Lead Article published in oHeraldo 25 September 2023
Bullying and abuse is visible at every street corner with all sorts of mysterious and shady characters zooming around to strike deals. Vehicles with tinted glasses and sun films, noisy silencers and fancy rear number plates are seen moving around with total immunity and under the very noses of the cops
The last couple of weeks in Goa have witnessed numerous incidents of gruesome murders, deadly road crashes, communal tensions, stalking, extortion, honey traps and incidents of child abuse in educational institutions.
Drunk tourists in brawls, staggering or fallen in the street and even crashing cars into compound walls are now common scenes. Goans are suffering unimaginable trauma even in their homes due to the ‘ease of doing business’ nuisance. Political groups have used the deteriorating safety and security of citizens in the State to indulge in a blame game and for migrant bashing.
For a section of the media it has been nothing more than sensationalising such incidents and playing rescuer for the public, the common man, to boost readership and viewership ratings. What ultimately gets circumvented is an objective analysis to zero in on the root causes and interconnectedness of all such disturbing incidents which destroy public peace.
Goa is plagued with selfish elitist ambitions and business interests dragging the narratives in different directions to confuse the public, thereby not allowing a cohesive people’s movement to emerge. Finfluencers in social media pass off as activists. The public is fed with a delusion that God and PILs can compensate for the persistent blunders in people’s choices of electing and re-electing scoundrels during elections. When Goa tops the list of small States with the highest number of legislators having criminal cases against them, according to a report released by the Association for Democratic Reforms (ADR), how can Goans expect the will of the people to be respected by their elected representatives and the executive at any level of governance?
There is a whisper increasingly heard on the streets that “Goa is no longer a safe and secure place to live in.” There is a growing disillusionment among the young Goans who believe that Goa has no future for them to make a career as it’s not merit but caste, religion and political patronage which gets rewarded. Bullying and abuse is visible at every street corner with all sorts of mysterious and shady characters zooming around to strike deals. Vehicles with tinted glasses and sun films, noisy silencers and fancy rear number plates are seen moving around with total immunity and under the very noses of the cops.
Added to this nuisance are groups of young men and women indulging in drug and alcohol abuse in isolated by-lanes after nightfall. Traditional Goan neighbourhoods are now increasingly invaded by strangers, and any permission to do business becomes a license to violate the fundamental rights of the residents in and around. “Amchem pott” (our livelihood) has become the cover up for unfair and unethical trade practices. In such a deviant and anti-social environment how can Goans expect law and order to prevail?
The rot which has set in across the State is the fallout of a consistent political myopia afflicting Goan politicians, while the common Goykars suffer from social hyperopia wherein they can see the problems in Pakistan, Kashmir and Manipur but remain blind to the filth below their very noses. What is left of ‘Goykarponn’ and ‘Ganvponn’ is nothing more than the attractive wrapper to cover the sleaze and scandals marketed to people under a banner of economic development. It’s not just politics which has become a refuge for scoundrels; religions are not lagging far behind. Social Justice is now about social entertainment; a thriving business of installing religious symbols and multiplying devotions along with festivals to whip up nostalgia for the cultural past and distract from the present loot and plunder by a cabal of elites. The circus around some demand for Justice, which arbitrarily pops up at Azad and Lohia maidans, is nothing beyond photo ops to decorate the activity reports.
Goa could now qualify as a paradise of sleaze, avarice and debauchery with everyone in the game of fooling each other.
The increased religiosity, which takes offense at the drop of a hat to create social tensions, is hardly seen in practice when it comes to civic duties. The core values preached by every religion are neither seen in governance nor in citizen behaviours. The increased infatuation with inter-religious dialogue ignores basic socio-economic issues which impact people across religions on a daily basis. Ethics and morality get diluted by ‘dharma gurus’ when it comes to politics and tourism. Besides the rant about ‘dharam khatre mein hai’ and hate speeches, when have we last heard religious platforms raising concerns about the threats to families, particularly women and children, from alcohol and drug abuse, casinos and sex trade? Is the growing menace of unlimited partying and noise pollution from nightlife, which impacts the physical, mental and spiritual well-being of citizens, not a subject concerned with religions? Besides the ‘Laudato Si’ around caring for mother earth by protesting against damming of Mhadei, deforestation and double tracking, do religions not have a duty to advocate the reduction of the carbon footprint in religious places and in the lifestyles of their followers?
The signs of Goa’s decadence are already showing, with the citizens shirking their duties but expecting entitlements while a cabal of the privileged multiply wealth and enjoy power by snatching community resources. A tiny ecologically fragile State cannot afford the luxury of aping the large neighboring States when it comes to industry and infrastructure. Over exploitation of natural resources by a tourism lobby obsessed with increasing tourist footfalls, when the basic needs of water, electricity and garbage management for the local population are severely lacking, becomes a perfect recipe for a social and environmental disaster. How long will Goans be lost in a stupor from religious devotion and feasting and pretend not to see the collapse of their paradise?
(The writer was a Counsellor at a Drug Prevention and De-addiction Centre in Goa)
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