Matanhy and BJP As expected, Matanhy’s door to door campaign has been
carefully scrutinized and critics will always see his joining hands with BJP,
an excuse to paint him with the saffron brush. This is exactly what the so
called ‘secular’ hypocrisy is all about. Most of the the present Congress
MLAs have at some point in time, had close ties with the BJP, but our
‘secularist’ will choose not to make a mention. They will rather hype on the 10
years old controversial CD and Good Friday issue, than the most recent
closing ceremony of IFFI deliberately scheduled on the feast of Goencho Saib
by ‘secular’ Congress headed by Digubab. Interestingly, every scam of the
Congress government whether it is illegal Mining, Regional plan, SEZ, Cidade de
Goa ordinance etc., is brushed under the carpet during elections by the so
called ‘secularist’. It is true that, Matanhy joining the BJP has sent
shivers in the Congress
ranks and upset the so called secularist, but Goans at large must welcome this
as a very positive and prudent move that can bring about unity between both
Christian and Hindu communities, which till date remain polarised as a result
of years of Congress misrule. While the Congress has plundered and sold Goa,
it’s Party chief Sonia Gandhi has lied to the electorate at the last election
on Special status and now, has unleashed the same bunch of powerful thieves
along with their families to consolidate their territories for the final
assault on mother Goa. On the other hand, the BJP has atleast acknowledged
mistakes of the past and with more representatives of the Catholic community
joining its ranks, will have to rethink its attitude towards the minority
community, which is positive for Goa. It is stupid to even think that Matanhy
will embrace RSS ideology or blindly follow any ill conceived policies of the
Party as alleged by some.
Matanhy is a shrewd man with a strong mind of his own, capable of
influencing others towards his own vision for Goa. Goa stands a much better
chance to bring about a Lokayukta and even Special Status under BJP than
under any Congress Government which is totally anti Goan. Our good friend
Rupert Coutinho has censured Matanhy, and with a long list of questions, but
one can condone his ignorance of Matanhy’s achievements, both as an activist
and as a politician over the last 40 years. Just to point out one example :
SEZ in Goa was stopped only when Matanhy gave an ultimatum to the Digamber
Kamat led Government not so long ago. It has always been Matanhy’s style not
to trumpet his achievements, but it is time to make known that Matanhy opposed
tooth and nail the idea of cancelation of Good Friday and many other policy
decisions when he was part of the BJP Government. Mr. Coutinho being in UAE
is unaware that Matanhy has
joined the BJP on the advice of his supporters in Cortalim constituency which
itself speaks volumes of grassroot support and development in the area during
his tenure. Anybody can book Matanhy for sins of omission, but not for
corruption and opportunism as alleged by Rupert Coutinho and if that was the
case, Matanhy could have easily joined the Congress years ago, when then Union
Minister Eduardo Faleiro invited him to join. More recently Matanhy could have
hopped into the Congress Party for plumb post when the last BJP Government was
toppled and become a crorepati like any other Congress MLA. It surprised me
that Coutinho has not raised any questions of accountability to the Christao
leaders of Salcette who are busy plundering and looting Goa, some for the last
30 odd years, while the city of Margao stinks. With little choice at the
disposal of electorate at this crucial election, which is ‘make or break’, and
based on the current
scenario of candidates, one can easily conclude that a Parrikar government
with Matanhy in its ranks will be far better than any Congress combination to
govern Goa for the next 5 years. Geraldo Oliveira
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