Chief Minister adopts a different approach
By Nisser Dias
nisserdias at gmail.com
SMS to 9422437029
Election 2012 over, votes counted, Congress reduced to non-entity with just
nine members in the 40 member house. The sun shone over the BJP and
catapulted it to power with clear majority, people’s aspiration which are
plenty have sky rocketed. The polity wanted an efficient and honest
administration, they wanted corruption to be eradicated, they wanted smooth
functioning government, people wanted illegal mining to stopped, they were
looking for greener environment and Goa. Goans wanted good infrastructure,
better connectivity between cities and villages. They wanted a stop to be
put on constructions of buildings and mega housing projects. They wanted
elimination of drugs and psychotropic substances from the touristic state of
Goa. All these illegal activities had thrived under the regime of the
government of the last five years and general public of the state wanted to
see a change.
A change that we hope that chief minister Manohar Parrikar can turn into a
reality. Having said that there is a big difference from the earlier rule of
Manohar Parrikar as the chief minister and now. He has adopted a reverse
approach – knowingly or unknowingly is impossible to say. In 2002 Parrikar
was impatient man and in a hurry to undo the mess of the Congress government
and do things for the betterment of the state and to a great extent for his
party. The minority community viewed his party and his motives with
suspicion, simply because to attain power he caused a divide in the Congress
government and promoted Francisco Sardinha as chief minister and then got
round him and made a back door entry to grab power.
However this time round it seems that the roles are reversed. The general
public inclusive of all communities are showing signs of impatience for the
chief minister to initiate action against ministers of the erstwhile
Congress led coalition government who have indulged in large scale
corruption and have facilitated rape and destruction of Goa. While Manohar
Parrikar as chief minister is showing signs of maturity and have adopted a
cautious and calculated approach. This could be seen in his stance of
allotting party tickets to as many as six Christian candidates and getting
them elected besides supporting two independents against Congress bigwig
politicians. This coupled with his performance in the assembly as Leader of
Opposition has endeared him to the minority community especially from
Salcete – which till now was seen as the Congress’ pocket borough. Of course
Parrikar would be much happier man if former chief minister Digambar Kamat
had lost the election from Margao as he was the man who ultimately
engineered his fall in 2005.
Then, this time the chief minister had taken on an entirely different type
of Salcete mission as compared to his 2004 sojourn. One must not lose sight
of the fact that minorities dominate Salcete unlike other talukas of Goa.
At that time Manohar Parrikar landed in Salcete only to garner votes. But
this time round his approach is to meet and interact with as many people
during his fortnightly visits. And every time he visits the Christian
dominated taluka he does something out of the book that endears him to the
people. While carrying out inspection of the NaveIim-Benaulim bridge he was
driven on a two wheeler by Benaulim MLA Caitu D’silva. I cannot recollect
any of our former chief ministers or even ministers carrying our inspections
travelling on a two wheeler. In fact Congress ministers refused to take a
step without their official car. Worse still their drivers even took the
official vehicles home after dropping the ministers to their houses. Such
was the abuse of the official vehicles during the Congress regime.
On his second visit to Salcete so far, the chief minister visited Curtorim
to get a firsthand knowledge of cultured fishing. He even tried and netted
fish. And in it he saw fish farming potential in the state along with
employment generation opportunity. If Manohar Parrikar continues these
sojourns during his entire tenure, Salcete Congress political bigwigs may as
well give up their dreams of getting elected in the next five years also.
This coupled with reduction in fuel prices has endeared the chief minister
to the people. How he controls fuel being siphoned to bordering states is
another matter but even then people are minutely watching how he will handle
such a situation.
The people in Salcete are also closely monitoring how he is going to tackle
the Medium of Instruction issue. It might be difficult for him to
politically as well personally to endorse MOI in English, but he will have
to play the minority commission card to give parents the choice.
It seems that the Congress has not realized the manner of his functioning.
The recent statement of Dayanand Narvekar urging his party not to field
candidate for Cortalim bye polls if late Mathany Saldanha’s wife Alinha is
contesting. This nothing but a tactic to bring back people closer to the
party. It is different matter that Narvekar has been isolated by the party
for long now and by his statement he was trying to send a message to the
Congress. But then Congress party in Goa is in such a disarray that are yet
to appoint state president.
Now coming back to people of the state being impatient. They want to see
chief minister Manohar Parrikar initiate action against ministers in the
previous government who have amassed huge wealth by indulging in corrupt
practices and policies. It is not that the chief minister has not got the
wheels moving. For example director of Mines is suspended, trading licences
have been suspended. Criminal case has been filed in the HSRP scam in the
Transport department during Pandurang Madkaikar stint as transport minister.
It won’t be surprising to me if he has already initiate enquiries in other
departments. But what the general public want is to see heads roll as it
gives us a sense of justice being done and a feeling of seeing corruption
free Goa very soon. (ENDS)
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First published in Gomantak Times, Goa - April 5, 2012
