FRIDAY, JULY 05, 2024
VICTOR FERRAO
Goa is not just one State of India. It is a state of mind. What has happened in Assagao, in recent days where a part of a Goan house was demolished in broad daylight has disrupted the state of mind in our golden Goa.
Our susegad attitude to life is disturbed by this unnerving incident. It is this susegad culture that went on to make Goa a great holiday destination. It is this easy-going, all friendly, fun-loving, music-driven, ethically conscious ethos of Goa that welcomes anyone and everyone. Our blossoming fields, green mountains, blue rivers, silver sands, historic churches and temples have all come to gather to become God’s welcome in Goa. Anyone coming to Goa can easily feel this welcome and feel at home.
Over the years, Goa has lost its pristine innocence. She is ravaged by those who wish to turn it and our Goan-ness into raw material to generate wealth. This dark side is fast coming to light. Many heinous crimes and murders are growing by the day. Who could forget the murder of a young English girl on Anjuna Beach on that fateful night? Can we forget the day Nigerians allegedly involved in the drug trade took our road in Porvorim hostage for hours? The increasing road rage and chillingly killing accidents are mushrooming. Goans do not feel safe in Goa today. Gone are the days when in the 60s the Hippies who discovered the beauty of Goa made it a place of peace and rejuvenation. Unfortunately, tourists of today arriving in hordes enticed by the casino culture and social media propaganda appear to be unruly and wild.
We can indeed sense a sea change in both the quality and quantity of the tourists. Goa appears to have become a home for drugs, booze, and sex. We saw an enclave tourism of Israeli tourists, who were hosted by the Israeli mafia in Goa. In those days, places like Palolem and Arambol had turned Goa from being Rome of the East to being Israel of the East. The Israeli enclave tourism that played both the host and guest in Goa was followed on its heels by Russian enclave tourism.
It is said that Russian tourists mean big money today. We can find Russian menus hitting our restaurants and see Russian alphabetised advertising hoardings in tourism-related areas.
What we see as chartered flights arriving to the power tourism industry has actually museumised Goa, and Goans. A mafia seems to have taken control of our tourism. This has not occurred without the fault of us Goans and our Governments. Goans have sold their lands and ancestral houses to outsiders in search of pelf. All governments have been the chief facilitators if not crafty brokers in this regard. Some of our Goans are running their hotels and restaurants in partnership with the Russians and other Indians who are viewed as those that bring business to them. But along with what is viewed as ease of business, these partnerships have taken away the moral sheen of our tourism in Goa.
De-Goanising Goa and Goans is put on an accelerator and it is time that Goans wake up and defend what is left of Goa and Goan-ness. It is not just the tourism industry that has transformed from being boon to bane, but with the nationalisation of our waterways, our rivers and even our bridges are said to be handed over to the Coal lobby. People of Loutolim and Borim who aggressively resist the forced new Borim Bridge on them are clearly and loudly saying that the new Borim Bridge is built more for the coal lobby. Lobby is a euphemist word. But after, the bulldozer action in Assagao, it appears that there are no longer Goa and Goan friendly lobbies. What we have is a mafia raj which has made Goans by-standers, helplessly fighting for their survival.
It seems to proclaim that we are the last Goans standing in Goa.
The government, the police and land brokers and other vested interests appear to have their chosen side. They do not appear to be on the side of Goans and Goa. They appear to be actively on the side of the mafia raj that cares a hoot for our interest. Nationalised politics might have opened us to our share of the resources of our nation. But much like the British of the colonial era, the national politics that we are facing today is dividing us and usurping our resources to amass wealth and impoverish Goans. This is why we Goans have the challenge to stand united and save the plundering of Goa.
Much like the people of Maharashtra, we Goans have to come to understand the con-game of the Gujarat lobby. The people and political leaders of Maharashtra have defended Bollywood from the vultures who were trying to take it to Lucknow.
People of Maharashtra saw how the big industrial projects were diverted to Gujarat to bleed Mumbai. While learning from the people of Maharashtra, we also have to critically resist the cultural merger of Goa into Maharashtra. Political merger was resisted by Goans through the Opinion Poll. Perhaps, we have to resist a cultural merger Goa today. Signs of this cultural merger appear to be visible around unnecessary controversies centred on the great Chhatrapati Shivaji in recent days.
We in Goa have this challenge to understand how Goan interest seems to be sacrificed to facilitate what we may painfully regard as mafia raj where a weak government with full majority is unable to protect Goans. It is this full majority of the government that is its true weakness. It cuts the opposition to assist anti-Goa and anti-Goans interests. Maybe without becoming exaggeratingly conspiratorial, we may say that a weak government was manufactured to strengthen the dark mafia that has come to control Goa.
This is why Goans have the challenge to save Goa and save India. Goa is a pearl in the necklace of mother India. We cannot allow this pearl to be destroyed. Those that are actively destroying Goa are also destroying India. We Goans have to therefore unite, rise above all differences and protect Goy, Goykar and Goykarponn for Goa, Goans and Mother India.
(Fr Victor Ferrao is an independent researcher attached to St Francis Xavier Church, Borim, Ponda)
