Ideally, King Momo’s rule should have continued until Tuesday night, but in Margao he has been literally booted out by Vijai Sardessai who is the new king. And this new king has come across as being a lot more dictatorial than the original who is a fun-loving chap with a broad smile and a ‘where is the party tonight?’ frame of mind.
King Vijai has decreed that the theme for the Margao carnival parade will be the coconut tree. He did not bother to ask the people or take them on board, which he should have done because this four-day festival is secular, non-political and an expression of the people. It is an explosion of spontaneity and fun and by imposing his wishes on the people King Vijai has proved that he has the tendency to bend everything to his will, which could, in the long run, prove to be a stumbling block for the newly formed Goa Forward.
The government has hit back by threatening to withdraw all financial support to the Margao leg of the festival and that could be a damper. The carnival committee might have to foot the bill. As far as specifics go, the chief officer has already informed the committee that it will have to bear the expense of t-shirts that are part of the coconut tree campaign.
In an ideal world, the government should finance the carnival parade irrespective of what floats the people choose to put up. And this happens to a point. Almost every year there are a few floats which are issue-based and no one kicks up a row over them. However, asking the government to finance an anti-government campaign is like asking Vijai Sardessai to finance Damu Naik’s election campaign from the Fatorda constituency.
As an MLA and politician, Vijai has the right to raise issues of importance or concern at every and any forum. He has to right to decide what he thinks is important for his constituents and his new political outfit. He has the right to raise the coconut tree issue at the carnival parade. He has the right to print his message on t-shirts and banners. He is free to put up a float depicting any issue, including the coconut tree and the government would be wrong to curb his right to differ. But he does not have the right to dictate a political theme for the carnival because that amounts to imposing his view and one man, be it an MLA or chief minister, does not have the right to force his view on a festival.
Another grievous fault committed by the Fatorda MLA is of injecting politics into the carnival. This is not only unnecessary but also undesirable. And in doing so he has vitiated the festive mood and robbed the carnival of its carefree spirit. The Margao Carnival Committee ought to have acted as a screen to keep politics and commercial interests out of the parade. Instead it crawled when asked to bend and caved in to the demands of Vijai. In doing so it has failed in its duty to safeguard the independence of the festival.
There is a place and time for festivals and politics and this time it looks like Vijai Sardessai has crossed the line.
