BJP - MODI - SECULARISM.

                                    Innocent Victim of Modi's barbaric communalism in 2002.

Finally, Narendra Modi the Chief Minister of Gujarat has been anointed as Prime Ministerial candidate by the BJP.  He was anointed by the BJP in what liquid?  Holy Oil or blood of innocent people he killed thru his remote control during Gujarat riots in 2002?  A criminal is going to be hoisted on the people of India without consulting them is the “dadagiri” of BJP.   

Here lies the weakness of Indian democracy where political parties are allowed to act in a Hitlerian manner.  I and many like me in India do not like Modi as premier of India but I have no choice but to accept him since it is his party that is going to hoist him on us against our wishes. It is now for the secular minded Indians not to vote for the BJP candidates in the coming election.

This coming election has to be fought on the platform of one important issue and that is Secularism though other two issues namely, economic woes and eradication of corruption are equally important.  However, priority should be given to protect the fabrics of Secularism in India as opposed to communalism as practiced in Gujarat under the leadership of Modi. If secularism is ignored in India, Narendra Modi and his gang will liquidate other religious communities, Muslims being the first target, not in Gujarat alone but all over India.

It is very difficult for BJP to discard their brand of communalism in India.  BJP will discard everything and anything but never their brand of communalism which is against the principles of genuine Hinduism which is Tolerance. BJP of Modi does not believe in the principle of Tolerance of other minorities but believe in Hitlerism which imposes its will on others.  Modi’s Hinduism is like Hitler’s Nazism where non-Germans like Jews were liquidated.  In the same manner Modi’s BJP wants to liquidate non-Hindus like Muslims in India and Christians in Goa under the fanatic Hindu Chief Minister Parrikar.

If Modi is elevated to the post of premiership there is every possibility for India to face disaster. One can rely on anyone but never on Modi and his gang in BJP to mete out justice to the minorities.  Up to now Modi is not acknowledging his fault of massacring Muslims in Gujarat and instead of offering unconditional apology for the Muslims in Gujarat he is showing his arrogance. For this arrogance he should be punished in the coming election. Not only by the Muslims and other minorities but by all the secular forces including enlightened Hindus.

India is the home for the minorities of different religions coming under one roof, otherwise India is very divisive.  Though Indian secularism is ingrained in India’s constitution giving protection to the minorities but practically minorities in India are abused by the majority community under the BJP. Since from the time of its independence if India is united till today it is only because of the hoax of secularism. 

Indian secularism is existing only in paper and not further. In the name of secularism Indians are kept united under one banner and Congress party to a certain extent protected this secularism though many Congressmen are hard core communalists otherwise in the aftermath of Indira Gandhi’s assassination they would not initiate carnage of the Sikhs.

In maintaining secularism in India, Congress Party did a better job but BJP did worst. And if Modi gets an opportunity to form the next government at the Centre, the existence of minorities will suffer leading even BJP under Parrikar to humiliate Christians in Goa. The way Babri Masjid was demolished by the fanatic Hindus under BJP in the same manner under Parrikar many of the Churches in Goa will be demolished.

In Goa BJP will treat Christians as second class citizens dubbing them as anti-Indian and pro-West as if Christianity is a Western religion.  Christianity and Islam are not Western religions but Eastern like Hinduism, Buddhism and Jainism.  BJP must stop acting as owners of India and in the next election voters should not vote for BJP candidates unless Narendra Modi apologises for the Gujarat riots in 2002 and promises to act as real secular. BJP must in its election manifesto insert a clause that it will not act communal and will not do anything that hurts the minorities. It must declare its real intention to be secular.

In Goa, people's power must come to the fore and demand from its candidates in both the sectors that if elected they will not support any party in the parliament that foments communalism.  Voters got all the rights to instruct their candidates what to do and what not to do because they are the voters who elect them and not their parties and as such the MP’s must act as per the wishes of the voters only.

In the last Assembly election in Goa, voters elected Parrikar’s BJP to power not because they loved BJP and its communal leader Parrikar but because voters hated Congress and its Family Raj system.  In view of this in the next election BJP must not take Goan secular voters for granted.

Under Modi as premier of India there is every possibility for the minorities to suffer because Modi will target minorities only.  The real survival of minorities depends on the defeat of Modi and for this reason in the coming election BJP and Modi should be voted out.  In this election minorities will have to play their role well because their physical survival depends on BJP’s defeat. 

It is life that is more important than anything else and to save this life we have to defeat Modi and his BJP in the coming election. 

OTHERWISE, AS SEEN IN THE PICTURE ABOVE, WE WILL HAVE TO BEG WITH BJP'S BARBERIANS TO SAVE OUR LIVES.

A. Veronica Fernandes, 
Kuwait.

THE LATE GOAN FOOTBALLER DOMNICK SOARES.

It is with deep grief I got the sad news of the unexpected death of an ace Goan ex footballer Domnic Soares from Saligao, Bardez, Goa. A very humble man devoid of any pride and arrogance inspite of being such a great man of soccer.

It was in mid sixties while I was schooling at Arpora that I came in contact with this soccer wizard who with his left foot would make the ball to do anything except talk. He first came into limelight during the inter village soccer tournaments played at Saligao representing his village team. People there were talking of Domick only and he was new in Goa coming from Africa.  When our village team Candolim was playing against Saligao, I was given a special task to stop him from scoring goals with his left foot.  It was not an easy task to stop him because he was very speedy left inner having excellent ball control and powerful shooting power.

Playing at village level first his fame went far and wide.  Immediately Dr. Gustavo Monteiro from Candolim and the then President of GFA approached him to play for Academica which was coached by Pe. Chico Monteiro who was the brother of Dr. Monteiro. From there within a short span of time he moved on to Vasco Sports Club.  During those days to play for Vasco means now playing for Real Madrid.  That time Vasco, Sesa, Salgaocar and Shantilal were the top 4 teams in Goa at upper division.  I was playing for Sesa and while playing for Sesa I faced him innumerable times.

As a right defender playing for Sesa and he playing for Vasco on the left flank we both encountered each other on the playing field innumerable times and also clashing with each other.  Many times our coach instructed me to mark him very tightly to stop his mobility with the ball with ease.  He was weak in the aerial duels which were my forte and on his right leg he was not very strong but what he was missing his left foot was covering up. He had power in his left leg and very good accuracy too. While playing, his legs were playing less but his brain was playing more. I never found any player in Goa and elsewhere in India as beautiful player as he was.

He was very cool on the field, never losing his temper, never ever I saw him arguing with the referees if proper decision was not given by the referees. He was always a decent and clean player and never had I seen referee giving him warning or reprimanding for foul play. Like Neville D’Souza he was a terror in the penalty box drawing the defenders towards him and suddenly feinting in the wrong direction and then releasing powerful left footer. 

He was not at ease with Bernard who many times was erratic in shooting but with Andrew definitely yes, so too with Catao. Yet most of the goals Bernard scored were from Domnick’s supply. Their quartet ABCD meaning Andrew, Bernard, Catao and Domnick was a unique one and such a quartet I never saw earlier or currently.  They were moving up and down like a well oiled  machine and without uttering a word interchanging their positions thereby puzzling the opponents' defense.

It was not only this quartet that was excellent but as a matter of fact the whole team was a dream team. In their goal Arvinder Sigh was like a rock stopping any shot from his opponents; in the defense they had Himalayan boulders in George Ambrose and Styan and in the midfield they had George Rosemond and genius Keshav who like a maestro orchestrating all their moves.  Till now Goa has not produced another midfielder like Keshav.    

Domnick was a specialist in taking penalty kicks and never ever I saw him missing the penalty. Many of the goalkeepers were afraid of his shots. Many players are nervous while taking the penalty kicks but Domnick was never; on the contrary he was very happily and smilingly used to take penalty shots.

It was not the Portuguese soldier Arantel while playing for Vasco during Portuguese era that made Vasco a force to reckon with but surely it was the late Domnick Soares who made Vasco the darling of Goan spectators.

Inspite of being such an excellent footballer why he was not selected for Indian team is a big question mark.

In his untimely death Goa lost a great footballer of whose type it is very difficult to come again because such persons come to this world once in many years.

May his soul rest in peace and may God give courage to his family to bear this colossal loss.

A. Veronica Fernandes, 
Kuwait.

  

HOTEL GOAN HERITAGE & ITS IRRESPONSIBLE BOARD OF DIRECTORS.

This has reference to an article published in this forum 2 days back on 11 lakhs rupees spending by the Board of directors for the celebration of 25^th anniversary of Hotel Goan Heritage.

As a Shareholder, I condemn the Board for spending such a big amount of money unnecessarily.  Worst part of it was that share holders were not even invited to take part in the celebration.

Spending 11 laks of rupees to fritter away money meant for shareholders as dividends is wasting of share holders money.  Is this amount budgeted and were the shareholders taken into confidence on this subject? Spending this huge amount on celebration is like a robbery done by the Board on shareholders.

Were the 2 Kuwait based directors taken into confidence before deciding to spend this amount?  If not then both the Kuwait based directors if they got a shame should submit their resignations. 

Otherwise what is the benefit of the Kuwait based directors if they cannot play any constructive role?  One of them is such a shameless that for show business and for fake honour he will do anything.  The other is a "Bach'cha" who does not know anything but wants to be in the board for show.

Were the new directors based in Goa like Chef Jerry, Pascoal Soares and Sequeira aware of this expenditure?  Were they taken into confidence by the Board when decision taken on this subject?  Were they aware of this reckless expenditure? And what will be their reaction on this now? 

They were selected by the shareholders to do justice.  Are they doing the justice by allowing the chairman and Wilsons to waste the money in lakhs? Justice to the shareholders is expected from them, even at this late hour. They cannot remain asleep like the 2 Kuwait based ones.

On 30^th of this month there is going to be the AGBM of the Hotel company at Panjim.  Share holders must attend this meet and question the Board on this topic.  Also the shareholders must question the board on what basis second Kuwait based director inducted into the Board. Is it thru chamchageri?  What is the especialty of this director?

Share holders must be assertive of their rights and privileges.  Heritage Hotel is not the monopoly of directors. They are there to protect the interest of the shareholders and not to waste money.  This Board is unfit to run the affairs of the company and all the Board members are useless including the two idiots based in Kuwait. 

May God Save Hotel Goan Heritage from the grip of greedy Directors.

A CONCERNED SHAREHOLDER.