For far too long, we Goans have squandered our energies in blaming, shaming and abusing politicians and migrants for Goa’s decay. After all the swearing at politicians from Goans over the last 2 decades, the wanton destruction and daylight corruption has not slowed down a bit, but instead has intensified with every passing year. Every political ‘sell out’ and ‘betrayal’ is clothed with the garb of ‘Goan interest’. Despite the noises from self-styled protectors of Goa, the casinos stay anchored and prospering in the river Mandovi, the drug mafia thrives, forests vanish, gated housing projects mushroom, the scoundrels get re-elected repeatedly, the nights are noisy, the beaches are vanishing, the roads have turned deadly and the Goan exodus and the migrant influx simply refuses to halt. And quite contrary to the groaning and moaning from Goans over their pathetic state of affairs, Goa continues to be about 365 days of unceasing celebrations. All miseries and fears of Goans vanish when it comes to ‘Carnival’, Festam, Food and Booze escapades. For us Goans, politics is no more about being ‘once bitten, twice shy', but about ‘thrice bitten, never shy’. The corrupt and communal politicians continue to have the last laugh.
To attribute the destruction of Goa only to politicians and migrants is denial and cowardice. We should not forget that it requires two to tango. Goan society has either been a silent accomplice or an active collaborator in the criminal mess. Solutions have repeatedly been about ‘barking up the wrong tree’ with no humility to own up the mistakes and correct course. The impulsiveness, emotionality and sentimentality have drowned reason. The very fact that a Shaheen Bhag cannot be replicated in Goa to protest against the CAA and NRC, even for a day, is a reflection of the bankruptcy of civil society movements in the State. The farce of public meetings, which are either about shooting from the shoulders of Church leaders or hitting out at governments through the lips of some celebrity activist brought to Goa, seems to be more from a compulsion of local activists to be recognised as ‘doing something’ for the political party or NGO market in Delhi. The very fact that Goa’s MLAs have no fear, either when it comes to defying public sentiments by endorsing CAA or for party defections at will, only demonstrates the futility of the much hyped and overestimated impact of civil society’s protest rallies and agitations in Goa.
The virus of gali maro and goli maro activism being injected as the new normal for a revolution has no place in Goan culture. The vitriol in public discourse and hate songs against migrants and politicians in Goan music and theatre are not about Goan civility. The hypocrisy of Urban living in villages and at the same time a demand for a rural status cannot take us far. The occasional skewed relief achieved from litigations more than often complicates matters rather than resolving them. Injecting a xenophobic mindset against migrants, the maligning of only certain politicians as corrupt and the selective opposition to select governance policies for selfish considerations are definitely not progressive activism.
One cannot help laughing when the delusion about a revolution continues to titillate the average Goan mind, this despite the glaring mismatch between civil society’s claims and the ground realities. When neither civil society groups nor political parties in Goa have any ability to enforce a flash ‘bandh’ over any disastrous government policy, as happens in smaller States like in the North-east, the occasional eruption of street corner protests are often nothing more than political blackmail and entertainment. The extravagant marketing and flamboyant road shows by mysterious civil society groups which surface and go trending overnight, and also disappear as abruptly as they emerged, does raise questions about their hidden alliances and sources of funding. When principles, values and processes no longer seem to matter in Goa’s activism, when it comes to the means used in achieving the end, some civil society groups are no better than the filthy political parties. The double-faced activism, of being activist by day and politician by night or liberal and communal as per political convenience, is our latest scourge. The Gram Sabhas are the latest casualties of such predatory activism.
Instead of public attention being constantly focused on opposition parties not being able to get their act together to take on the government, it is high time to be asking whether Goans themselves are able to unite in one voice and take on a despotic government. As Gandhiji had said, “Nothing is so easy as to train mobs, for the simple reason that they have no mind, no meditation.” It requires training of the mind for citizens to recognise their role in the mess and to arrive at a realistic and objective assessment of culpability and remedial action. Instead of being preoccupied with discussing games played by the Goan politicians, it's probably time for us to first recognise the ‘Games We Goans Play’.
For any change to happen, the false Goan ego and masks of pretence have to drop. ‘Real Change’ is about principled and consistent processes which mature in time and not about arbitrary and token protests. We Goans need to adopt the approach of ‘Critical Reflective Thinking’ in an era of aggressive branding and marketing techniques - now even the use of ‘deep fakes’ in election campaigns - employed by exploitative economic and political forces. We Goans desperately need to identify truth from falsehood, genuine from fake, fact from fiction, and reality from fantasy in our social and political affairs. This article is dedicated to those Goan voices of sanity which are drowned amidst the rowdiness of Goa’s ethically compromised activism.
(The author is a Social
Activist creating awareness on the issue of local self-governance)