Published as Lead Article in oHeraldo Feb 27, 2023
The deceptive and treacherous politics around the Mhadei issue indulged in by the Goa government, which was sufficiently exposed with the statement of the Union Home Minister at an election rally in Karnataka, should have seen Goa shut down in protest on the very next day. Had it been any other State, there would have been a spontaneous flare up against such political betrayal. But it wasn’t so in Goa. Apart from the rant and rave in the media, life went on normally. The concern, anguish and pain of Goans about Goa being destroyed is hardly visible on the streets and it is the 365 x 12 celebratory mood as usual. Quite contrary, to all the tears shed for Goa, that particular weekend after the minister’s statement witnessed a huge tourist footfall, with the Karnataka State’s road transport corporation alone diverting around 20 of its interstate buses to cope with the to and fro rush of travellers. Goans probably give more weightage to their enjoyment and making a quick buck in the tourism season than bothering about the social and political crisis which Goa is facing.
The crisis of political thinking and reasoning in Goan society appears a far greater threat to Goa’s survival than the diversion of the Mhadei waters or infiltration of migrants. How is it that the Mhadei controversy becomes the top-most priority issue over all others, when so much of hardship and torture is faced by Goans in their homes and on the street due to a collapse of civic governance? Why not the problems ranging from the lack of basic amenities to air and noise pollution, price rise, poor security, road fatalities, lack of housing and employment miseries? When 2-wheeler riders and pedestrians cannot defend their rights, how can Goans defend against damming of the Mhadei waters? When public spaces in the capital city have not been liberated from the casino lobby, even after repeated assurances from politicians before elections, what is the guarantee that ‘Save Mhadei’ will not be one of those limited edition jokes like ‘acche din’ for the 2024 polls?
What is worrisome is how a dark leadership of politics-religion-industry has allied to manipulate and control the minds of the people. Such leaders claim an entitlement and a divine right to dictate what people should support or oppose. The ‘festamkar’ played by a politician-cleric-industrialist nexus has been effective in diverting the publics’ attention away from the core issues. What appears as mass public support for these leaders is illusionary. There is no dearth of ‘flying monkeys’ (henchmen) for recruitment to play piggy in the middle by gaslighting and furthering the propaganda of the dark regime. Dark personality traits in political leaders are being showcased to youngsters as positive qualities needed to become powerful leaders and be successful in life. What we were made to believe was ‘parivartan’ to ensure good and corruption free governance is ultimately nothing more than replacing one dark political character with another. The end product is nothing more than minimum governance and maximum entertainment with self-promotional blabber and festivals. It’s a persistent ‘desh khatre mein hai’ phobia revolving around delusions of conspiracies against the nation. Feeding toxic positivity and hope and a bombardment with feasts and partying sponsored at public cost helps keep everyone sedated. This blocks any space for people to realise the extent of corruption, social oppression and economic exploitation which is sold as ‘Amrit Kaal’.
While festivals of booze, food, fun and music promoted by the dark regime are unlimited, any festival of ideas and critical ‘samvad’ (dialogue) initiated by civil society are threatening and considered offensive and conspiracies against the State. The resulting cognitive dissonance, errant reasoning and discordant actions afflicting Goykarponn then believes that an anti-social political and economic ecosystem can provide people friendly governance. While minorities get thrown out of their homes and churches burnt in some States, and while protests in Delhi against rising hate crimes were going on, Christians in Goa had no reservations in celebrating carnival. The space for informed reasoning and critical thinking is terribly missing amidst nostalgia of the past which has become the latest obsession. As the political analyst Yuval Levin says, “the biggest problem with our politics of nostalgia is its disconnection from the present and therefore its blindness to the future. While we mourn the passing of the post-war order, we are missing some key things about the order now rising to replace it.”
Let us not cheat ourselves into believing that political defections, corruption, illegalities and crimes are solely the result of weak legislations, black money, and a deficiency of democracy. Let us not beat around the bush when it comes to admitting that at the root of misgovernance and political abuse is also the reckless and irrational political choices by the people in elections. So, as long as democracy remains alive in this country with regular elections, the social and political evils are partly invited by the self-centredness and greed of people. It’s the people who reward those possessing dark personality traits with unchallenged power to legislate and govern. The sacrifices of the freedom movement and the vision of our founding fathers of democracy are dumped by the people, all for a government job, a scheme or 25 pieces of silver as freebies.
If anything has to change in Goa’s politics, it is the mentality of Goans. There is no inclusive, collective and credible Goan political movement which enjoys popularity and can defend the interests of Goa. What exists are isolated issue based and cobbled up alliances of selfish convenience, with some clerics and minorities sourced as secular decoration. What is needed is a convergence of honest and uncompromised minds across communities.
(The author is a Social Activist who has been a member of the Panchayat )
https://www.heraldgoa.in/Edit/Goykarponn-of-dissonance-and-discordance/201594
No comments:
Post a Comment