Truths have been spoken, half-truths have been served and attempts have been made to paint lies as truths. At the end of the mudslinging, today is our day – the day when the voter makes his choice.
From amongst those who choose, there will be some who will be entering the banquet for the first time to get their first taste of politics. Many may have already got it, even before casting the ballot and that pre-taste could well add to the flavour of India.
Elections are the oxygen of a democracy and the oxygen at this particular juncture is important because, in the name of oxygen, attempts have been made to shove down umpteen chemicals and democracy is tottering.
The 2024 Lok Sabha elections are not about one party against the other or one ideal against the other or one promise against the other. It is about one man, with his cronies, trying to annihilate free society.
The 2024 Lok Sabha elections are not about one party against the other or one ideal against the other or one promise against the other. It is about one man, with his cronies, trying to annihilate free society.
That nothing is right was obvious from the day the Chief Election Commissioner was appointed. The drama unfolded further when the long-extended election schedule was declared. Yet, the truth could not be stubbed out.
The truth faces us all in Goa today and our choice is pretty simple. Choose Narendra Modi or choose the representatives of INDIA bloc. Modi, because both BJP candidates have clearly said that a vote for them is a vote for Modi (call us puppets, is what that conveys).
So, the story of Modi is one of the cut-outs for the electorate of Goa. A few days ago, President of USA, Joe Biden, in a campaign address called India, Japan, Russia and China as xenophobic.
Xenophobic, in the Oxford dictionary, means “having or showing a dislike of or prejudice against people from other countries”. Here, the minorities are Indians and yet disliked or looked to be disliked and could probably be considered from other countries.
Capt Viriato Fernandes, a war veteran, already managed to tickle the Prime Minister with some truths
The BJP has fielded Pallavi Dempo in South Goa and Shripad Naik in North whilst the INDIA bloc member Congress has pitted Viriato Fernandes and Ramakant Khalap respectively.
From the four, the two in the South – Dempo and Fernandes are newbies with different straits of personalities. Dempo is pretty and aloof from reality and Fernandes is a war veteran, who even before the election has already managed to tickle the Prime Minister with some truths.
Much before elections were declared, for some strange reason, it was taken for granted that Modi – not BJP – had won the North Goa seat despite the candidate who has won five terms is still unable to indite his work during this time.
Shripad looked tired or rather unenthusiastic from the beginning and proof of this was his attempt to discolour the candidate from the south, Fernandes, in a language alien to decency.
Much before elections were declared, for some strange reason, it was taken for granted that Modi – not BJP – had won the North Goa seat despite the candidate who has won five terms is still unable to indite his work during this time.
That the Prime Minister, later the Chief Minister and finally Naik tried to bring the word unconstitutional and play with it in Fernandes’s quote, was proof that the BJP had stepped in quicksand in Goa and particularly in the south.
People in Goa want to know about the flow of River Mhadei, about double tracking, about coal, about the Tanmar electric line, about illegal felling of trees and a host of other issues and not how fast one can reach from Pernem to Canacona. Speed is of essence but not the sauce of life.
Fernandes and Khalap dabbled with issues troubling us. They may be able to help or may not but they have at least promised to raise these issues in Parliament and be with the people when it matters.
The problems Goans face are the problems perpetrated by this government because when we raised our hands for help, Pramod Sawant and his men were busy ingratiating themselves at the Centre.
Fernandes and Khalap dabbled with issues troubling us. They may be able to help or may not but they have at least promised to raise these issues in Parliament and be with the people when it matters.
The videos circulating on social media, about how Modi wished whom when he recently came to Goa, is proof of the way forward with the current dispensation. This is the BJP of today – a BJP that has been showing that being in power is what matters most, the people be damned.
The choice today, is, therefore, very simple – a vote for the individual who will carry our onus or a vote for individuals who are asking a vote for someone Goa has little connection with.
Our vote should determine who we are and not who others think we should be.
