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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 Central Government struck back. For a Sunday following the week when there was a fresh ticket scam reminiscent of the notorious cricket ticket scam. For a Sunday following the week when the Union Minister for Information Jaipal Reddy reinforced the widespread belief that there have been administrative, managerial and organisational lapses in IFFI. For a Sunday following the week when the Director of Information, Dilip Deshpande, exposed his abject servility and total lack of professionalism. For a Sunday following the week when the citizens scored a minor victory over the Parrikar government’s attempts to subvert the law. NEGI GOING And a few stray thoughts on how the Empire struck back. The Empire in the form of the Central Government which whom Manohar Parrikar has been carrying on a running battle ever since the change of regime in New Delhi. It will be recalled that the Parrikar cabinet in total violation of all constitutional norms took a decision to hold the post of Director General of Police in abeyance. The decision was bulldozed in the cabinet by Manohar Parrikar because the former Director General Amod Kant unlike his predecessors and his subordinates insisted on upholding the rule of law. The decision stemmed from Amod Kant’s refusal to obey illegal orders issued by the Chief Minister Manohar Parrikar. The DGP directed the police to prepare a charge sheet against the Law Minister Francis D’Souza who accompanied by Sangh Parivar thugs vandalised the hotel of Mathew Braganza in Mapusa some time ago. The Director of Prosecutions concurred with the DGP that a prima facie case had been made out and there was enough evidence on record to go ahead with the prosecution of the Law Minister and the other RSS thugs. On the Chief Minister’s orders the lower rungs of the police and the Director of Prosecutions subverted the legal process. The Director General of Police had issued orders to the rank and file including all the inspectors to crack down heavily on all rave parties. In the legitimate belief that rave parties were fronts for large scale peddling and use of drugs in the State. The Home Minister, Manohar Parrikar, allegedly under pressure from party MLAs who have been making a fortune on extending patronage to rave parties countermanded the DGP’s instructions. The last straw was apparently the insistence of the DGP that there was not the slightest need to close down the entire stretch of road from the ferry point to the Bal Bhavan for all ten days of the film festival. The former DGP Amod Kant reportedly refused to endorse the CM’s order to close down key sections of the arterial Bandodkar Marg. The meglomaniacal Chief Minister responded by issuing a patently illegal order relieving Amod Kant of his services as the DGP just on the eve of the inauguration of the International Film Festival of India (IFFI). The order was patently illegal because the State government is not the competent authority to decide on the postings and transfers of Central Service Officers. DISPLEASURE The Centre has shown its displeasure over the manner in which the Chief Minister sacked the DGP by recalling the Chief Secretary, D.S. Negi. The Chief Secretary, we understand, is likely to be relieved of his charge shortly. The Centre obviously could not take any action directly against the Chief Minister himself. So it has decided to do the next best thing which is to penalise the Chief Secretary for conniving and colluding with the illegal orders issued by the Chief Minister. I also understand that we have not heard the last of the controversy surrounding the abrupt externment from Goa of the DGP, Amod Kant. I understand that as it did in the case of a former Chief Secretary, S. Bhatnagar, a decade ago, the Centre may demand the reinstatement of Amod Kant as DGP. Whether Amod Kant would want to come back is of course another matter. An interesting fall out of the decision of the Chief Minister to extern Amod Kant is that Muktesh Chander, who has been given charge of the DGP’s post, has begun to feel the heat. I understand that other IAS and IPS officers in the State are deeply disturbed and agitated over the manner in which the highest police officer in the State was treated. They have virtually ostracised Muktesh Chander, the Chief Minister’s chamcha. JAANTA RAJA SCAM AND A FEW stray observations on the Jaanta Raja ticket scam. Yes, Janata Raja, was back in Goa though this time the performances were held in the open paddy fields adjacent to the Bogdeshwar Temple in Mapusa. Like the last time around Janata Raja was totally subsidised by the State government. To help the organisers of Janata Raja to evade entertainment tax the tickets were characterised as passes. Mind you the passes were priced at hefty sums of Rs.500, Rs.300 and Rs.200. Like the last time around the KadambaTransport Corporation organised special buses to ferry those who wanted to attend the Jaanta Raja show. The Chairman of the Organising Committee this time around was the notorious Law Minister who lawlessly took part in the vandalism in Mapusa. The Vice Chairman was the BJP MLA Sadanand Tanawade. The Publicity Chief was another senior BJP office bearer, Govind Parwatkar, who is also the Chairman of the Industrial Development Corporation. On the last day of the staging of Janata Raja hundreds of Sangh Parivar workers went along and occupied a significant proportion of the seats. Which is fine. Except that none of them had secured the ticketed passes. When the legitimate ticket holders who had paid varied sums from Rs.200 to Rs.500 for the privilege of seeing Shivaji treacherously stabbing General Afzal Khan they discovered that their seats were taken. The organizers were either unable or unwilling to evict the Sangh Parivar hordes who had gate-crashed the show. Some of the thousand odd ticket holders who were kept out complained to the police. But apparently the police refused to even acknowledge their complaints knowing that it is futile to attempt to enforce the law in the case of Sangh Parivar activists and supporters. Apprehensive that the irate genuine ticket holders would try to claim their legitimate seats even the interval was cancelled. But this did not save the organizers including the “Minister for Subversion of Law” Francis D’Souza and his accomplices like Tanawade from the wrath of the paying customers. Both Francis D’Souza and Tanawade and the other organisers of the show were roughed up by angry ticket holders who were aggrieved over being denied their seats. Not surprisingly none of the daily newspapers in the State cared even to carry a word on the Jaanta Raja ticket scam. IFFI LAPSES AND A FEW stray thoughts on the organisational and administrative and managerial lapses which the Union Minister for Information, Jaipal Reddy, referred to in his press conference. While the Union Minister for Information was very polite and did not want to embarrass the Goa government before the national and international media while IFFI was going on by spelling out what the lapses were, we are happy to fill in some of the details. The International Film Festival is an event which is the exclusive responsibility of the Directorate of Film Festivals of the Union Information Ministry. No other organisation including State government organisations have any authority to take any decisions in respect of the International Film Festival. But the grim ground reality has been that the Entertainment Society of Goa has been interfering with every aspect of the running of the film festival. It is the sole prerogative of the Directorate of Film Festivals to decide who should be invited for the festival and for whom hospitality and air fare should be provided. These decisions in turn are taken on the basis of well established norms. Only producers, directors, actors and members of the jury are taken care of by the Directorate of Film Festivals. The list of delegates and invitees who have been offered hospitality makes curious reading. When I showed the list of invitees and delegates to an official of the Directorate of Festivals, the person was aghast. The Goa government had apparently on its own without consulting the Directorate invited and extended hospitality to several of its own people. In total violation of the norms. Absurdly enough the list of bookings made in the Taj Group of Hotels does not even disclose the identity of some of the invitees. Rooms have been booked in the name of the Director Managing which presumably refers to some Managing Director. Also for Director Venkatesh and to one Mr. Chairperson. There was enough confusion with two organisations, the Directorate of Film Festivals and the Entertainment Society of Goa in the fray. On paper the Entertainment Society of Goa was only meant to look after the side shows like the road side events and the public screenings at Miramar Beach. But in practice the Entertainment Society of Goa has been poking its nose into every aspect of the running of the film festival. Even to details like who should get delegate passes. At the last moment to compound all the confusion the Chief Minister decided to set up high level co-ordination committee. A co-ordination committee which was intended to be and has been functioning as an extra-constitutional authority. It is well known that Manohar Parrikar is paranoid and does not trust anyone including his hand picked bureaucrats. The Chairman of the Co-ordination Committee is the North Goa Member of Parliament Shripad Naik, a hardcore Sangh Parivar man. The committee consist of entirely of diehard Sangh Parivar fanatics and lunatics including the Altinho councillor Pritam Rane who led the mob which tried to seize the alleged shivalinga in the Bishop’s Compound, and Deepak Mapshekar, the main accused in the Fontainhas vandalism case. It also includes the President of the Bicholim block of the BJP and the Chief Minister’s personal physician, Dr.Shekar Salkar. None of these worthy gentlemen lay claim to any experience or knowledge of cinema leave alone organising film festivals. Their brief was to make sure that the Sangh Parivar could control all aspects of the festival for the benefit of the BJP. TICKETS HIJACKED I understand that the total chaos and confusion witnessed at the inaugural ceremony was primarily because members of the co-ordination committee hijacked a large number of invitations for themselves and their family and friends Which had the effect of leaving genuine delegates and invitees stranded outside. So much so it is the Sangh Parivar which has been calling all the shots whether it is entry to Kala Academy and Inox complex or the registration of the delegates. Or even the events conducted on the roads and the Miramar Beach. Incidentally, the event organisers 360 Degrees which is a subsidiary of the Times of India Group has been devoting more time to advertisements than to the films being screened for the public on Miramar Beach. Which is in keeping with the Times of India tradition of putting revenue before its obligations to its readers or in this case the general public of Goa. CM’S COTERIE AND A FEW stray observations on the total saffronisation and castration of the post of director of Information. For quite some time now Dilip Deshpande has been acting like the personal factotum of Manohar Parrikar and not as a government officer whose salary is paid for by the tax payer. Dilip Deshpande has been usurping even the powers of the editors. When the government decided to take a party of journalists to New Delhi for the Goa Mohatsav in the capital the Director of Information did not leave the decision on whom to depute to the editors. Instead personal non-transferable letters were issued to journalists who belong to the Chief Minister’s coterie. Then again when the Chief Minister had a press briefing to announce his now notorious decision to keep the post of DGP in beyance the national media and even the Gomantak Times which is perceived as hostile to the CM were not invited. The Director of Information sank to even more abysmal depths of servility during the inaugural function of the film festival. He apparently insisted that the PIB officer in charge of issuing invitations to the media for the inaugural function should extend an invitation to Jyoti Dhond, the Chief Minister’s favourite journalist. The officer in charge of the PIB pointed out very patiently to Deshpande that Jyoti Dhond’s name did not figure in the list of journalists accredited to cover the film festival. That her own editor had not included her name. Deshpande however insisted that Jyoti Dhond must be given an invitation. Worse was to follow. In his desperation to ensure the entry of Jyoti Dhond into the auditorium for the inauguration Deshpande picked on senior journalist Cyril D’Cunha. Insisting that Cyril D’Cunha had been given a media accreditation on false pretences. That he had been accredited as a photographer although he had never taken photographs and was not even carrying a camera. To the credit of the PIB officer she stood firm and refused to yield to the pleadings and the threats of Dilip Deshpande, the Director of Information. I understand that Dilip Deshpande even got abusive when the PIB officer refused to break the rules so taht he could curry favour with the Chief Minister. BEACH FOOD STALLS AND A LAST stray thought for yet another Sunday. The Chief Minister Manohar Parrikar has been able to bulldoze the IFFI infrastructure in violation of all laws. Time and time again the rules have been bent and broken to enable Manohar Parrikar to pursue his maniacal obsession of converting Panjim into Cannes. Trees were cut without permission from the Conservator of Forests. Work on the Inox complex was started without obtaining permission from either the PDA or the Town and Country Planning Department. Under the guise of carrying out repairs, major works were carried out in the Kala Academy complex . Fortunately, there is one area where the Chief Minister has not been able to get away with his immoral, illegal style of functioning. The government granted permission to the Events organiser, 360 Degrees, to put up food and booze stalls on Miramar Beach. This was in violation of an undertaking given by the then Director of Tourism, Suryanarayana, way back in 2001 that as a matter of principal the government had decided that no permission would be given to put up food stalls on any of beaches of Goa. Even in the case of the annual Food Festival held at Colva Beach last year the food stalls were in the parking area and not on the beach. But in his usual fashion Manohar Parrikar thought he could get away with the permission granted to put up food stalls on Miramar Beach for IFFI entertainment. On Monday, the first day of the film festival, the entire beach was littered with garbage when the event concluded. An NGO which had obtained the original injunction against permitting food stalls on the beach filed a contempt petition against the government and the competent authority, the Director of Tourism. The government of Goa tried its best to postpone the hearing of the issue and tried to mislead the High Court. On the first day of the hearing on Tuesday, the Advocate General claimed that he had received the notice only at 4 p.m. the previous day and he could not study the matter as the government closes down at 4 p.m. for IFFI. The Advocate General also tried to get the hearing postponed to after the festival . The Director of Tourism came armed with a video to show how they had cleaned up the beach. Fortunately, the NGO had also done its homework and in turn produced photographs of all the litter and garbage and broken bottles that the beach had been strewn with after the event on the opening day. Finally realizing that it had gone too far the government informed the court that it had reviewed its decision to permit food stalls on the beach. They would now be re-located in the parking lot. A small but significant victory for citizens who have been fighting a despotic regime which has been displaying a total contempt for the law of the land and its own rules and procedures.
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