During these days lot of statements are coming out in Goa saying Mr. X or Mr. Y or Mr. Z is the man of the masses. A few politician Misters are also claiming to be the men of the masses. In fact in Goa we never had a real man of the masses. During the Portuguese time in Goa some priests were dubbed as men of the masses but in fact to qualify in this category these priests have not done anything to eradicate the man made differences prevalent even in the Church arena against the masses. The originator of Christianity Jesus Christ said “Love thy neighbour – fellow man – as you love thy God”. The so called man of the masses the holy priests loved their God but discriminated or closed their eyes for the rampant discriminations going on in the Church hierarchy and in the Church arena against the masses. In this way they loved their God but disliked their neighbours comprising vast majority of masses. Such persons cannot be the men of the masses.
Man made differences were very prevalent in Goa Church since time immemorial and I cannot understand how the two holy Goan priests namely Pe. Agnelo and Pe. Jose Vaz tolerated such differences in the Church especially caste based differences. They should have even discarded their priestly robes like Fr. Torres in South America to fight such apartheid in the Church. Both these Goan priests have disowned their responsibility towards the masses and thus failed to please Jesus Christ in action. May be because of this fault of theirs inspite of being on the brink of the sainthood for such a long period, they are still awaiting sainthood.
It was in 1961, civil rightist Baptist Pastor Martin Luther King in USA one day while preaching his homily to his congregation rapped the apartheid system practiced even in the house of God. According to the existing unwritten law of the Church there, Whites were to occupy the Benches on the right side while the Blacks on the left side thereby showing the display of segregation openly even in the house of God. Inspired by the Holy Spirit, Martin Luther preached telling the Whites thus: “If you cannot integrate with the masses pointing out to the Blacks, you will never integrate with Christ because Christ is come from the masses and these people with black skin are come from the masses”. For political gains to get the support of the Blacks some Whites attending that service were calling themselves as Men of the masses but when Martin Luther preached his sermon their chicanery was exposed.
Among the lay Christians, Goa never produced man of the masses because being Goan Christians they opposed each other for the supremacy. During Portuguez time there were many great Goans but they never worked for the masses and as such they did not qualify themselves to be called men of the masses.
After the exit of Portuguese from Goa, from nowhere a Hindu Dayananda Bandodkar came on Goan political scene and he showed his total affiliation to his Hindu community especially for the poor and low grade Hindus. The low grade Hindus whom we called Bahujan Samaz started adoring Bandodkar like a God. He was called as the Man of the Masses. But he showed his love only to the Hindu Masses as if there is no Christian Bahujan Samaz. Because of this he was called the biggest communal Goan. It was he who communalised Goa after the exit of Portuguese and the seeds of communalism he sowed on Goan soil are still reaping the nice harvest for the communal Goans. Such people cannot be called the men of the masses or leaders of Bahujan samaz. Samaz is based on class of people and not on the religious affiliation of the people.
THE MAIN IMPORTANT FACOTR FOR ANY MAN TO CALL HIMSELF AS MAN OF THE MASSES OR OF BAHUJAN SAMAZ, ONE HAS TO IDENTIFY IN ALL RESPECTS WITH THE MASSES OR BAHUJAN SAMAZ..
The late Purshottoma Kakoddkar was a good friend of mine. As a member of Parliament he and me from Kuwait exchanged views on Konkani. He disliked the usage of the word Konknni because according to him it should be KONKANI since it incepted from the region KONKAN and as such it should be Konkani and not Konknni. During one of my trips to Goa, I was invited to attend the meeting of Konknni Lekhok Song at TB Cunha Hall, Panjim where coincidentally he happened to be there. "He wished me and paid very rich complimets for my movement in Kuwait and from Kuwait for the cause of Konkani. He said it is easy to do such movements in Goa but extremely difficult in a country like Kuwait where you have few facilities and less freedom and inspite of these hurdles you are doing commendable job. I salute you, he said".
Coming back to the subject, in early seventies Mr. Kakodkar was contesting parliamentary election on Congress ticket from North Goa Seat. Bandodkar’s MGP was opposing him while Dr. Sequeira’s UGP was supporting him by affiliating with Indira’s Congress Party. Bandodkar was fresh from Birla scandal where he was accused of doling Licence to Birlas to start a Factory at Zuari Nagar in exchange of a gift of new imported Buick Car. Purshottoma Kakodkar wanted to defeat MGP’s candidate for which he was accusing Bandodkar like hell. In one his statements during his election public meeting at Azad Maidan Panjim he thrashed Bandodkar saying ‘He calls himself as the leader of Bahuja Samaz. It is not correct. He is not the leader of Bahujan Samaz – He is not the man of the masses – he is a fake. Calling himself a man of Bahujan samaz and moving in rich car Buick? Is Bahujan samaz man using costliest car Buick meant for non-Bahujan Samaz? Can Bandodkar qualify himself to be called the man of Bahujan Samaz when he amassed so much of wealth? Can a man from Bahujan Samaz live like a Maharaja at rich area Panjim Altinho in a posh Bungalow? Will a Bahujan Samaz man receive bribes from others to get the Government’s project passed? Is he living like a man from Bahujan samaz? Is his standard identifying the standard of Bahujan samaz?”
I am the man of the masses, says a politician in Goa. Can such a man qualify to call himself as man of the masses even though he was born, brought up and worked as a proletarian before amassing ill gotten wealth thru bribes and corruption? There is not a single person in Goa who can be called the man of the masses. Man of the masses will identify himself with the masses not by living like a Maharaja in a Government given Bunglow at Panaji Altinho. Man of the masses will never accept bribes from the masses for the government work. Man of the masses will never move and act like a Lord. Man of the masses will never use money and muscle power to dissipate his political and other opponents. Man of the masses will never act proud and arrogant especially with those from whom he received so much of prominence and support. Man of the masses will never purchase votes on the contrary voters will voluntarily vote freely for him if he is the real man of the masses. A corrupt person who promote corruption by selling Government jobs to the highest bidders cannot be the man of the masses. Man of the masses does not promote family members in public life but men from the masses. Man of the masses identifies himself with the masses in all respects. Do we have such men in Goa to call them as Men of the masses? NOT AT ALL. Hence, there is no Man of the Masses in Goa. The most they may be the men of their villages or constituencies but never of Goa. Inspite of this if any politician calls himself a man of the Goan masses then he is a liar, traitor, crook, corrupt and Not The Real Son Of His Real Father.
A. Veronica Fernandes,
Kuwait.
