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However, like all powerful individuals (and Mr. Parrikar presently wields enormous power in Goa), after a very measured start, Mr. Parrikar appears to have gone way overboard.

Significant negativity to what on balance would have been an excellent year for Mr. Parrikar has been brought about by his key roles in four issues (1)the masterly inactivity in the case of the vandalisation of heritage structures in the Fontainhas and Tonca sections of Panjim by right wing destructionists.(2) the recent induction of individuals with questionable roles in Goa's freedom from the Portuguese into the ranks of the Goa Freedom Fighters (3) the hyper-extravagant and extraordinarily expensive Film Festival while health facilities, schools and roads remain in states of disrepair and (4) the revisionist propaganda film marketed on Video CD as Goa's history and the reactions from Goans to that highly communal and devious film produced by Rt. Wing Hindu elements in Goa.

'Distortion of historical facts' is a kind comment to pass on this horrible attempt to brainwash young Goan minds with concocted garbage. The Goa Government brushed aside all requests for the errors to be corrected and attempted to enforce the showing of this film in ALL Goa schools.

That is ......till all hell broke loose.

The motivation and judgment of any individual whose actions destroy the very fabric of Goa's communal harmony must be seriously questioned; and we do.

Equally striking has been the Tres Maccacas posture adopted in 2004 by a large portion of the Goa Press.  One wonders what it would take to activate them, or what it has taken to send them to deliriously happy slumber land.  Noted social commentator Mr. Miguel Braganza correctly pointed out that "the Press is supposed to be the fearless guardian of democratic rights. Freedom of the Press is a much touted principle."  Mr. Braganza went on to observe that "It now appears that the Press has more Touts than Principles."

With members of the Goa Press generally converted into spineless lackeys, attention in 2004 was naturally drawn towards the one institution which decided to take on the ostensibly runaway Chief Minister. That institution is the new kid on the block, the Goan Observer.

The Goan Observer started out as a rag-tag tabloid, looking destined to go the route of the Blade and Uzo, the anti-Bandodkar rags of the mid to late 1960s.  Initially, the Goan Observer was made up mainly of unrelenting anti-Parrikar tirade.  For neutral observers, it was impossible to accept the Goan Observer’s apparently jaundiced view that the Chief Minister was doing nothing right and everything wrong.

However, after the first few issues, the Goan Observer under Rajan Narayan has made a remarkable transformation.  It has moved closer to the centre.  And in an ironic twist, the Goa Chief Minister with the trail of some horrible decisions has moved to the extreme right. The recent actions of Mr. Parrikar have seriously hurt traditional Hindu-Catholic harmony in Goa and helped the Goan Observer's initial observations gain credibility.

With his own penchant for taking on issues and personalities head on, Rajan Narayan has made the Goan Observer one of the few surviving members of the Goa Press with any testicular fortitude, and the only surviving member of credible and consistent Opposition in Goa.

In essence, helped by default, Rajan Narayan is presently the (FLO) Functional Leader of Opposition.

Scary as it sounds, that is how the cookie crumbled in 2004.

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