Panjim: Electioneering will soon start but the core issues being raised by the people of Goa are taking a back seat. Except for a couple of casuaal mentions, there are no prominent mentions of the issues concerning the people of the State.
This overwhelming sentiment in this week's Point-Counterpoint discussion on Herald TV was that today's elections are electioneering after votes and polls rather than during the campaign stage.
The eminent and learned panel consisted of Dr Manoj Kamat, Principal Dempo College of Commerce &Economics, Prof Sebastian Morris, Goa Institute of Management, Dr and Prof Snehanshu Saha, Head of
Artificial Intelligence across all campuses BITS Pilani and Olencio Simoes, General Secretary, Goenchea Ramponkaramcho Ekvott
The discussion centred around a premise that whenever there are elections there are two worlds, one of political strategies and the second world is that of the hardcore issues that people face daily. Issues of jobs, water crisis, protection of land and others have been prominent in Goa. Sadly, these issues only find passing remarks in manifestos and are forgotten later.
Academician and Columnist Dr Manoj Kamat said, "Elections are fought on party lines and not on manifestos today. Politicians undertake pacification of voters by doing basic lip service while the real electioneering begins post-voting."
"People are talking about who is the candidate of BJP or Congress but no one is speaking of the issues of people that need to go into the manifesto," he added.
He also said that it’s the people's power that can change the scenario.
Senior Professor at Goa Institute of Management Prof Sebastian Morris said, "The government and the bureaucracy itself by its design has become very weak which doesn’t help the new aspirants even if they get elected. Can we have autonomy? Autonomy is important for electoral representatives and politicians to take up the issues of the state."
Prof Snehanshu Saha from BITS Pilani Institute said that certain things can be done at local levels like raising issues and creating awareness socially. However, autonomy and budget allocation to institutions and public sector undertakings can help solve the issues to create a society that understands and reflects its problems.
Olencio Simoes said, "In today's electoral politics the objective is only to win. It is unfortunate that the political parties only focus on arithmetic. The issues about the grassroots are systematically sidelined. The mindset of the public has to also change as the care-a-damn attitude and use of the money during elections has poisoned the system."