Of Opinion Polls and Politics

This first appeared inn the Herald

Let me first congratulate Mr. Vijai Sardesai, TCP Minister and Goa Forward Supremo for bringing an almost forgotten historical fact back into relevance and center stage. There were more sound bytes, posters and information about the opinion poll during the 51^st anniversary celebration than in the last 23 years put together that yours truly has been around. If the Goa Forward was around last year at the same time surely the Golden anniversary would have been fittingly celebrated.

We all heard and saw which areas in Goa sort a merger and which areas ensured a stand alone Goa. In the middle of this there was a section that tried to exploit the situation by trying to polarise a peaceful society with fake news, that it was the Catholics who were mainly responsible. However, Rajan Naryan who has chronicled a lot about Goa, nipped this in the bud when he explained that even if all Catholics including babes in arms voted they would have accounted for 34% and not enough to do it by themselves. So the bottom line is, Goa remained Goa because of the efforts of many from all faiths who thought of Goa first.

The geometry of the Opinion Square will be a topic for balcao discussions for a long time, but be it square, circle or rectangle it will be on Bishop Rebello Road. There are now three policemen killing flies, supposedly guarding the square. Given that we have an already low cop to citizen ratio surely this is avoidable. The other aspect is the cops can do nothing to stop nature, the portraits are framed in an MS angles and surely there are going to rust away with the cops watching, sooner than later. Hopefully this was the usual temporary job due to time constraints and in due course proper masonry backing will be created for the portraits.Otherwise they will get blown away with the monsoon winds. 

If Dr. Jack Sequeira’s goal was to keep Goa separate from Maharashtra, then Goa Forward’s Vijai could not have chosen a better role model. The message was loud and clear, Goa Forward is not going to merge with the BJP. The additional message sort to be conveyed was that GF has no connections with the BJP. If one just arrived at the square from Timbuktoo one would be forgiven for believing that the Goa Forward is independently running the State and not a partner in the coalition government. There was not a singe inch of space available to add even one BJP flag on the decorated circles. It is possible given the Chief Minister’s diktat against use of plastic, BJP did not insist on addition of their flag, it was a sea of coconuts, blue and white.

After all this time we have also realised that the syllabus has to be modified. A GF Minister admitted he had just read about the Opinion Poll on google, thank God for google. Since we have google and everyone refers to it, what is the need to add this topic in the syllabus now? So far it does not seem to have made a major difference, we can still get elected or live.

The Minister’s acceptance of the Amm Admi inaugurating the Square before the official inauguration is commendable. He recognised the fighting spirit in the common people which was the essence of the opinion poll. Good leadership backed by citizens willing to put up a fight against wrong intentions. To that extent they also had a point as they brought the coal issue to the fore because that is what is going to have a long term effect on Goa. Surely Goa against Coal needs a leader of the stature of Dr. Jack Sequeira, Goa needs that leader now.

The action now shifts from Square to Assembly. The other demand that is now a hotbed of discussion is the installation of a Statue of the “Father of the Opinion Poll” in the assembly. While this important issue was discussed and decided, no more statues, the MLA’s except six, did not think it is important to attend the presentation on the Mhadei issue by environmentalist Rajendra Kerker. I guess they have google, but surely it tells you about the warped priorities of our MLA’s and their attitude towards goenkarponn.

The BJP apparently met and decided that statues are one too many, actually they must have discussed the fact that they allowed GF to steal a march over them with this issue and it is better not to give in any further. Vijai had thundered that he would withdraw support if any decision was not in accordance with Goenkarponn but has decided to keep pushing. I guess this is not a worthy enough topic to push, it has served it purpose. The entire State is talking about history, while burning issues like coal, garbage gently flow on the Mhadei waters towards the sea while we are distracted.

The common man is being tested  and distracted and he does not have much of a say but he is watching. His chance will come and it will come soon, 2019 is not far. It is at that time that he can register his opinion on the State of affairs and give his verdict. The politicians bank on the fact that the common man has a short memory. Hopefully google will help in remembering, but in case we forget, then we can blame no one but ourselves.