By
| 08 Feb, 2015, 01:25AM IST
Varkhand
and Varca are both villages in the same land but they could be planets
away. Socially, culturally, politically and perhaps even economically,
they are at opposite ends, figuratively and literally, one in Salcete
and the other in Pernem.
On
Sunday last, one met the other, a rare sighting. Not surprisingly they
met in a large government-sponsored tent erected at a cost of Rs 50
lakhs, to supposedly have a public hearing on the Environmental Impact
Assessment Report on the Mopa Greenfield international airport.
Churchill Alemao, an ever ready diver into any swimming pool of causes,
he can encash, was there. He incidentally was the only politician from
South Goa who turned up, flung himself into centre stage, had a war of
words with pro-Mopa protagonists and returned half fuming, half
triumphant at having parked his point- No Mopa, either which way.
Yet,
in the story of Churchill's journey from Varca to Varkhand, lies the
irony of a journey which has no planned destination and is being
attempted by a disparate set of travellers with intrinsic differences.
Even serious students of the Dabolim versus Mopa conflict, who realise
the clear motives for pushing the airport - which has nothing to do with
passenger growth and convenience- have to concede that the anti-Mopa
'movement' has deep divisions. The complicity of these different paths
which do not merge, has made the anti-Mopa movement a journey of
different routes. If this has to become a movement it dreams of, it
needs to be more widespread, inclusive and cohesive. It is none of the
three.
Well
meaning, social activists cannot run this through press conferences,
oped pieces in dailies and through the social media. These can be, at
best, supplementary back up and support plans to keep the issue warm.
Yet they are being used as the main arsenal against the government which
has moved too far ahead in terms of its ground work. The anti-Mopa
movement in its current state and with the policies it is following is
in no position to take on the government and make an iota of difference
to its plans of pushing ahead with the airport.
The
Goa government's concern is not the “Goa for Dabolim Only” group. It
spends far more time in answering fundamental queries of shortlisted
project bidders, foremost among them being the pattern of passenger flow
in the two airports, Dabolim and Mopa once the new airport starts. With
the government stating that both airports will co-exist, the project
calculations of bidders will be impacted since profitability can be
guaranteed only in a one airport situation. The decision to bring the
Airports Authority of India in the fray as a bidder, is a panic
reaction, due to the insistence of the bidders on a guarantee that Mopa
will be able to tap into their entire traffic flow.
Therefore
the surge of discontent, when it does flow from South Goa needs to have
an electoral impact because that and that alone outscores economic
considerations, as those for Mopa are. And it is here that some straight
talking is needed. The Goa For Dabolim Only led by Father Eremito
Rebelo, is a passionate group, whose concerns are in the right place.
But a battle against the entire will and might of a state, which has
engaged in a Rs 3000 crore plus project, with substantial tangible
personal benefits, cannot be fought on a GFDO template. It needs a huge
subaltern strategy shift. It is time to question the manner in which the
GFDO is functioning, whether it is making the right choices and
decisions, and can it be a force which takes everybody along from South
as well as North Goa.
The
GFDO has either erred, nay, made strategic blunders or not yet fixed
the following. Please see below what the blunders are the irrespective
of drawbacks of each.
a)
Fact: It has limited itself to a group of serious activists and
hopes to reach out mainly to South Goa, through presence in the media,
partly through social networks and with some direct connect though
rallies and meetings
Drawback:
A mass movement, which has its limitations since Goa is indeed divided
over the issue, needs some political support. Even the GBA, arguably the
best citizens movement Goa has seen in contemporary times, had a strong
backing not just from the Church but also from the BJP then. The image
of Manohar Parrikar, standing at the rear of the crowd hearing speeches
at the mammoth GBA rally in 2007, was defining. The GBA did not shun
support of the opposition as it took on the government against the
flawed Regional Plan 2011 and finally got it scrapped. The GFDO has
refused to allow politicians any space as a result of which vocal voices
like Churchill Alemao and Vijai Sardesai have become completely
alienated from them. For a group wanting to take South Goa along, it is
losing space in Salcete, its most significant bastion.
b) Fact: It is perceived as a Catholic leaning movement- of, by and for them
Drawback:
The perception may be misleading, but it is extremely strong. The face
of the movement is a priest and while this makes for a strong visual
imagery of the discontent of the minorities, it shackles a movement. The
GFDO is getting boxed in and stereotyped. Unless it includes other
communities as well as the significant Bahujan Samaj, from across South
Goa, the opposition to the Mopa airport will not leave a footprint. One
must remember that whenever Goa has faced challenges that have tested
its will and fabric, it has been saved by the minorities as well hindu
brahmins, the Bahujan Samaj and the minorities.
Goa’s
past leaders had realized this and proposed up leadership from other
sections to take more people along. If the anti-merger leadership in the
run up to the Opinion poll had a Jack Sequeira, it also had a Shabhu
Desai. Look at the Konkani movement. If you had the great Ravindra
Kelekar spearheading it, he also had a Pundlik Naik, from the Bahujan
Samaj, as one of the leading lights.
The
Goa For Dabolim Only does put up a resistance to this argument by
saying they have activists from different areas, religions and castes
like Ramkrishna Jalmi from Savoi Verem and Dilip Hedge from Quepem, but
large swathes of South Goa have shown no visible signs of leveraging
their discontent to create ground level energy against the airport.
The
politician however is generically no genuine friend of any movement. He
is a friend who needs benefits and both the BJP and the Congress are
walking the tightrope. The BJP and its independent allies from its South
Goa MP to the two ministers from Salcete have been distinctly uneasy.
They have told their constituents they are with them, but will not be
able to show up at an anti-Mopa rally or take a clear stand during a
public hearing to discuss the EIA.
And
the Congress doesn’t speak in one language either. Party resident
Luizinho Faleiro may have officially taken an anti-Mopa stand but that
has been rendered valueless by the head of his media cell, appointed by
him, Mr Ramakant Khalap who went to the Mopa public hearing and pitched
his support for the project. While he was doing so, we were also
reminded of the leader of the opposition PratapSing Rane’s public hug to
the Mopa airport with his remark ‘Mopa is my baby’. The GPCC hasn’t
quite reacted to the addition of this new member to the Rane family.
Thus,
while it is important that the anti-Mopa movement has to be more
broad-based and include political voices, parties, especially the
Congress must seem to be talking a credible and clear stand and display
it by silencing disparate voices and have a clear opposition voice
backed by tangible ground level actions.
http://www.heraldgoa.in/Edit/Fly-on-the-wall-/The-mass-movement-against-Mopa-has-neither-mass-nor-movement-yet/84576.html
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