Politics now gets a casteist colour. BJP veteran Bhai Naik took on the Goa Forward stage and termed the recent political developments as anti-Saraswat. Naik was hammering home the point that the recent sackings “ Advocate General Dattaprasad Lawande, Vijai Sardesai, Rohan Khaunte and Atmaram Nadkarni smacked of casteist politics since all four hailed from the Saraswat community.
One wonders, who will raise the pitch for Jayesh Salgaocar and Vinoda Paliencar, both Bhandaris, considered a majority community among the Bahujan Samaj. After the sacking of the duo, Milind Naik remains the lone representative of the Bhandaris.
If political decisions are seen through the prism of caste, Naik will have a lot of talking to do over BJP’s past decisions. Ex-speaker Anand Shet, a two-time Mayem MLA hailing from the OBCs “ Bhaujan Samaj “ was denied the ticket and Pravin Zantye was roped in from the Congress. Ramesh Tawadkar, the then sitting MLA and prominent tribal leader of Canacona was ignored and the party decided to go with Vijay Pai Khot, again a Saraswat. Damu Naik, a strong grass-root BJP worker from Fatorda is a Bhandari, but was asked to resign as chairperson of ESG and Rajendra Talak, a Saraswat was appointed in his place. Nobody raised the caste bogey during any of these developments. Why suddenly now?
What compelling reason does Bhai Naik have to make his caste point at a Goa Forward meeting? What is he trying to prove by labeling Saraswats as minorities? Did he not have the courage to confront his own party leaders and seek clarification? Or is he one of those sidelined and sulking? This move only indicates that a certain section is trying to polarise the disgruntled BJP workers against the party.
It is a shame that politics has stooped to such low levels where leaders are exploiting situations to gain sympathy only when the tide goes against them. The former deputy chief minister, after his initial vow of silence, has launched a scathing attack on Chief Minister Pramod Sawant, calling him a man without vision. But why say it now, does it help any cause? Vijai has come hard at the government for not including agriculture in the school curriculum. What was the Goa Forward chief doing when he was in power? Why was there no defiance put up on the lines of the domicile clause for jobs or the theatrics that were done over airport announcements in Konkani?
Goemkarponn has been sacrificed at the altar of politics time and again. Vijai promises to continue his fight for Goemkarponn from outside the government, but this time there are no takers. The silence is deafening. While the chief minister went about sacking the Goa Forward ministers, not a soul protested. Nobody questioned the rationale or the reasons. No voices were raised in sympathy of forces that projected Goemkarponn as a plank. This only goes to show that people are not ready to accept Goa Forward as the face of Goemkarponn.
