amdhar and on the way he lost it. He lost it". Well those are not the exact words, but that is the truth if one refers to the letter I drafted and a copy of which was sent to the Leader of the Opposition last month but we have received no response, written or oral, from him. A man who was inextricably linked to the story of the "River Princess" that kissed Sinquerim beach and turned into a frog, sitting tightly on the beach for the last eight years, is Matanhy Saldanha. Croak. His famous last words, before the second coming of the Manohar-bab collapsed were, "Either the River Princess goes or I go." Unknown to the saviour of Parrikar from distant Spain, it was destined to be the latter. The "River Princess" has seen many Governments come and go. It reminds me of my father's oft repeated words "Assim sao coisas do mundo, quem nao sabe nadar …." Those who know Portuguese will know the rest of the sentence. Where ever he may be and however much his chamchas and chamchis may criticize me, one thing one must admit: Matanhy loves Goa. No two ways about that. He has my unstinted admiration on that count. Who else would issue a statement condemning the recent amendment to sections 16 and 16A of the Goa Town & Country Planning Act, 1974? His party, the UGDP, is as silent as the grave it is heading to after de-recognition. That it was neither 'Goan' nor 'democratic' is well known. 'United' it never was. It has been a good 'party' while it lasted. The BJP, the party to which his colleagues in the UGDP, and then Matanhy himself, hitched their bandwagon, has maintained a stony silence in the Legislative Assembly and outside it. There is neither a purr nor a roar. The MGP is silent on the subject. It takes courage to speak out against an amendment that has the tacit support of all politicians: present, past and future. So far as I know, only GBA, CSJP and Matanhy Saldanha have raised their voice against it. It has been reported in the newspapers. Miguel Braganza. This is an extract of an article published in the GT on 13 June, 2008. -- -.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-. Miguel Braganza, S1 Gracinda Apts, Rajvaddo, Mhapsa 403507 Goa Ph 9822982676 [EMAIL PROTECTED] -.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.
