The joke has gone too far. The nonsense must stop. Goa has never seen such despicable, laced with political motives and malicious project of desperately attempting to disturb Goa’s social harmony.
A series of incidents over statues and idols have shocked Goa. Respectable figures of one community have been insulted, verbally attacked and calls for their arrest repeatedly made. Incidents of community muscle flexing, installing statues in the middle of the road and threatening elected public figures have gone unpunished. The law-and-order machinery has taken no proactive step to deter those who are playing this dangerous game of mischief. While they will never be successful because Goans across communities are united, Goans are convinced that the forces doing this, or planning and allowing this, are not Goans at all. And these dividing forces don’t even care because their people are not here.
But there are some within this society who need to be accountable. For instance, some holy people had a “hotline” to the masterminds who follow the divide-and-rule policy. These holies went from home to home during the last elections, campaigning for certain individuals who have now joined the same hotline gang.
For centuries no one in Goa even thought that there was a thing called communal tension. Why now?
None of these incidents are spontaneous. They have not happened suddenly. Goans perfectly understand the thought the planning and the execution that went into it. They further ask when for centuries Goa was miles away from even the thought of fellow Goans dividing themselves along community lines, why is the mischievous threat of communal division wanting to knock on their doors now?
But they will not succeed. And they do not know that the strength and moral courage of Goans is stronger than its so-called powerful politicians
To understand this, an extract of an article written by senior writer Jai Prakash Narayan in Economic Times after the Mumbai riots in 2002 is worth mentioning for reference:
“What is important is the way much of society responds to wanton acts of murder and mayhem and deliberate communal provocation. It is a heartening reminder of our civilisational strength, social cohesion and political maturity that there was no trace of communal polarisation or bitterness or violence in the wake of the blasts in 1993 and 2003. In fact, there was defiant courage, social consolidation and rapid recovery and even resurgence. It is this grit, courage and boundless optimism of the people of Mumbai, not the tragic events of Gujarat after Godhra that symbolise the true spirit of our democracy and society.
While Mumbai remained strong after blasts and riots, Goans never had any tension. They always lived in harmony as a way of life. Therefore, no politically motivated leader can divide Goans for votes
Politicians who try and light the communal fire are not true Goans. In fact, they are not Goans at all because a Goan (and not someone whose heart lies in a neighbouring State) has experienced harmony every hour, every minute and every second while growing up. When they went on holiday, they left their homes open. It was naturally understood that their neighbours, very often the ones who celebrated different festivals from them would look after their home, and safeguard it.
Many Catholics will honestly say that through their childhood they never knew that Ganesh Chaturthi was a “Hindu” festival. And they celebrated it with as much joy as Christmas. The reverse also happened.
For Hindus, Christmas was always their season of joy and celebration and dances and the deep understanding of both the joy and solemnity of the occasion.
It is a measure of the maturity and civility of our society that Goa has always been blessed. Therefore, maintaining unity in Goa is not even an issue or a task. And a leadership that wants Goa to remain this way has to simply let her live this way.
But now, disturbances are seeking to be created and Goans are moving away from precious real issues and fighting hard to not allow provocative forces to try to light a match in the woods and start a forest fire.
Noted historian Bipan Chandra flagged this when he wrote: “Communalism developed as a weapon of vested interests… (who) deliberately encouraged communalism because of its capacity to distort and divert popular struggle, to prevent the masses from understanding the real issues.”
And Goans by not reacting are simply not allowing that fire to be lit. It is clear that these firelighters are part of a programme initiated by forces who are not lovers of Goa.
At times History does help us understand the present
In the Roman and Greek times, the divide and rule policy called divide et imperia in Latin, was first attributed to King Philip II of Macedon. It is known to have been followed and utilised by both Julius Caesar and Napoleon.
This technique involved the following:
-Creating or encouraging divisions among the subjects to prevent alliances that could challenge the sovereign and distributing forces
-Aiding and promoting those who are willing to cooperate with the sovereign
-Fostering distrust and enmity between local rulers
If this technique sounds so familiar in today’s day and age, it is not entirely coincidental. But hats off to Goans, who have wielded the biggest weapon that saves civilizations- peace. And if this peace is deliberately disturbed, Goans will change the system that’s responsible.