By RAJAN NARAYAN

AND A FEW more stray thoughts and a few more observations for yet another Sunday. For a Sunday following the week when the Congress was divided on who should be the candidate for the Poinguinim bye-elections. For a Sunday following the week when the Chief Minister Manohar Parrikar turned super cop and accused the Congress of conspiring to create communal discord. For a Sunday following the week when BJP’s claims to good governance and zero tolerance for corruption stood further exposed. For a Sunday following the week when I uncovered fresh evidence of the government discriminating against minorities in recruitment. For a Sunday following the week when it looked as though the police was finally getting its act together.

And a few stray thoughts on the confusion in the Congress Party over the Poinguinim bye-elections. In keeping with the Congress tradition senior leaders have been talking in discordant tones. On Wednesday the Congress Legislative Party headed by Pratapsing Raoji Rane claimed that it had short listed the names of the Jagdish Acharya and Sanjay Bandekar for the Poinguinim bye-elections. Curiously, the Congress Election Committee chaired by the Goa Pradesh Congress Committee (GPCC) chief, Luizinho Faleiro, did not endorse the choice of the Congress Legislative Party (CLP). On the contrary the GPCC chief insisted that the Election Committee had not come to a decision and would be forwarding its own list of names for approval by the High Command. I understand that the consensus in the CLP is that Jagdish Acharya, a former MLA, would be the ideal candidate. Even though Jagdish Acharya belongs to the Maharashtrawadi Gomantak Party (MGP) and contested previous elections from the constituency on the MGP ticket. However, apparently Luizinho Faleiro and Churchill Alemao for their own reasons are reported to be in favour of the ticket being given to Sanjay Bandekar.

Sanjay Bandekar was a close collaborator of the notorious “Gang of Four” who supported Pratapsing Rane in preference to Dr. Wilfred D’ Souza for the chief ministership after the 1994 elections. Though Dr. Wilfred D’ Souza had led the Congress to victory in that election the then “Gang of Four” comprising Mauvin Godinho, Somnath Zuwarkar, Luizinho Faleiro and Dayanand Narvekar chose to back Pratapsing Rane. Not out of any love for Rane but in the apprehension that if Willy became the Chief Minister the chances of Luizinho would be affected. Sanjay Bandekar has the reputation of being corrupt and totally opportunistic. I still recall that during the swearing in ceremony of the Rane ministry in 1994 all the chairs under the shamiana where the swearing in was to be held were occupied. So much so there were no seats for Sanjay Bandekar and the members of the “Gang of Four”. When a fellow journalist got up to offer a seat to Sanjay Bandekar he contemptuously rejected it insisting that they were interested in kodels in the Cabinet and not the plastic bucket chairs arranged for the swearing in. Luizinho Faleiro is backing Sanjay Bandekar as a quid pro quo for old favours.

Similarly, Churchill Alemao is promoting Sanjay Bandekar’s candidature in gratitude for the latter’s support during the South Goa Parliamentary elections. Sanjay Bandekar was one of the few Congress leaders who worked very hard for Churchill’s victory and was responsible for Churchill getting a lead in the BJP-controlled Canacona constituency. The probability is that finally Luizinho and Churchill will have their way. Not because Sanjay Bandekar is by any stretch of imagination the right candidate to take on the renegade Congressman Isidore Fernandes who will be contesting on the lotus symbol. Everyone is agreed that only Jagdish Acharya can give Isidore a stiff fight and possibly even win the seat for the Congress. But the problem is money. I understand that Jagdish Acharya is unwilling to accept the honour of contesting on the Congress ticket unless there is a firm commitment both from the Congress Low Command and the Congress High Command of adequate funding. And since Isidore and the BJP will be splurging over a crore of Rupees in what the saffron brigade sees as a very prestigious contest, Jagdish Acharya wants the assurance that he will be able to combat if not match the money power of the saffron brigade.

And money of course is something that both the Congress High Command and the Low Command have been very reluctant to part with. Historically in the Congress tradition it is the candidates who have to pay for the ticket and not vice versa. A lot of the local Congress leaders like Luizinho Faleiro, Ravi Naik, Pratapsing Raoji Rane, Dayanand Narvekar, have made a lot of money and have deep pockets. But they are not inclined to dip into their own pockets to ensure the victory of a Congress candidate. The ticket will in all probability be allotted to Sanjay Bandekar because he is probably the only candidate who is not making monetary demands and in fact has expressed confidence that he will be able to raise the resources needed to match the BJP’s money power. With a little help of course from comrade-in-arms Churchill Alemao. Who now that he is back in power is back to his old arm-twisting ways.

Tragically, the Congress does not seem to have understood the urgency of gearing itself up for the bye-elections. Congressmen in Goa, particularly the senior leaders, continue to be more concerned with building their personal fortunes rather than the fortunes of the party.

SUPER COP MANOHAR PARRIKAR
AND A FEW stray observations on super cop Manohar Parrikar. Stand aside Julio Ribeiro. Make way Amod Kant. Parrikar is the super cop. The IITian technocrat know-all Chief Minister is the best sleuth in the State. The police have confessed that they have no clue as to who vandalised the images in Sanguem. It will be recalled that a shivling and the image of a highly revered local deity were vandalised some weeks ago. The angry residents of Sanguem in fact held a morcha and paralysed normal life for almost two days.

Though the police claim to be clueless about who was responsible, the super sleuth knows whodunit. It is of course none other than the Congress Party. The Chief Minister has been making repeated statements insisting that the desecrations were a conspiracy on the part of the Congress Party to create communal disharmony. Which is a classic case of the pot calling the kettle black.

If the police have not found a clue it is possibly because they do not want to pursue the matter. The only reason why they are reluctant to pursue the matter is because they are under pressure to keep quiet about it. And the only person who has the authority and the power to compel the police to keep quiet is the Home Minister, Manohar Parrikar. Confirming if not reinforcing the suspicion that the desecrations were in all probability the work of the Sangh Parivar. In other parts of the country the Sangh Parivar has displayed a genius for creating incidents with a view to polarising people along communal lines. The silence of the police and their inability to find the vandals fits in with a well-established pattern. In the case of the act of vandalism in the Bishop’s Palace the police refused to arrest Pritam Rane who led the mob which tried to forcibly take possession of an artefact which they claimed was a shivling from the grounds of the Bishop’s Palace. Then again in the case of the vandalisation of street name plates and home plagues in Fontainhas the police have not acted on a complaint lodged by a citizen. And they made no move to arrest the miscreants whose names were published in all the newspapers.

DESECRATION BEDLAM
Similarly besides the symbolic arrest of the law Minister Francis D’Souza, the police have virtually a-finalled the Mathew Braganza case. Significantly, after the incidents of desecration a committee has been formed in Sanguem to bring the culprits to book. The committee is called the Hindu Residents Action Committee. The Committee consists entirely of Sangh Parivar activists. And by calling the committee the Hindu Residents Action Committee, the Sangh Parivar is insinuating that it is the minorities who desecrated the images. If there had been a shred of proof that members of the minority community were behind the desecration the police would have no doubt demonstrated extraordinary zeal in arresting and prosecuting them. The very fact that the police claim that they have no clues is a pointer to the fact that the RSS is probably behind the entire melodrama. By accusing the Congress Party of conspiring to disrupt communal harmony the Chief Minister has only exposed himself.

ZILLA PARISHAD
AND A FEW stray observations on the myth of Parrikar’s zero tolerance for corruption. The Chief Minister’s continuing patronage of Babush Monserrate has of course made a mockery of his claims to running a clean government. This week further evidence surfaced on to what extent the Chief Minister is willing to go to protect his protégées. There have been serious charges of mismanagement if not misappropriation against the North Goa Zilla Parishad chairman Anil Hoble. A case was registered after a lot of reluctance. Parrikar has however been refusing to sack Anil Hoble. Not withstanding the fact that even his own party nominees on the Zilla Parishad have been demanding Hoble’s ouster. On Thursday a no confidence motion against Hoble was to be taken up for hearing. Hoble had apparently appealed to the Director of Panchayats insisting that the no confidence motion was invalid since it had been signed only by five of the 32 members. It now transpires that Hoble allegedly sent only the first page of the enclosure to the no confidence notice containing five signatures and did not send the rest of the pages containing the remaining 17 signatures. The extent of the collusion of the Parrikar government and the pressure brought on the Director of Panchayats stood exposed on Wednesday morning. Parrikar in turn is reportedly under pressure from Hoble’s patrons, party President Rajendra Arlekar and General Secretary Satish Dhond. Coincidentally the Order disallowing the no-trust vote was signed by another Arlekar.

Just half-an-hour before the no confidence motion moved by 22 members of the Zilla Parishad including those owing allegiance to the BJP was to come up for hearing, the Additional Director of Panchayats, Vinesh Arlekar, ruled in favour of Hoble. The angry Zilla parishad members led by the Deputy Chairman Zinia Dias went ahead and held a meeting and unanimously passed a no confidence motion against Anil Hoble. Legally of course the no confidence motion has no sanctity as no representative of the Directorate of Panchayats was present. But belying Hoble’s case that he continued to enjoy a majority the 22 members who were a party to the no confidence motion re-convened at the Zilla Parishad office. All the 22 members gathered in the chamber of the Deputy Chairman who had given notice for the motion while Anil Hoble sat alone in the Chairman’s office. A thick-skinned Anil Hoble, however, obstinately refused to vacate the Chairman’s post. I understand that even senior BJP leaders and Zilla Parishad members owing allegiance to the BJP are disgusted with Parrikar’s continued patronage of Anil Hoble.

DISCRIMINATION
And a few stray observations on the Government’s continued discrimination against minorities in filling up government jobs. In the past we have exposed several acts of discrimination in respect of recruitment to the police and even posts of drivers and linesmen in the Electricity Department. We now have fresh evidence of the partisan communal attitude of the Parrikar administration. The Goa Public Service Commission (GPSC) conducted departmental examinations for officers in the cadre of mamlatdar, joint mamlatdar and assistant director of civil supplies between Feb.5 and Feb.10, 2004. In a notification in the official Gazette dated Aug.5 the names of the officers who have passed the exams have been announced. Of the 15 officers who have passed the exam there is only one member of the minority community. I understand that this is not an isolated instance. For instance in the same issue of the gazette the GPSC has announced the appointment of four Block Development Officers. Only one of the four belongs to the minority community. We understand that over 20 members of the minority community had applied for the post. The GPSC which is packed with Parrikar loyalists is alleged to be systematically and consistently pursuing Parrikar’s agenda of saffronising the Goa Civil Service.

And a last stray thought for yet another Sunday. Either finally all the criticism has got to Amod Kanth, the Director General of Police or he has belatedly decided to assert himself. Things began trotting on the implementation of the Goa Children’s Act with the government announcing the name of the judge and the jurors. And Amod Kanth actually had an interactive session with the NGOs concerned in the presence of journalists. This is unusual because Amod Kanth normally doesn’t hold press conferences and leaves the unpleasant task of dealing with the media to his subordinates.

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