Vote With A Clear Conscience In my young days I remember that there were just two elections that mattered the most in Goa, one was the Parliamentary election and the other being the Assembly election, there were Panchayat elections too but there was never any noise about it, but today we helplessly watch huge amounts of money flowing down the drain even for a mere public corporation election.
Earlier there were not much money to be made and hence no political parties or senior politicians got involved in Panchayat or lesser elections and as such nobody had the money to pour on the electorate at these elections, as a result we use to see the few humble candidates walking with just a couple of supporters, moving from ward to ward and house to house, even if there were rivalries, there never use to be any security issues for the security personnel to wield their batons. I remember once two opposing candidates happened to come to one village simultaneously but form opposite ends and when they finally met somewhere near the center of that ward both parties, known to each other, had the courtesy and decency to sit together and talk about how each of them had fared thus far, it was amazing. Can we in all earnest expect this to happen today? Can we have even a simple campaign without adequate security arrangements even for less known election campaigns ? During the old days’ people decided whom to vote on their own beliefs, may be religious or even social but once they had made up their mind it was final and no amount of inducements would alter the course of their action. In rural villages, especially among the backward class, what, their “budhvont” (the leader of the tribe) decided was followed without any questions. Even in my own village I remember people getting together and discussing whom to vote, it was a conscientious decision that was taken for the welfare of the community and all willingly supported it. Even though we know most of them were illiterate, they stood by what they believed, no matter how hollow, shallow or strong that belief might have been. Today even with all the great advancement in education and communications we still look to be a lost race, our beliefs and principles get waylaid by a mere note or two. We believe in one thing, we say we have principles and yet we just do the opposite and contrary to our beliefs. Today money is become the “budhvont” as the colour of money guides our vote to the ballot boxes and as such both the candidates (buyers) and the voters (sellers) have lost their credibility. If freedom is the heart of democracy, then election is suppose to be the brain of democracy, wherein we should be electing credible people to improve the quality of live, while safeguarding the interests of the community at large and those of the land and that should have been the essence of every election but alas if only that was true in Goa. In Goa, politics is become mere business and elections, a means to an end for both the politicians as well as the voters. Our politicians are willing to spend any amount of money to get elected, if they were sincere enough and good enough to let their work and good deeds speak for themselves they wouldn’t have to spend any money at all but all they want to do is cover their misdeeds and their lack of performance by distributing goodies and money and once they get elected, then they wrack havoc for the next five years to fill back even bigger barns than they previously had. Where as, the voters are least interested in the plight of the land or its people, they only seek temporary sustenance forgetting the long term repercussions of their actions or inactions. Even though Goa registers over 80% literacy, we fail to prove it by our actions as we elect the very same tainted, corrupt and communal politicians over and over again. What is the use of us claiming to be a literate and an educated state if we can reflect it in our understanding and our votes ? What is the use of our education if we sell our votes ? And most of all what is the use of our education if we are not able to distinguish good people from the bad ones even after known and seeing their corrupt and communal deeds ? To vote is our basic democratic and Constitutional right and forfeiting this right is against the democratic principles and the Constitution. Each and everyone 18 years and above should vote, even one vote could make a difference between good and evil being elected. So please do not waste your precious vote but vote with a clear conscience for a candidate who will work for the welfare of the people and the State. To end, just an illustration, in the 80’s at one election I was a booth agent, as I identified every voter from our locality and marked on the electoral roll, there came an old man of the backward community, so I identified him and the officer gave him the ballot paper and the stamp and led him to the privacy of the booth and left him there, few moments later the old man came out but had the ballot paper still in his hand and we noticed it was still not stamped, so I asked permission of the officer and went up to him and told him that he should put the stamp on his preferred symbol, and then deposit it in the box but he was furious and said “temi maka sanglam xik’ko kaplar mar mhunn” (he was told to put the stamp on the forehead) and it was then we noticed that he had infact stamped his own forehead with the “X” mark. Later I was told that the MGP supporters had told him “Ximvamchea kaplar mar” (put the stamp on the forehead of the lion) probably he did not hear the “Ximvamchea”. Now, this is how our democracy works and this is how we have our elections, the uneducated could be excused but what is the difference between this uneducated old man and the so called educate who sell their votes ? Is there really any difference ? You be the judge. Freddy Agnelo Fernandes --------------------------------------------------------------------------- Protect Goa's natural beauty Support Goa's first Tiger Reserve Sign the petition at: http://www.goanet.org/petition/petition.php ---------------------------------------------------------------------------