Date: Sun, 13 Dec 2009 17:27:39 -0800 (PST) From: "Rajan P. Parrikar" <[email protected]>
To the outsider who may react indignantly to this, I ask: Where do YOU get the nerve to expect us Goans to sacrifice our quality of life to accommodate you? You talk about the Indian constitution. Did Goans have any representation or say in it? No! Yet you wave the constitution at us when all we wish to do is protect what we have had. Therefore - along with the issues of mega-projects, land conversion, and mining, we have to address the issue of in-migration. You cannot view these in isolation. Otherwise, as George Pinto says, Goa RIP. Mario asks: Rajan, I'm afraid George may be right based on what I see happening across India - an economic boom accompanied by a serious deterioration of the quality of life. Very sad to see. Elegant elites like Sashi Tharoor make eloquent speeches in clipped British-American-Indian accents about India's stellar achievements to other elites then head quickly back to their palatial bungalows for a cup of chai. "I feel your pain" is an acknowledgment not a solution. You have written several stirring analyses of the situation on the ground in Goa, all brutally accurate in every important area, though I would quibble with the example of Iceland which is a country the last time I checked. This is Goa's problem - it is not a country, never was, would be nice if it were. Believe me, even as a part time Goan resident, I would love to see Goa as per your specifications. Where the revolution seems to get bogged down is when faced with reality. You have said, "You talk about the Indian constitution. Did Goans have any representation or say in it? No! Yet you wave the constitution at us when all we wish to do is protect what we have had." So true. But that same pesky constitution in which Goans had no say is still a practical roadblock, no? Where the revolution seems to hit a brick wall is with conclusions like, "Therefore - along with the issues of mega-projects, land conversion, and mining, we have to address the issue of in-migration." OK. I agree. But what happens next? Who exactly is "we"? Standing in the way is a steep cliff, a.k.a. Goa government. The four most strident voices for revolution, Arwin, Nunes, Carmen and yourself, all live elsewhere, and are therefore part-time activists in a situation that is deteriorating before everyone's eyes. We occasionally hear a plaintive bleat from George, also from far, far away claiming that everything going on in Goa is illegal, but yet based on official permits and licenses. Arwin says he has approached some legislators. I guess that's a start. Then he goes back to work in the Gulf and some building contractor takes his place with an open checkbook, followed by a mine owner with an even bigger bank balance. Do I have to spell out what happens next? Local activists like Florian and Goa Suraj are operating on fumes. Wendell jumps in and out as convenient, as does Vivek. Isn't this where everyone heads for George's Bar and the furious revolution comes to a grinding halt? When I point out the obvious, that there seems to be no groundswell of political organization and political support for throwing the bums who rule Goa out, Goan activists get pis..., ...er, upset, with me. An alternative would be a Goan Sena patterned after the Shiv Sena, but something like that would only work if headed by someone like yourself to keep a fire lit under everyone. The only other alternative short of Naxalism may be to recruit some activist lawyers and launch a barrage of legal guerilla attacks in the courts to challenge actions that may be skirting the local laws in an attempt to at least slow them down and put them on defense.
