the goan I network
PANAJI
It’s common knowledge that voting trends and patterns election after election happens in varied degrees on communal lines.
How big a role will communal polarisation play in the April 23 polls for the two Lok Sabha seats in Goa? Several voters contacted by “The Goan” said they would not like to comment and several others who did speak didn’t want to be identified.
Some of those who spoke on record, middle-aged people and the youth alike, felt that polarisation on religious lines would in fact not play much of a role.
Salvita Bothello from St Estevam felt people will use their own judgement and won’t go by what people spreading religious propaganda are saying.
Ramrai Naik from Ponda who’s currently doing his Masters in Political Science said certain individuals and groups alike had tried to stoke sentiment on communal lines. Goans generally act with a sense of maturity, he said, and believed the trend will continue.
“Such perpetrators (who try to stoke communal feelings) should understand that in Goa, polarisation terribly backfires rather than benefiting them electorally,” said Ramrai.
Vidyasagar Mekkalki, an engineering student said:”Polarisation will have an effect on how the parties are viewed, but I think people stick to their self interests while voting. Community sentiments are not really strong in Goa. Voting literally boils down to whether the voter thinks the MP has fared well during his term.”
He also said that when it comes to the Lok Sabha elections, faces at the national level matter more.
Safina Khan Soudagar from Merces, with a Masters in Psychology was of the view that Goa is a tolerant and peaceful state where people largely believe in equality regardless of community or religion.
“However, like most populations, there will definitely be those who see the political benefit of any hatred being spouted, and there will be those who are naive to believe in this,” Safina said, adding that Goans were rational enough to vote on progressive rather than communal lines.
Suheb Naik, managing director of a Panjim-based company, condemned any polarisation, be it religious, caste or gender. He felt people should come out in large numbers and exercise their vote against all such forces which wanted to divide the country and threaten the unity of the nation.
Yet there was Andrew Barreto, a lecturer from Margao in his thirties, who is of the opinion that communal polarisation will indeed play a role in the LS polls.
“Whether we like to admit it or not, the effect may not be seen overtly, but it’s present. We are constantly being bombarded with propaganda, misinformation and proxy advertising through media and social media. To think we are immune to it will be foolhardy,” Barreto said.
Amruta Shirodkar from Panaji shared Bothello’s view.
“We have always lived as a family all these years in Goa. I have shared a Christian neighbourhood for quarter of my life. Basically, I am not for any religion, but I won’t entertain communal hatred being spelt out by politicians/religious heads which harms the united fabric of our state,” Shirodkar said.
While several common folk were quite forthright with their views on the issue of communal polarisation in electoral politics and its effect on the ongoing Lok Sabha polls, politicos were more guarded with their responses.
BJP’s Damu Naik said it’s a fact and that it “definitely happens,”. He however added that it has to stop and put the blame on the Congress for it.
Spokespersons of both the major national parties contesting the election in Goa - BJP and the Congress - while admitting communal polarisation is a reality, sought to blame the other for it and play down its impact on the outcome. “In India, people don’t go to cast their vote in favour of development and development alone. From Day 1, the Congress has developed a strategy to play with the emotions of the people. We have to stop it,” Naik said, and felt that the effects of polarisation were felt more among the less literate population.
Congress leader and former Union Minister Ramakant Khalap told “The Goan” that in Goa, he didn’t see communal polarisation playing much of a role. “It is expected to happen in many other parts of the country, but Goans, whether they belong to Hindu, Christian, or Muslim communities are by nature, genetically, secular minded. Most Goans transcend the barriers of religion and take an independent decision. There are certain exceptions ...Attempts are being made to polarise people, but that is not going to work. It has never worked in the past, except very peripherally,” Khalap said.
