This Liberation Day saw government-people rivalries hitting a feverish pitch once again. Tradition has it that politicos used these platforms to hold out promises and make a pitch for development and progress. However, this time around, the animosity was clearly in the air. Sections of people, activists, NGOs and politicos marked the day taking jibes at each other with the purpose of Liberation pushed to the back-burner.
It was a day when a public meeting demanded a second liberation, freedom from all ODPs, coal jetties and IT Park. While in distant Margao, TCP Minister Vijai Sardesai took on the Liberation Day platform to launch a scathing attack on social media protagonists condemning what he called a spread of negativity through insensitive behaviour, in Panaji, Speaker Pramod Sawant read out Chief Minister Manohar Parrikar’s annual resolution of making Goa a plastic-free state.
The angst and resentment among a section of people was clearly visible at the Mapusa meeting, but the impact it has on the establishment is questionable, given the sporadic nature of this protest. One cannot expect the government of the day to change course with such random display of aggression. If agitations are to make an impact they need to be sustained and should be driven by people’s involvement. Crying hoarse with one-off exercises such as these is as useless as a skyrocket without powder.
On the flip side, the Liberation Day platform has been used to hit out at those championing causes of the State with media as the watchdog. Rather than heaping scorn against negativity, politicos should introspect on shortcomings. At a time when there are limited controls on social media platforms, calling out for liberation from cynicism, regressive ideas and pseudo-activism are as vague as futurity. Situations like these are in fact real tests of political acumen.
Interestingly, Liberation Day saw the government renewing its vows on a plastic-free Goa once again, despite the fact that there were nearly a dozen false starts. And like every Liberation Day, Goans got to hear it once again. Plastic and garbage are two big issues that the State is grappling with for over a decade. There is no sense of purpose and concrete follow up to these announcements.
Ideally, Liberation Day should be a day where the State commemorates the freedom struggle, and salutes the freedom fighters and martyrs who lost their lives in the fight against colonial rule. It should be a day where Goa looks ahead with optimism and pride instead of using it as a platform to highlight people-politico rivalries. There are bigger issues that are of serious concern like the fast changing demographic pattern of the State and Goa losing its identity.
