By RAJAN NARAYAN

AND FEW MORE stray thoughts and a few more observations for yet another Sunday. For the Sunday following the week when the battle lines were drawn in the Poinguinim bye-election. For the Sunday following the week when the Radharao faction of the UGDP made it clear that it stood by Isidore Fernandes. For the Sunday following the week when it became increasingly clear that it was the Viper from Taleigao who was the key player and possibly the key beneficiary of the Poinguinim bye-elections. For the Sunday following the week I was disgusted with the attitude of all the political parties towards the Velips in Poinguinim. For the Sunday following the week when China provided a lesson on how to deal with the Anil Salgaocars of the world.

STABLE OR NEW
And a few stray thoughts on the Poinguinim bye-election. It is becoming increasingly clear that the Poinguinim bye-elections has nothing to do with either Isidore Fernandes or Jagdish Acharya, who in theory are the main contenders. The Poinguinim elections, at least as projected by the Chief Minister Manohar Parrikar and the Goa Pradesh Congress Committee chief Luizinho Faleiro, is all about who will control the government. Manohar Parrikar is going about the Poinguinim constituency pleading and even demanding the re-election of Isidore on the lotus symbol to enable the BJP to provide a stable government. Luizinho Faleiro on the other hand is going about telling the electorate “Elect Jagdish Acharya and I will give you a new government.” The implication being that if Isidore is defeated and Acharya wins, the Congress will, for the hundredth time since Parrikar became the Chief Minister, attempt to topple the government.

Obviously, like Robert Bruce, Luizinho Faleiro will never give up and will keep trying not just to topple the government, but to return to the kodel of chief minister. So as far as the politicians are concerned, the issue is not development or lack of development of Poinguinim. The issue is whether the saffron government, with its communal agenda and its unlimited tolerance and indulgence towards corruption, should continue to rule the state. Or should the state be handed over to an even more corrupt and divided Congress. With the BJP, Goans and ‘Poinguinians’ are being assured stability along with corruption and communalism. The alternative is the Congress with corruption and instability minus communalism. Interesting-ly,Isidore Fernandes is going about complaining loudly that he was compelled to join the BJP because senior Congress leaders like Luizinho Faleiro, Francisco Sardinha and Churchill Alemao were not serious about toppling the BJP government.

And a few stray observations on the dissensions within the UGDP and the MGP over support to the combined opposition candidate, Jagdish Acharya. Now it is official. Radharao Gracias is not supporting Jagdish Acharya. Quite on the contrary, Radharao Gracias apparently believes that Isidore Fernandes is a very honourable man. Radharao is on public record that Isidore is a man of principle. Because unlike other legislators past and present he did not defect but chose to resign his seat in the Legislative Assembly following his decision to quit the Congress. What of course Radharao is not admitting is that Isidore had no choice. Following the amendment to the Anti-Defection Act, the door on defections had closed. And what Isidore, aided and abetted by Manohar Parrikar and Babush Monserrate, has done is to find a new way of circumventing the Anti-Defection law. As a country we always had a genius for circumventing the law or avoiding the law. It is the same principle that applies to Income tax. Evasion of taxes is a crime. But tax avoidance is legitimate. You can use every possible legal loophole to avoid paying taxes. Finding the door on defections shut, what Parrikar and company did was remove the roof with Babush Monserrate holding a ladder of crisp currency notes for Isidore to escape from his Congress prison by climbing up the walls and jumping over the roofless prison. Thus setting a precedent for other legislators in Goa and indeed all other elected representatives in the country.

FENCE SITTING
We would not be very surprised if Radharao Gracias decides to actively campaign for Isidore Fernandes. Actually he may have no choice in the matter because if he wishes to continue to be in the good books of the Chairman and Managing Director of the Lootmar Bank of Taleigao, he may have no choice but to campaign for Isidore. Mathany of course is sitting on the fence. He will probably watch which way the wind blows before taking a decision on whether to remain with the UGDP or form his own faction of the UGDP. Both Mathany and his colleague Sudin Dhavlikar of the MGP have a major problem. The Chief Minister Manohar Parrikar has made it quite clear that as long as they are part of the government, they cannot extend support to the combined opposition candidate. So Mathany and Sudin Dhavlikar have been put on notice that if they do not behave themselves they may be summarily dropped from the cabinet as it happened in the case of Micky Pacheco. Significantly though Anacleto is party to the decision to support the common opposition candidate Jagdish Acharya he has not visited Poinguinim. The only UGDP office bearer who is seriously campaigning for Jagdish Acharya is Prashant Naik. Undoubtedly Prashant Naik’s open support to Jagdish Acharya is a great boost to the Opposition. This is because Prashant Naik is an excellent rabble-rouser and a shrewd grass level strategist.

And a few stray thoughts on the real beneficiary or at least the highest stake holder in the Poinguinim bye-elections. It is neither Manohar Parrikar nor Luizinho Faleiro who are the main players in the Poinguinim elections. The hero or the villain depending on the point of view of the Poinguinim tiatr or natak is Babush Monserrate. It is Babush Monserrate in fact who, in a manner of speaking, fathered the Poing-uinim bye-elections. It was his money which allegedly induced Isidore Fernandes to resign his seat and recontest on the BJP ticket. For Babush the stakes are very high. If Isidore wins the election, Babush’s power and influence which is already formidable will grow even further. In fact if Isidore wins the election, there is every possibility that he might demand the Deputy Chief Minister’s post or even the Home portfolio.

If Isidore wins, the balance of power within the cabinet will change and it will be Parrikar who will be dancing to Babush’s tunes. Not that Parrikar is not already doing the cha cha cha and the waltz at the instance of Babush. But if Isidore wins Parrikar will have to learn the Salsa as well.

MONEY POWER
For Babush, as we have pointed out in the cover story, Poinguinim is the acid test. The test of his belief that money can buy anything. That everyone and every thing has a price. Babush has successfully demonstrated that money power will prevail twice over in the Taleigao assembly polls and more recently in the Taleigao panchayat elections. If Babush manages to get Isidore elected, he will unveil his grand design of either taking over the UGDP or forming his own political party. From disunited Goans to united goons is only one short step. If Deve Gowda could become the Prime Minister of the country even though he had barely 10 MPs with him, surely Babush can aspire to become the Chief Minister of Goa by buying up half a dozen MLAs. And unlike other politicians, Babush is not only willing to spend money, but knows how to recover it. Babush has the biggest stake in the outcome of the Poinguinim elections.

DISGUSTING
And a few stray thoughts on the disgusting attitude of all concerned parties towards the Velips and other scheduled tribes in Poinguinim. Poinguinim is among the most backward constituencies. It has the highest unemployment figures in the state. The Canacona taluka of which Poinguinim is a part also has the highest incidence of kidney diseases in the state. The tourism industry is flourishing in the Canacona taluka which has some of the finest beaches in the state. But even more so in Poinguinim, than in other coastal constituency, the young people in Poinguinim and Canacona cannot get jobs in the flourishing hospitality industry. Becuase they are not equipped with the necessary skills. So much so whether it is Lalit Suri’s seven-star deluxe Intercontinental Hotel or the Coco Huts on Palolem beach, they are all manned and womened by outsiders. One would have assumed that the political parties in the fray would display some concern for development. That they would have some sympathy for the most backward of the backward, the Velips, who form the bulk of the electorate in Poinguinim. But apparently nobody is interested in empowering the Velips. Apparently it suits all political parties to keep the Velips uneducated, undeveloped and suppressed.

I had suggested to some of the Opposition politicians that tangible efforts should be made to address the problems of the Velips. I pointed out that the Velips were not able to access even the facilities that were their due because they could not cope with the paperwork. To avail of the concessions and the benefits that go with being a member of the scheduled tribe you need to have an income certificate and a caste certificate. I had suggested that Opposition political parties could hold medical camps and distribute drugs for the medical problems faced by the Velips. I had suggested that maybe the Opposition and the group supporting them could offer to pay for extending training to Velip youth in the hospitality industry so that they could get jobs. All present at a meeting to discuss the bye-election thought that I was an idealistic idiot.

BOOZE, CASH
Subsequently when I spoke to some of the Opposition stalwarts about what kind of help they needed, all of them were unanimous. What they were all unanimous about was that what was needed to defeat Isidore Fernandes was unlimited quantities of booze, chicken and cash. So maybe the Opposition can take cheer from the fact that the Janata party has decided to support them. And hopefully Mcdowell No1 will prevail over Royal Stag.

And the last stray thought for yet another Sunday. Mathany Saldanha, who seems to be serious about doing something about the River Princess and Anil Salgaocar could perhaps emulate the Chinese. The story goes that Anil Salgaocar sent two large shipments of ore to China. Apparently when the shipments arrived in China they were found to be substandard, and far below the specifications that had been contracted and paid for. Unlike the Goan government, or for that matter the Indian government, the Chinese do not take kindly to being cheated. Particularly by foreign devils. I understand that the Chinese very promptly confiscated the vessels in which the ore shipments arrived. Anil Salgaocar reportedly rushed to China and in his usual fashion raved and ranted and apparently adopted a threatening posture.

He probably thought that the tactics he had used so successfully to sabotage all attempts at towing away the River Princess would work in china also. But the Chinese were neither amused or impressed. They reportedly arrested Anil Salgaocar and locked him up in a jail for more than a fortnight. I understand that a desperate son Samir approached one of his uncles. And between the uncle and the son, they finally managed to get Anil Salgaoacar out of jail. But not before extracting a huge fine running into several crores. But of course Mathany cannot hope to get as tough with Anil Salgaocar as the Chinese did. This is because Manohar Parrikar believes in being infinitely tolerant and forgiving and indulgent towards law breakers and cheats. Particularly if they have made generous contributions to the Sangh Parivar.

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