Frederick, U have summed it all up, beautifully. Goa is 'divided' within itself in so many ways; that 'all Goans' can never unite. Result: one who pushes for Govt. can win. irrespective of principles and or loyalties.
Nascy Caldeira --- On Thu, 25/11/10, Frederick Noronha <[email protected]> wrote: > Talking now about special status for > Goa in 1961 is applying > hindsight. It seems like perfect vision today, 20/20. Fact > is Goa was > and is terribly divided, with some then wanting it to > remain a > Portuguese colony, a few talking about autonomy (mainly > late in the > day), and yet others campaigning for integration with > India. > > Post-1961, the merger-versus-nonmerger battle only gives a > further > hint of how divided and needlessly polarised the last group > was. > > Further, the nature of politics here -- communal based > since the > 1960s, and more intensely so since the 1990s, except for > the 1980s and > other shorter spells when pure money dominated -- > meant that one > section protesting against tourism or the Konkan Railway > would get > laughed at, if not effectively neutralised by the other! > > The sale of Goa as a holiday-destination and place for > second homes > didn't begin in 2004. IFFI may have given a filip to this, > but wasn't > the start of it, nor even the most important factor. > > If Parrikar (not Rajan!) could be faulted for something, > it's a belief > that he could do effectively business with the same system, > and even > build-up and depend on the same Babushes, Mickkys, Alemaos, > Ranes, > Sardinhas, Madkaikars, Neris, de Souzas and others to come > to power > and somehow cling on there. > > The problem with Goa, as I see it, is that the divisions > are so deep, > that we think we believe we can keep playing one against > the other and > still somehow survive. > > Only the permutations and combinations change -- Catholic > versus > Hindu, Bamon versus Bahujan, Chardo versus > Brahmin, Salcete versus > Ponda, "local" versus "ghanti", GBA versus GPA, and more > recently even > Hindu + Catholic versus Muslim! As long as people can be so > easily > divided, why should any politician bother with delivering > quality? >
