With a tepid Lok Sabha campaign underway, and all candidates singing familiar tunes, as usual there are more questions than answers that boggle the mind.
1. With the AAP supremo, the redoubtable Aravind Kejriwal and many of his lieutenants languishing in jail, in what looks like a political witch-hunt at the behest of the ruling BJP, can we now safely and categorically say that AAP was never ever the B-team of the BJP—an allegation constantly hurled at it by its very allies day in and day out??
2. That the BJP, with its stranglehold on every institution of democracy which is gladly and willingly playing ball, must be brought down a notch or two is indisputable even in BJP circles. But is the INDIA grouping a coherent, cogent or cognizant formation or are they all still speaking in forked tongues?? With little electoral strategy and muscle or money available nation-wide, are moral science lessons and Johnny Walker padayatras spewing love and justice enough to tilt the scales or are we all tilting at the windmills after all?? Are these disparate formations just protecting their turfs and " saving democracy " is really for the birds ?
3. In the Goa context, despite Sripad and Pallavi being very decent and affable Goans,and who for certain do not have a single communal bone in their bodies, one knows that they most certainly will toe the central party line and not utter a pipsqueak against the savage destruction of Goa, happening under the local BJP watch, orchestrated by the most repelling and repugnant Congress turncoats who have virtually emasculated the party of Manohar Parrikar in Goa??
4. There are two Goas jostling for the Goa narrative presently. One is the dwindling, dying group like us wanting to preserve Goa and its heritage and environment. The other, is the boisterous, rambunctious, greedy sort who want to mine, dig, build and blast Goa into oblivion. Clearly we know who is winning and who is whining.
5. The local BJP and Congress (despite its wolf in sheep clothing for the present) are squarely on the side of the Forces hell bent on annihilating Goa. Is there any doubt about it ??
6. On the horizon, there are just two guys who are on our side to preserve Goa and its ethos and heritage?? Those two obvious choices are staring into our faces: Manoj Parab of RG and Captain Viriato Fernandes of the Congress. Both have consistently fought the good fight: passionately, convincingly and, more importantly, uncompromisingly. All the rest have merely paid lip service. The caveat to this endorsement, of course , is the fact that activist - politicians can be so sanctimoniously overbearing and are so busy wagging their fingers at everyone, ( usually of their left hands , considering most are radical left leaning) that they miss the bigger picture and are unable to make compromises and work with everyone , particularly those who disagree with their puritanical world view.
7. Therefore the biggest question that remains for our Goa is this (since I am in no position to articulate the forecast for Bharat):
Do we send two representatives to Parliament who will articulate what seems to be our pressing needs?? As if our lives depended on it—day in and day out, hammering it consistently, in our temple of democracy that THIS and only THIS is what Goa wants??
8. Or will we all fall into that familiar secularism- communalism bullshit trap and vote like a herd of sheep, or worse still, sell our vote (which by all laws of statistics seems the most likely outcome) to allow the Forces with a detrimental economic agenda to triumph yet again.
And then weep by the Rivers of Babylon (since the Mhadei will have already been diverted by then) in our usual grotesque, hypocritical manner and then pray from every temple and church pulpit that “God give Claude and Norma Alvares the strength to save Goa” ??
We are truly a strange, hilarious race.
We smile, drink, eat, dance merrily (recently at Aleixo Sequeira’s birthday bash) even as we are dying slowly, one banyan tree at a time.
Should we change our tag line now from Goahhh to Go Ha Ha Ha??
POST SCRIPT
For all die-hard Congress supporters who label Revolutionary Goans the BJP B-team,
please look within.
The Congress has been the biggest bacterial and viral laboratory that has exported prime parasites to infect the local BJP.
And please remember, you were the same supporters who called AAP the B-team of the BJP and are now shedding crocodile tears for their incarcerated leaders.
RG is a voice of the disillusioned Hindu , Catholic and Muslim Youth of Goa.
Ignore or rubbish it at your own peril.
Because logically and mathematically, 70+ elderly candidates speak about the Past.
30+ youthful candidates speak about the future.
And frankly,
The Future is about Hope!!
The Past can barely Cope!!
DR.OSCAR REBELLO