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The Goan Forum's PERSONS of the Year 2004
Stalwart journalists Rajan Narayan
and Ben Antao
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So, while the elected politicians scurry around
the sword of Damocles and the members of the Press Corp sit on
the fence drinking Ostrich brand beer, Rajan Narayan marches on.
Let's face it. It is not a good situation for
Goa
(or any other place) to be in.
Goa would
be better served by a Parrikar who is as organised as he is, but
also by a Parrikar who abandons his present communally divisive
agenda in favour a more centrist approach by adopting a secular
ideology.
There is absolutely no problem with the way Parrikar is toying
with the political jokers in the pack. That is the way the game
of politics is played. It is not his fault if the Goa Congress
chooses tainted lemons for candidates. And it is certainly not
his fault if Amche Goemcar then proceed to vote for them.
However,
Mr. Parrikar will surely do well to review history. As the
wise men of old would have known "Those who
cohabit with snakes must expect that the venomous slippery
serpentine squamata will one day turn round
and bite them" . Only a fool will believe that an
irrelevant "cup of milk"
a day will keep the snake bite away.
Snake charming aside, it is under Mr. Parrikar's watch that the
bigoted and revisionist events occurred. The latest being
the utterly flawed so-called educational Video CD replete with
malicious anti-Catholic propaganda. It is against this
background that the role of Rajan Narayan assumes a larger than
life dimension.
Mr. Narayan is no stranger to political witch hunts. He
suffered much when he fought long and hard against the pro-Maharashtra
forces and for the Konkani cause. It is highly likely that
Konkani would not have been a reality but for the Rajan crusade.
Just imagine, a non-Konkani, non-Goan fighting for Konkani!
Now this
same Rajan Narayan is fighting to protect
Goa
from the ravages of the Religious Extreme Right!
If truth be said, even a Rajan Narayan would be able to achieve
little but for the moral, emotional and financial support from
Goans. It is well known that many more would like to help and
have helped, but few would like their help to be publicly
acknowledged. They are apparently scared of the Goa Government.
The people running scared of their own servants - the
Government? Wow! Shades of another era!
Among the Goans who have assisted Rajan in his effort to provide
Goa
with the only credible opposition is a former Goan journalist
Ben Antao. Ben is a centrist and a realist. But he is also a
straight-talking Sashticar who puts his money where his mouth
is. Needless to say, Ben who gave former Goa CM Bandodkar the
shivers during his (Ben's) Navhind Times journalism days has
been a good source of moderating inspiration for Rajan.
It is for this reason that TGF names Rajan Narayan and Ben
Antao as Persons of the Year 2004.
What do we hope for the future of
Goa?
To be
perfectly honest, at this point and time, there is no electable
Goa politician who even comes close to Manohar Parrikar in terms
of being a person who can be of good for Goa. There are many who
are able and willing but unelectable. There are others who are
electable but are either unwilling, unable, all gas, or with
skeletons in their closets.
Unfortunately for
Goa,
there is a sad reality. History never fails to repeat itself.
No
politician who has risen amidst chaos, and manoeuvred himself to
a position of absolute strength, has ever had the good sense to
take a step back and moderate his time at the helm.
None!
Every
single politician who has outfoxed the opposition, muzzled the
press and pushed ahead with a divisive and unfair agenda has
ultimately outfoxed himself.
For
Goa's sake, we hope that Mr. Parrikar moves away from the
communal right and takes a measured series of real steps to the
centre of the political spectrum. We sincerely hope that
Parrikar proves history wrong.
For Goa's sake, we hope too that Rajan Narayan and the Goan
Observer move closer to the centre ground, and provide effective
opposition not to everything that the Goa Governments does, but
only to what it does wrong. Let Goans know too when the Goa
Government does something right.
Hopefully, with time a new breed of upright politicians and
unbuyable journalists will emerge in
Goa.
Goa
can do without any more of the presently prevailing culture of
confrontational politics and hate-based agendae.
It is always fine to have different points of view and to
express them openly. It is also beneficial to question the
direction or even the legality of what the Government did or
does. What is destructive is this incessant Machiavellian game
playing and senseless confrontation.
Goans have lived in harmony for centuries. No need for anyone to
destroy that. It is one thing to acknowledge the mistakes of
ALL our forebears, learn from them and move on. It is
another to engineer communal division and instability with the
help of convenient, malicious and bigoted beating of selective
religious drums.
Bravo Rajan Narayan and Ben Antao!
While the majority of your ilk played the "Pott bhorlem, atam
niduea" siesta fiesta, you have bravely held the fort for
Goa. Your resolute action will surely have
positive implications for generations to come.
Governments and Journalists come and go, but the results of
their commissions and omissions linger on and on and on.
TGF
January 30, 2005
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