To Goanet - December 18, 2006, Azad Maidan, Panjim: site of a massive rally called by the newly-formed GBA to resist the destruction of Goa planned by the Goa govt in collaboration with real estate and mining mafias. I was there on the stage with my camera documenting the proceedings. See -
http://www.parrikar.org/images/GBA-Dec2006 Those of us present believed that we were on the cusp of something truly significant and that here was a real chance to course-correct and reset the disastrous future Goa had been hurtling towards the past few years. We stood as one people and spoke with one voice that evening. We accepted Dr. Oscar Rebello as the nominal face of the movement that we hoped would force the corrupt Congress govt's hand and bend it to comply with the people's will. The strong showing clearly fazed the govt and it caved in to the demand that the Regional Plan 2011 be shelved. After the climax of that evening, it all went downhill thereafter. What exactly did the GBA accomplish in real terms? Answer: NOTHING. It only made things worse, and the govt + real estate lobby figured out alternative ways to keep their criminal enterprise going. Just when it had the upper hand, when the govt was feeling the heat, the GBA self-combusted. Some of its key leaders betrayed Goa and Goans with dirty behind-the-scenes games, all calculated to advance their own personal and political interests, and preserve their political benefactors in the govt. Fast-forward 3 years. It is Dec 18, 2009, and we can safely point to the following: Fact 1: Mega construction projects continue unabated in Goa. There's one launched every so often. National and international land sharks & developers have continued buying precious Goan land, often brokered by the ministers themselves, with several new projects in the pipeline. Fact 2: Conversion of agricultural and forest land continues unimpeded at a furious pace. Fact 3: Hillsides continue to be denuded, forests continue to be flattened, fertile fields are deliberately atrophied to prime them for pouring concrete. Fact 4: New mining leases are raining like there is no tomorrow lead by Chief Minister Digambar Kamat, himself a beneficiary (indirect) of many of them. Goa is virtually being mined to death today. When the water in the home taps brings in sludge, you will know for certain. Fact 5: Outsiders from both ends of the economic spectrum continue to stream into Goa placing severe pressure on resources, overcrowding our cities & towns, threatening our identity and imperiling our peace & quiet. Slums are multiplying, with ghatis squatting illegally on public land aided by local politicos to whom they are a source of both votes and hafta. The wealthy outsiders are meanwhile parking themselves in villas constructed on hillsides overlooking the sea. Soon Goa will look like just another overcrowded, squalid, ugly urban Indian slum. For much of the above I have photographic evidence as well as evidence gathered via RTI. The GBA has proven itself to be utterly useless, and it continues to hoodwink Goans. To Sabina Martins and the rest of the GBA quislings, I ask: Which of the facts cited above look like "Goa Bachao" to you? What is it exactly that you have saved these past 3 years? You owe this answer to the people of Goa. You fellows have done more harm than if you had not come into existence in the first place, BECAUSE NOW THE GOVT KNOWS IT HAS NO CREDIBLE POPULAR OPPOSITION. The govt also knows that GBA has no teeth, and what's more the GBA has allowed itself to be used by the govt by becoming a willing participant in the fraudulent process of crafting Regional Plan 2021. GBA was supposed to be an active opposition to the govt's nefarious designs. Today it has effectively become PART OF THE GOVT, hobnobbing with the very rascals out to do a number on Goa. On the stage at the Azad Maidan rally that evening in Dec 2006 was Dr. Anil Desai, the distinguished surgeon from London. See here - http://www.parrikar.org/images/GBA-Dec2006/slides/IMG_4430.html I did not know him at the time nor was I aware of his many sterling accomplishments. As it turned out, Dr. Desai was the ONLY person on the stage that evening who had had real-world experience and who had actually lead a SUCCESSFUL popular movement a decade earlier - the Nylon-66 campaign in Keri that drove out a multinational. But guess what happened to him that evening? He was shunted down the line in the roster of speakers and no sooner had he opened his mouth than the GBA brass wanted him to stop. Somebody has spread the canard that he was a BJP/Hindutva sympathizer. This trick of branding people - as BJP/Hindutva/Manohar Parrikar supporters - later became standard operating procedure for the GBA aristocracy whenever anyone raised uncomfortable questions about their own dubious associations and decisions. They tried it on me and they pulled it on one of their own core team members Soter D'Souza. In time it became clear that on that Dec 2006 evening that key players in GBA were fundamentally NOT interested in confronting the doings of the Congress govt - this criminal regime that has now taken Goa to the cleaners. They wanted to stir the pot, but they were mighty concerned that their campaign would benefit the Opposition Leader Manohar Parrikar. AND SOME OF THEM WERE MOLES PLANTED BY THE GOVT AND THE REAL ESTATE LOBBY. The GBA was playing footsie with the govt virtually from day one. The charade of claiming that the GBA was 'apolitical' was laughable, but that mantra was repeated over and over again by Dr. Oscar Rebello, the man the public and the press came to associate with the movement. And the man who eventually ran the GBA ship aground. The GBA story is a story of traitors and opportunists. It is a sad story because here was a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity to do good by Goa, and they had the full backing and trust of the people. But they dropped the ball, I would argue, willfully. In part two, we meet some of the luminaries of the GBA Rogues Gallery. (continued)
