Cheers Dears
By Augusto Pinto
Once Upon an Election in Moira
Dears,
Once upon a time in Moira, a long long time ago, a time long before our
time, there lived a man by the name of Nashlolo. He was upright and eschewed
evil. And though poor, he was wise yet kind, and with an open heart would
help whoever he could.
Everyone loved him. One day they told him that he should be their Sarpanch.
Nashlolo thought about it and said, "Very well, but only if you support me
on the issues that I believe in." "What is that?" they asked. Nashlolo
replied,"I want to be accountable to you; I want that you should have
information about whatever goes on in the Panchayat; I don't want to give
commissions to government officers to get projects passed; and I don't want
to take bribes from you to get your work done."
And the people were amazed and they said,"Nashlolo, this is exactly what we
desire. We will vote for you." And Nashlolo added,"One more thing, remember
that I am going to spend the very least amount of money possible on the
campaign. And if I am elected, I will treat everyone the same, whether rich
or poor, Bamon or Mahar." Again the people were amazed at his wisdom, and
readily agreed to his wishes.
Long before the elections came, Nashlolo went about finding out what the
villagers' problems were. He found that there was danger of the bridge, that
was the lifeline of the village, collapsing. It had to be saved. And he
found a better way to supply water to the village. And he developed a plan
to effectively get rid of garbage. And he realized that huge building
projects that harmed Moira's environment had to be stopped.
These were issues that other politicians just gave lip service to, as they
were thought to be impractical to implement, as it would have resulted in a
freeze on their incomes.But Nashlolo and his followers began to patiently go
to all the Moidekars, especially those who were poor, and looked down upon
because they belonged to lowly castes, and explain the measures that were
necessary to make Moira a better place to live in. And the people were
pleased with him, for he treated them like human beings and not just votes
who could be bought.
But he was not going to have it easy. For he had to contend with the evil
sitting Sarpanch Xannulo. And Xannulo was rich. And his family had been
ruling the roost in Moira for many generations. And he knew how to divide
the different castes and then rule them.
In the beginning, Xannulo had just smirked at Nashlolo's foolish style of
campaigning; but as election day began to approach, he began to get jittery.
He noticed that Nashlolo who took the poorest into confidence, began to
attract more and more supporters. Xannulo decided to turn on the heat.
He started spending amazing sums of money on the voters. He treated the men
to liquor in unlimited quantities. He distributed lovely outfits to the
women. On election eve, he took many voters for picnics near religious
places, but before they were served food and drink, they were made to go to
the prayer houses, and swear before God that they would vote for Xannulo.
This was the night when the greatest amount of money exchanged hands. Some
said Xannulo spent in lakhs.
Incredibly, Nashlolo's expenditure was less than a thousand rupees. His
supporters campaigned with him, but ate at their own homes. On the day of
the election, Xannulo's workers ferried voters to and from the polling
booths. Nashlolo had made it clear that he did not have the money to pay for
transport. Would his supporters come on their own to vote?
On counting day, people waited with bated breath and whispered among
themselves,"Hope Nashlolo wins, but can he win?" Then came the results. And
to the shock of Xannulo and his group of rowdies, Nashlolo won with a
landslide margin! The crowd went wild and lifted Nashlolo on their shoulders
and went in a procession through the village. In his short speech, Nashlolo
said that he would help them in every way, but ultimate power would always
remain with the villagers.
Dears, does this story sound plausible to you? Well, I did say it happened
once upon a time, didn't I?
Till next time then...
Cheers (ENDS)
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The above article appeared in the October 15, 2008 edition of the Herald,
Goa
