It is learnt that two Goan Catholic priests are reportedly advising the people to gherao any future defectors after the results of the assembly elections are announced on March 10. It is believed that this advice has been well received and endorsed by the public. People are reportedly hopeful that warnings of protesting in front of the house of potential defectors will act as a deterrent. The state has witnessed a deluge of MLAs defecting to another party, after the 2017 election results were announced, in order to form the government which must be considered as an insult to the people’s mandate. This fiasco should not be repeated this time around despite all the pledges taken and affidavits signed by the candidates. Desperate times call for desperate measures. However there seem to be some pertinent matters that need to be taken into consideration with regards to the protest that has been envisaged. The protest should not be seen as that supported by one particular community but needs to be a movement of the citizens belonging to a particular constituency to which the elected representative belongs. Obviously the proposed protest will be a non-violent one. However great care needs to be taken to see that the protest, if it takes place, is not given a violent tag by the supporter of the MLA who is set to defect, by resorting to acts of violence with the sole aim of having the police take action on the peaceful protestors.
ADELMO FERNANDES, Vasco
