LET THE WOUNDS HEAL EVEN IF THE SCARS REMAIN.

Wounds heal with time but the scars remain forever, is an age old adage that exemplifies the inner agony more than the mere physical one. Our erstwhile government, the Congress luminaries have directly or indirectly inflicted countless horrifying physical and emotional wounds on Mother Goa and Goans, hope the agony of which will eased a little with a change in guard but will the scars on Mother Goa ever disappear ?

The aerial view of Goa indicates that Goa has been battered and gored into a mass of ugly enormous craters in hinterland as a result of rampant mining, with green cover receding at a very frantic pace; it also shows that our coast too has been converted into concrete jungles, as a result of land filling and hill cutting to promote “land shark development” and it will take a mammoth effort and planning from the new dispensation to try and control, if not reverse the ecological and environmental imbalance caused by the legacy of the Congress government.

Large scale corruption and arrogance within the Congress inevitably prompted the ignominy of the crushing defeat which must have surely flattened many egos within the Congress. Over the years Congress in Goa has devastated Goa through illegal and rampant mining and despite massive corruption in their ranks and fold they still won elections on their pseudo secularist hue, but everything has a limit and Congress had crossed all those limits as the results of the election says it all. They were all guilty of collective incompetence and as well as collective complicity.

At last, what most Goans wanted has been done by CM Manohar Parrikar, Arvind Lolienkar has been stripped of his post and investigated as the Director on Minies, who along with his master Digambar Kamat must be held accountable, for the losses incurred to the tune of over 2000 crores to the Goan treasury. Digambar Kamat and his partner in arms have been responsible for not just the loss of revenue but also for the devastation of our fragile ecology and our environment. The damage has been irreversible and the gross impact unfathomable.

CM Manohar Parrikar has started off his innings with exquisite sixers, in trying to fulfill his pre election promises, petrol is down as promised and now action initiated against the Director of mines, Goans will only hope that this action will not stop with Arvind Lolienkar alone but will continue against all those involved in corruption and negligence of duty in every government department and the guilty punished appropriately.

Even though a lot of skeptical Goans are still trying to come to terms with the faith that Goans have bestowed in Parrikar, the first barrier has been crossed, as Goans breath a wee bit easier, hoping Parrikar will continue to act on his promises and not let us down like the Congress did.

The budget has sent clear signals of a massive infrastructural drive and a lot of gain for the common man, the unemployed and the home runners. The mentally and the physically challenged along with the senior citizens have also been accounted for. Yes, holes will be burnt in the pockets of smokers and alcohol consumers along with car buyers, which should partly provide a revenue torrent for the VAT loses and that is certainly acceptable but what has clean bowled everyone is the reduction in the Casino entry while increasing the license fee. I sure hope Parrikar has a “tisra” if not the “doosra” up his sleeve to dissuade this unhealthy immorality floating in our rivers.

All said and done so far Goans must be pretty happy with what we have achieved through a change in guard at our political edifice. I sure hope Manohar Parrikar will work towards his “zero” tolerance corruption policy and prove that there was no incongruity in his promise as well as his belief. With some action already initiated within a month of election, we look forward to the third week of June as the ruling dispensation will complete 100 days in office.

It is said that success should not be measured by the position one acquires but rather by the effort made to reach there, it is indeed evident that Parrikar is trying his best, so symptomatic of his efforts let’s give him our support and our patience to achieve his goals even if it goes beyond the time frame of his promises. We have waited for seven years and few more days or even months will not be catastrophic. Go Parrikar go, give Goa something to cheer about and let the wounds heal even if the scars remain.

Freddy Agnelo Fernandes.

GOOD FRIDAY.

During his recent visit to Communist country Cuba, the current Pope asked his host the Cuban president Raul Castro to give an official holiday on Good Friday for Cubans impressing upon Raul Castro the importance and significance of this day which is the most holy day in Catholicism. In Cuba since Fidel Castro’s revolution in 1957 Christian Religious holidays are cancelled by the communist regime there though both the brothers Fidel and Raul were born Catholics and studied in Jesuit School. Raul Castro gave a very sympathetic hearing to the Pope’s plea for declaring a national holiday on Good Friday.

Very shortly that means coming Friday Christians will mark Good Friday in Goa with reverence and penance. This day was always marked as holiday in Goa except during the short period of Parrikar’s governance a few years back when Parrikar created a coup and brought in his BJP government to power. As a Hindu fanatic Parrikar then showing his real communal and anti-Christian characteristic cancelled this holiday thereby hurting the sentiments of Christians in Goa and also of many secular Hindus. As a devine punishment within a short period his Government collapsed and Parrikar fell into opposition. That the next government restored this holiday was a different matter but what is of importance was the punishment Parrikar got from God for hurting the feelings of Goan Christians.

When minorities’ sentiments are hurt there always comes punishment in any form for the wrong doers. Ghandiji call this type of punishment as Devine Punishment. For this reason persons in power must stop hurting the minorities. In Goa Christians are in minority and for being so they require full protection and support from the majority community wielding power and authority.

When Shashikala Kakodkar was the Chief Minister of Goa, criminal Kumar was hanged at Aguada, this was the first hanging in Goa and till now the last too. Befitting His Christian principle the Patriarch of Goa Raul Gonsalves pleaded openly with the Goa government to plead Kumar case to commute his gallows to life imprisonment when Kumar’s sentence for gallows was confirmed. Reacting to this plea of Goa Patriarch, Shashikala true to her communal and anti-Christian tirade issued a negative statement criticising the Patriarch saying ‘the Bishop has made this request to gain a cheap publicity for Him’. By listening to this arrogant and insulting reply from Shashikala Kakodkar, the sentiments of Goan Catholics were greatly hurt and within a short time thru devine punishment Shashikala Kakodkar’s government collapsed thru the coup brought in by Dayananda Narvenkar and Dilkush.

People in Goa now elected Parrikar’s BJP not because they loved BJP’s principles but as an opposition to the misrule of Gongress Party dominated by the corrupt MLA’s and Ministers. Parrikar should cash on this opportunity to rule Goa justly and refrain from being anti-Christian. Majority of Christians have voted for BJP this time when Parrikar showed his regret for doing injustice to Christians during his earlier short stint as Chief Minister of Goa.

Now as an atonement for his earlier sin he committed by cancelling Good Friday holiday, on coming Friday that is on Good Friday, he should go to Panjim Church and ask silently from Jesus Christ forgiveness for his earlier sin against Christians. And simultaneously he must openly declare his sorrow thru Press Release. In this way Parrikar will enrich his humility which is the core of Christianity and gain a goodwill from Christians in Goa which will surely fetch him very good dividends in the form of Christian votes in future.

Parrikar Bab, Good Friday is coming to you to fortify your rule in Goa. Don’t be proud and arrogance in front of God’s commandment. You and your BJP is nothing compared to Cuba and Casto brothers. Even they realised the importance of Good Friday inspite of being hard core anti-Christian communists. Be humble and bow down before Jesus Christ otherwise thru Devine punishment your fall is imminent again which I don’t want to happen. I want your judicious rule to flourish in Goa but for this you have to be humble before Jesus Christ..

A. Veronica Fernandes,

Kuwait.