GUILHERME ALMEIDA
MARGAO
On December 19, 2006, Goa’s Liberation Day, Margao MLA Digambar Kamat had the privilege of announcing then Congress-led Pratapsing Rane-led government’s decision to scrap the Regional Plan 2011 at the Liberation day celebrations at SAG grounds, Fatorda.
The announcement marked the triumph of people’s power as Rane along with Kamat and other Congress leaders gauged the pulse of public sentiments after the massive public rally at the historic Lohia Maidan demanding scrapping of the controversial RP 2011.
A little over 11 years now, a similar question is staring at the BJP-led government, more so for the TCP Minister Vijai Sardesai and his Goa Forward party against the backdrop of the massive assembly of people at the Lohia Maidan in support of the scrapping of the RP21, the PDAs and the ODPs.
Margao MLA Digambar Kamat recalled that then Chief Minister Pratapsing Rane and other party leaders clearly understood the pulse and sentiments of the Goan people. “After the huge rally at the Lohia Maidan, Rane told me to announce at the Liberation Day function at Margao that the government has agreed to scrap the Plan and to formulate a new Plan”, Kamat recalled.
Asked to comment on options before the TCP Minister Vijai Sardesai against the backdrop of Friday’s massive protest rally at the Lohia Maidan against the RP 2021, Kamat quipped “the government of the day is aware of the public sentiments, their demands and the ground reality. It is for the ruling dispensation to take a decision”.
While Kamat said it is purely for the government to take a call on the public demand on the RP 2021, the TCP Minister in particular and the regional party, Goa Forward party, he is heading, has indeed come under sharp focus. Both the TCP Minister and the Goa Forward party faced brickbats and had come under sharp criticism at the Lohia Maidan protest meet, with angry protestors directing their ire at the regional party and the supremo.
A day after the Lohia Maidan rally, however, the TCP Minister is yet to unveil his plan of action to address the issues and concerns raised by the agitators. Hours before the Lohia Maidan meet, the TCP Minister had virtually rejected the demand for scrapping of the controversial Plan. Instead, he promised to undo all the wrongs cited by the civil society via the five-member panel, with powers only to subtract proposals and not to make any additions.
The protest rally, however, has sent a message loud and clear from the historic Lohia Maidan that people of Goa would settle nothing less than the scrapping of the controversial plan.
Questions are asked whether the TCP Minister will invite the protestors for talks post-Lohia Maidan meeting as he had on more than one occasion pointed out that his doors are open for dialogue. And, whether he would meet the demand put forth by the protestors under Goencho Avaaz, an umbrella of 15 organizations, by keeping the operationalization of the RP 2021 in abeyance, at least till the return of Chief Minister Manohar Parrikar to
the state.
