The Nigerian – Goa’s whipping boy? -Soter

The Nigerian – Goa’s whipping boy? - Soter D'souza The ugly turn that the entire episode involving the Nigerians has taken is definitely a blot on the secular and progressive image of Goan society. Goans, when compared to the rest of the country, have been exposed to diverse cultures and have been known world wide for their tolerance. Goans who have lived, and even been born in foreign countries including Africa, will probably agree that they had enjoyed far greater acceptance than other persons of Asian origin. The NH 17 road blockade at Porvorim by the Nigerians, to protest the murder of one of their citizen, can in no way be viewed as the origin of the provocation and violent Goan response that followed. The racial hatred and anger against Nigerians, Russians and Israelis has been carefully injected into the Goan psyche over the last couple of years. The incident at Porvorim was only that opportune moment exploited, by those with vested designs, to wage an open war to eliminate those inconvenient forces in the local drug economy, and establish local control over the drug trade. This racial intolerance witnessed in the incident involving the Nigerians should not be dissociated from the regional and religious intolerance that is fast invading the Goan mind. The excuse that Nigerians are responsible for the drug trade being forwarded, to justify the backlash from locals against the African people, is no different from the “Love Jihad” theory advocated by the sectarian forces to flare up communal passions in the country. The culture of hatred and violence in society needs to construct excuses and to project that threat in order to justify its presence and control over minds. For the time being it is racial hatred arising from concerns over the drug trade. It will take no time for this hatred and violence to be used for communal violence if it is found necessary for the political survival of the underworld in Goa. Going by the developments there is not much difference between a politics of communalism that also operates in Goan society alongside the drug menace. Communalism and drug trade need to both be a cause to worry for every Goan at the moment. Goans will surely admit that the advent of the drug scene in Goa definitely precedes the entry of drug dealers of Nigerian, Russian or Israeli origin. The anti-narcotics cell of the Goa Police surely has a list of the most powerful Goan drug dealers and drug peddlers dating back to the seventies and eighties. Citizens from the coastal belt will perhaps also admit that this power and money of the local drug and gambling mafia gradually found its way into the corridors of power in and around the nineties. From then on there has been no looking back. It would be foolish of Goans to believe that money from drugs, gambling and flesh trade has not been determining the winability of politicians in certain constituencies. There is little doubt that profits from illegal trades have increasingly begun to find their way into Goan politics. So, while some politicians may attempt to instigate racial discrimination against the Nigerians to divert attention from the real problem, it calls for the Goan society to invoke reason rather than merely respond to emotions. It is important to identify and isolate the root of the cancer, and such cosmetic responses to eradicate only the symptoms will do no good for the survival of Goans. Goans need to understand the real context for the latest reaction and hurry to shunt out the Nigerians from Goa. What is being clothed as a response to clean Goa is definitely far from the actual reality. The witch-hunt against the African community is more about a struggle within the drug and sex economy ravaging Goa’s coast, which is both fuelling and riding on sentiments of frustration and loss of peace within the local community.