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 senior Congress leaders continued to be reluctant to contribute to the election war chest of Jagdish Acharya. For the Sunday following the week when I realised that the combined Opposition would never be able to match the money power of the saffron brigade. For a Sunday following the week when the keystone cops in Goa threatened the editor of Gomantak Times, Sujay Gupta. For a Sunday following the week when there were renewed doubts about whether the International Film Festival will take place in Panaji. For a Sunday following the week when there were indications that the fulcrum of phirang tourism in Goa is shifting south.

And a few stray thoughts on the continued money problems being faced by the combined Opposition candidate Jagdish Acharya in Poinguinim. The Congress at every opportunity and at every forum projects Jagdish Acharya as their candidate. Which technically is correct in that Jagdish Acharya is fighting the elections on the Congress ticket. Never mind that he was not the choice of the Congress leaders. It was only because of the intervention of the Lok Shakti and the other Opposition groups who were keen on a common candidate to take on the BJP that Jagdish Acharya was given the Congress ticket by the High Command. The Low Command, till the very last moment in fact, was trying to sabotage the candidature of Jagdish Acharya. And regrettably senior Congress leaders continue to sabotage the election campaign of their own candidate. On the face of it of course the entire Congress party is making a show of supporting Jagdish Acharya. But when it comes down to brass tacks, which in the context of the Poinguinim elections is money, none of the Congress leaders are willing to dig into their deep pockets.

HUGE FORTUNES
THE CONGRESS has the largest number of former chief ministers. Each of these chief ministers including the President of the Goa Pradesh Congress Committee, Luizinho Faleiro, is reported to have made huge fortunes. In fact, Luizinho Faleiro used to boast of being the highest income tax payer amongst politicians in Goa. But when it comes to parting with money for the key and prestigious contest in Poinguinim all the senior Congress leaders are behaving like miserly Shylocks. The situation has been worsened by the fact that the Congress High Command either does not understand the significance of the Poinguinim elections or has given up on Goa. The High Command has reportedly contributed only Rs.Two lakhs and expects the party in Goa to raise its own resources. Jagdish Acharya had made it clear right from the very beginning that he had no money and accepted the Congress ticket only on the assurance that the requirement of funds would be taken care of. Till Saturday last the Congress Low Command comprising senior leaders in the State had raised only Rs.Two lakhs for Acharya’s campaign.

The High Command Observer Mabel Rebello read the riot act to the Congress leaders and told them to mobilise the funds required. Senior Congress leaders, including the GPCC President, are reported to have solemnly promised to mobilise at least Rs. Fifteen lakhs by the weekend. But at the time of writing they had reportedly not even managed to raise half the amount. The senior Congress leaders including former chief ministers have been approaching various industrialists on whom favours were bestowed during Congress regimes. The industrialists have not been very forthcoming. Pointing out quite legitimately that they had already paid the price for the favours received many times over to the Congress leaders concerned.

Individually and collectively the Congress leaders who have looted and plundered the exchequeur would raise Rs.Fifteen crores let alone Rs.Fifteen lakhs if they wished to. But nobody is willing to do so because it is not their constituency. I understand that another factor in the reluctance to contribute to the Acharya campaign is the distrust of Luizinho Faleiro. Other senior Congress leaders are concerned that Luizinho, in his usual fashion, would not only seek to take the entire credit if Acharya wins but will also use it to promote his own candidature for the chief minister’s post.

JHALMI ACTIVE
UNFORTUNATELY for Acharya, the other Opposition parties like the UGDP and the MGP are also reluctant to part with money. This is because of the perception that Acharya is the Congress candidate. And the insistence of the Congress party on projecting Acharya as the Congress candidate rather than as the combined Opposition candidate. Though the MGP has formally extended support to Jagdish Acharya the party chief, Shashikala Kakodkar, is yet to visit Poinguinim. The only office bearer of the MGP who is taking genuine interest and working very hard to get Acharya elected is the general secretary and former MLA Dr. Kashinath Jalmi. The UGDP has extended support to Jagdish Acharya. But it is only Anecleto’s faction which has extended support. Unfortunately, all the money is with the rival faction headed by Radharao Gracias. Who has the patronage and the support of the BJP banker Babush Monserratte.

So much so, even if the UGDP wishes to contribute to Acharya’s campaign funds it is not in a position to do so. As far as we can see the only people who are putting their money where their mouth is the Lok Shakti. Datta Naik is not only spending a lot of time in Poinguinim but is also being extremely generous with his money. He is also trying his level best to mobilise funds for Jagdish Acharya. In fact if Jagdish Acharya does win the election the credit would go to Kashinath Jalmi and the Lok Shakti and not the Congress. And if anyone is inclined to ensure the defeat of money power and muscle power in Poinguinim they should strengthen the hands of the Lok Shakti which is the only group which realises how vital defeating Isidore is.

MONEY POWER
AND A FEW stray observations on the futility of attempting to match the money power of the BJP combine of Manohar Parrikar and Babush Monserrate. On a tour of Poinguinim over the last weekend almost everyone I met kept insisting that money holds the key to who will win the elections in Poinguinim. Everyone is agreed that there is a sympathy wave in favour of Jagdish Acharya. Everyone is agreed that there is a lot of resentment if not anger against Isidore Fernandes. The anger is most manifest in the BJP ranks itself. But everyone is apprehensive that given the massive display of money power by the BJP greed will overcome principles and common sense. And the constant refrain, which has now taken an even more feverish urgency, is that more and more and more cash is needed desperately by the Acharya camp. I’ve been thinking about the logic of this and I have come to the conclusion that it is futile and possibly even stupid to attempt to match the money power of Parrikar and Babush. The BJP not only has the resources but more importantly the willingness to outspend and outmuscle the Congress and the combined Opposition.

I am beginning to be more and more convinced that the combined Opposition should concentrate on frustrating the BJP’s ongoing bribing spree. Offering inducements to voters is a crime. If the combined Opposition can establish that the BJP is bribing voters its candidate can be disqualified. It should not be very difficult to prove that the BJP is engaged in abuse of money power on an unprecedented scale. Nothing is a secret in Goa. And everyone knows how much money was paid or even going to be paid to whom and when. I believe the best bet for the combined Opposition is to form a new avatar of the Jagrut Goenkar Fauz. An army of vigilant Goans. The combined Opposition through the good offices of leaders like Uday Bhembre and Datta Naik could use the Hitkaran Manch activists to trail every BJP worker and leader to make it impossible for them to distribute money. And to catch them red-handed when they are doing so. What the Opposition needs to do is to launch a sting operation. They can always use Tehelka as a consultant. Frustrating the BJP money mela is a far more sensible option than attempting to match the BJP money power. Which, as we pointed out, is an exercise in futility because even if the Congress leaders have the money they will not part with it.

INTIMIDATION
AND A FEW stray thoughts on the attempts by the police to intimidate the Gomantak Times which has been showing refreshing signs of having a spine. It is clear from the letter sent by the police PR officer to the editor of the Gomantak Times Sujay Gupta that the attempts to intimidate the Gomantak Times stem from the police chief Amod Kanth. Though the Director General of Police has sought to distance himself from the letter it is inconceivable that a junior officer would have written a letter of this nature to the Editor of a newspaper without the concurrence of the police chief. In fact, there is irrefutable evidence that the letter was written at the instance of the Director General of Police. Right on the top of the letter there is the legend “Office of the Director General of Police”. So Amod Kanth stands stripped for the kind of policeman he really is. And never mind all his pretensions of being a very independent tough cop determined to enforce the law unmindful of political pressures. I only wish that Amod Kanth had drafted the letter himself. If he had done so it would not read like a fourth grade script for a fifth grade Bollywood movie. It is bad enough that the police should seek to lecture the media on how it should behave. Even more absurdly the police chief has suddenly turned to be an overnight expert on layout and design. The letter addressed by the police PRO to the Gomantak Times editor comments “You may be well advised that the good circulation of a reader-friendly medium cannot be achieved by merely changing the mastheads or fonts or print colours unless you learn to face the realities and remain steadfast on a time tested principle of an ideal media publication.”

Presumably, the Director General of Police believes that the ideal media publication is one which only praises the police and the government and never criticises its performance. And talking of the qualities of the Director General who has been projecting himself as the most children-friendly police chief in the State if not the country we recall his visit to Goa in the 90s. I had decided not to write about Amod Kanth’s youthful indiscretions in the hope or presumption that he had changed. But apparently leopards don’t change their spots. In the 90s Amod Kanth had come to Goa for rest and recreation. At that time he was part of the Special Investigation Team probing the murder of Rajiv Gandhi. During his, no doubt much deserved, holiday in Goa Amod Kanth went to the then popular restaurant ‘Martin’s Beach Corner’ at Caranzalem. At Martin’s Beach Corner’ Amod Kanth got extremely drunk and extremely disorderly. To the extent that the owner Caitano Martins and his staff wee provoked to teach him a lesson in manners. The Goan police officers who had accompanied him to the restaurant were embarrassed. Though they had advised Amod Kanth to keep silent about the whole incident in his own interest, the overbearing police officer insisted on filing a complaint against Caitano Martins, the owner of “Martins Beach Corner”.

The top brass of the police obliged Amod Kanth and Caitano Martins along with some of his employees were arrested. I got frantic calls from Caitano Martins’ son informing me that his father had been arrested. I went along with my good friend Ferdin Rebello who was then a senior lawyer (now a High Court judge) to bail him out. Subsequently, Caitano Martins won the case with the court dismissing the charges against him. I am bringing up the incident now only because Amod Kanth should know that he cannot get away with attempting to intimidate and bully the media. That his bullying tactics will not work here. I only feel sad that other sections of the media have not extended support and solidarity to the Gomantak Times. I recall that when similar attempts were made to intimidate the Gomantak group during the tenure of Dhuria as the police chief in the early 90’s, the Herald had supported the Gomantak. In fact, the entire media had stood together. I hope at least the Goa Union of Journalists will take up what I see as a very dangerous precedent. Even more dangerous than Parrikar’s gag order to the media last year.

IFFI MIRAGE
AND A FEW stray observations on the International Film Festival scheduled to be held in Goa next month. Which seems to look like a mirage. It is on one moment. Off the other. A recent report in The Times of India raised fresh doubts on whether IFFI will be held in Goa this year. Apparently, there is a strong lobby in Delhi headed by Congress heavyweight Sheila Dikshit which was never in favour of Goa being the permanent venue for the film festival. The speculation is that even if the film festival is held in Goa this time around because the Central government does not want to be accused of not honouring commitments made by the predecessor government, there is no question of Goa being made the permanent venue for the international film festival. Sources within the steering committee tell me that it is very doubtful if the festival will be held even this year in Goa. Apparently, the Secretary to the Information and Broadcasting Ministry and the Director of Film Festivals are not at all happy with the arrangements being made for the film festival. It will be recalled that on his very first visit the secretary to the Information Ministry directed the Goa government to ensure that films screened during the festival will not be restricted to Panjim but will also be seen by residents in other parts of Goa. Though we are in the first week of October the detailed schedule for the film festival is yet to be announced.

Reinforcing rumours that Delhi may cancel the film festival this year. The announcement will probably be made after the bye-elections in Poinguinim are over so that the BJP is not given an opportunity to use the issue in its campaign. Not withstanding all the tall claims made by the Chief Minister it is clear to everyone that the infrastructure is far from ready. The most glaring anomaly is the fact that there is not a single expert on films either on the local co-ordination committee or the Entertainment Society which has been formed to organise the festival. The least that the State government can do is to effectively utilise the services of Gurunath Pai, Former Director of Information and current Field Publicity Officer who has extensive experience of the film medium.

AND A LAST stray thought for yet another Sunday. There is growing evidence that the phirangs are moving south. On a visit to Palolem last weekend I found the beach and the shacks full of foreign tourists. It was as crowded as during the peak season. Similarly I found many of the smaller hotels in the south Goa tourism belt full and bursting with tourists. While the north continues to wear a deserted look. Is it possible that all the overbuilding and pressure on the Baga-Anjuna belt has finally taken its toll and foreign tourists have decided that it is quieter and more pleasant in the south. Notwithstanding the dadagiri of the tourist taxi drivers in south Goa.

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