GOA
WITH
GOA SU-RAJ
A MESSAGE FROM ITS FOUNDERS

Going back to the pre-liberation times, as far back, to the end of the second world war, those who will remember Goa as it was then , will now be 64 years old and above. A number of things will come to mind Life was different then. For instance, the electrification was limited to cities and towns by way of diesel powered generating sets. Though city and town roads may have been concreted fully or partly, rest of Goa was raw as mud. But the work of concreting executed then, still stands witness today. Venturing out in the evening necessitated a battery torch, but in the rural areas it was mostly a coconut shell and a candle. People died of snake bites rather than from malaria. Midwives delivered babies at home. Hospitals were a luxury and an ordeal to reach them in time. Road transportation was minimal with buses called "CAMIAOs", and vintage cars for taxis, a few that existed. There were "GAZOLINs" for river transport . Building materials and cargo was transported by bullock carts and sail boats called "patmareo".

There were lessons to learn, homework to finish and exams to pass just like today and studying at night was by a kerosene chimney lamp. Wrist watch was a luxury and for the villages in Goa time was kept by the church bells . There were few office jobs then, and people worked the fields and vegetable patches for their sustenance. They celebrated their feasts, their Zatras, their weddings & marriages and their dances & carnavals and they were a contented lot. They had brass bands, with saxophones, trumpets, clarinets, violins. accordians, double bases, benjos and guitars, tablas and sitars. There were no microphones and amplifiers with 10,000 watts power speakers, but only the lungpower and simple megaphones. There were famous bands like Johnson & his Jolly Boys, Merry Makers, Dominic & his Boys, who regaled crowds from 8 p.m. to 6 a.m. and nobody complained of noise pollution. Often, if one had to surface from deep sleep in the early hours of the morning, one would hear the melodious sound of the brass band playing for a wedding here, for a dance there, and, contrary to being disturbed, one would cling to the windows to listen for more. The 'alvaraz' at 5 a.m. in the morning on the day of the church or chapel feast kindled the spirit of a holiday and festive mood for the ensuing day, not to forget the fresh toddy and the immortal "sannas" . Come Ganesh festival, the kids doing the rounds to score points on best presentation of the"Mati" (the presentation of flowers and fruits hanging over the idol) and the sweetmeat goodies to be collected and relished, not to forget the delicious "PHAWs" at Diwali time, the sweet made out of beaten rice by women folks at home on their ground sunken grinding stone called the "vaan" and the hand thrasher called the "musov", two women thrashing the rice simultaneously in the same hole, the sweet chanting that went along with the process accompanied by the rhythmic dhub-dhub of the thrashing. The fishing expeditions during school holidays, the kite flying, the "Koine-bal", the 'godde-mil', with its dreaded forfeits which scaled the knuckles on bare ground pushing the marble, the cashew nut gambling, the road side football matches and most of all the San Juao dives on June 24th. in the deepest of wells to impress the local belles and the new sponsor for the event, the local son-in-law, the 'ZAVUIM', the rummaging for jackfuits, mangoes and pineapples to feast on later in the evening. Then there were street serenades for Christmas and the New Year until 6th. of January, going round the village and performing in individual houses with live brass bands. These events were looked forward to and villagers were proud to stay up even upto 5 in the morning.

The only self governing bodies were Municiplities and Communidades. Everything was well looked after, like clock work. There was enough open land specially kept for grazing and for future parks and play grounds. The market places were clean. Gutters and nullahs were desilted and cleared , bunds and sluice gates repaired and re-enforced much in advance before the monsoons. People swam and bathed in the rivers and ponds. There were tenants , there were mundkars and there were batkars. The communidades leased its land and collected its revenues. Every one behaved and all was well. For there was the law and order. The prominent policeman in the village was the Regedor. All village complaints went to the Regedor and most often all the petty complaints were solved right there and then. Only the serious cases were referred to the "Postas", the police outposts. The punishment for misdemeanors was exemplary and people were very straight because there was respect for the law. There were seldom any robberies or house break-ins. Murders were unheard of. Cheating and conning was non existent. People felt safe and protected. One type of exemplary punishment meted out for petty crimes like stealing was to garland the accused with tin-pots and what have you's and parading that person through the village with much fanfare and beating of drums. Life went on. People had no freedom. And most prayed for deliverance from the long foreign rule.

Enter liberation and it released Goans from the straight-jacket of the centuries. Freedom to express and freedom to do what one liked was a new found thing and long yearned for. Neighbours who got along fine for years started finding faults with each other. Lawlessness started to raise its ugly head. The style of policing changed abruptly. Police patrolling was done away with. Police officers became mere clerks at their desks. Liberation opened up the whole new world of politics. Democracy was the new found word. People began to enjoy the power given to the people for it said, " Government of the people, for the people, by the people". People started to enjoy the freedom to be irresponsible, unaccountable and disrespectful. People started taking advantage of people. Police and court cases started piling up. No one went to prison. One could get bail even for a serious crime. The respect for the law started diminishing. People could take law in their own hands or could be easily manipulated with influence. People started getting polarized with political parties. People got the taste of power. They could elect whom they liked. Politicians began to emerge. They were quite genuine at first. Things looked bright until new young politicians came into politics through the back door, if one may say so. The potential of gaining power and position was unlimited. Manipulations started. Good politics started to get dirtier by the day. Young politicians hungered for power which could be had if they were enterprising. They started dishing out favours to people who came to see them. A new generation of politics started. People started to visit the politician's homes to get their work done. People started looking at politicians as good samaritans. Gradually and systematically, a bug started creeping into the management of government administration . Politicians started meddling with the governmental departments. Slowly the politicians channelized the people to their offices in the secretariat. If one wanted to get one's work done, one needed to go and meet with the concerned minister at his home or the secretariat. People started paying the ministers with gifts for favours rendered. Soon the gifts became envelopes. Slowly the ministers started asking for a price for things to be done. The price was small and people didn't mind. The lifestyle of the politicians started going under a dramatic change. More favours, more money. The taste of power and good living at the expense of the people was not to be given away. Therefore, politicians started implementing the British style of governance, " divide and rule". They manufactured problems and kept people busy fighting physically as well as emotionally. The likes of Ramponkar's movement, language agitation, nylon 6.6, Konkan Railway re-alignment agitation, and the latest , the Meta Strips. Politicians once elected forgot that they were the servants of the people and became their feudal lords. To get themselves elected over and over again, they have massacred the rule of law. Illegalities are openly promoted so that people, unknowingly have fallen into their trap. Illegal houses and structures are given water and electricity connections and even house numbers on the say so of the concerned ministers. By doing so, come election time, people are held at ransom, a do or die situation.

Today's politicians have meticulously built-up their careers in politics. They have come to stay. They have forgotten that their usefulness is determined by the people. But they have countered that by setting up their own cartels and by pleasing these cartels with favours, so that when the time comes for elections, they are rest assured of their victory. Lacs of rupees are spent by individual candidates to buy votes, dishing out saris, TVs and radios and promising electrical and water connections for illegally built houses, knowing fully well that once elected, the returns on their investment will be a thousand fold. Each one of them have concentrated on their own constituencies with scant concern for others. Today's politicians have forgotten that they are legislators. Today, they have become job brokers operating from the secretariat. They have lost their backbones to sit in the opposition. All they want is to be on the ruling side. This has given way to the much hated musical chairs in Goan politics. Every MLA expects to be a minister. If one is unfortunate to land a cabinet berth, then the eye is on the Chairmanship or the Directorship of the Government corporations. Incompetence of such persons in high corporate positions have destroyed the functioning of such corporations and the Government treasury has become bankrupt. Work culture has been routed and every one is looking for his/her piece of the pie. Effectiveness of the administration has eroded to such an extent that chaos and anarchy reigns supreme in Government departments. Government projects are shrouded in secrecy so that 20 percent or more is siphoned off by the concerned ministers. In the bargain, the quality of workmanship and aesthetics are thrown to the wind. Ministers are seen openly
subsidizing delays in the execution of public projects like bridges, water pipelines etc so that cost over-run has become a profitable business. Not a single public project is completed on schedule thereby defrauding the exchequer. A nexus has developed between politicians and government contractors. This is obvious by the number of advertisements planted in the local dailies by the contractors to show their faithfulness to the concerned ministers on their birthdays. As if that was not enough, ministers have stakes in the employment in the government departments. Each category of job has a price tag. Preference is given to non-Goans for the obvious reasons. Polluting projects like Meta Strips have been brought in through the back doors and pushed forward with impunity for personal gains. Politicians are seen interfering with the police as a result people at large has lost faith in the law. Those civil servants who refuse to accede to the wishes of the political masters are victimized. They have amassed huge wealth and prospered in private businesses. The fault lies solely with the people. This is because the moral values have steadily declined in today's society. This has given rise to the acceptance of evil and is allowed to flourish without let or hindrance. The society that once upon a time looked down upon moral degenerates, now appreciates and praise their skills of making money and catapulting themselves in powerful positions by unfair means. And worst still, it tries to emulate the degenerates. People feel proud to bribe to get their work done out of turn. People patronize cunning schemes of the politicians such as the 'Janata Darbars' etc. which are nothing but populist measures to improve their self image and cripple whatever is left of the administration. People have failed to object to bad laws and bad policies thus helping evil to flourish. For it is said that "EVIL FLOURISHES WHERE GOOD MEN FAIL TO OBJECT"

Look at the people of Goa today. They are a disillusioned lot. Nothing works for them. They don't get their work done without paying bribes. Their roads are despicable. They have no regular water supply. Power is fluctuating. Their bridges fall down before time. New ones never get completed. Deaths on the roads have multiplied for lack of traffic control and traffic discipline. Parking in towns and cities is a nightmare. Pollution abounds may it be of air, water or land. Their open spaces are gone. Their cattle graze in their filthy markets and squat on their roads and highways. They no longer swim and bathe in rivers and ponds but on their flooded roads come monsoon. They are treated worst than cattle. There is no respect nor the concern for the senior citizens. Their education system has been razed to the ground. Goa has been sold to the highest bidder. Goa's children have no future for them in Goa. and they remain unemployed in thousands. This, all because they, who are intelligent, they who are educated, they who are sensible, they who are morally sound and responsible, have lapsed into coma . They have lost their will to stand up and fight for their rights. For a slightest difficulty they go on their knees and beg. Their knees have gained in strength but their backbones have crumbled. They have let themselves down and they are killing the future of their own children. They have become helpless and they have begun to believe that it is virtually impossible to bring things back on course. And inadvertently they have helped the politicians redefine the word 'Government' to make it "Government of the politicians, by the politicians, for the politicians"

The people of Goa need to seriously think again. They have to rejuvenate themselves to fight for their lost morality and values. And that is no simple task. It will take long. But that is the only way to go about it. There are no fast recipes , no magic, no miracles. They have to suffer the slow process of re-vitalizing themselves and their society. It is like a rotten orange. There is no hope in the world that anyone can resurrect it to its prime glory. But this impossible task can be done. It requires the strongest of dedication and patience. One has to take out the seeds of that rotten orange and plant them, water them, take care of the saplings until they become trees and bear fruits. And then, one will be able to hold the resurrected orange in one's hand and say. " here is the fruit of my hard and dedicated work, and the satisfaction is all mine"

The need of the hour is to discard our hollow politicians who have managed to hoodwink the people and line their pockets. One look at their life-styles, and, their prosperity will prove that. They have not taken up to politics to solve people's problems, to help them, to help their children. They have not taken up to politics to make Goa a great State. If proof is required, then just look at the opposition benches in the Legislative Assembly. Do you see anyone sitting there? Today, Meta Strips is a raging issue of corruption and pollution. Where is the opposition? Is it difficult to realize that the elected representatives are hand in gloves with one another for personal gains? , to strip Goa bare, to rape and mutilate it, to put its people against each other and destroy their future? Don't they look like one solid gang of ALI BABA, the ingenious CHOR? When most of them are expected to fight the Meta Strips problem, they prefer to foist on the people the long since dead language issue. Konkani is Goa's tongue, and shall remain Goa's tongue without dilution. If the traitors have not been successful in giving away Goa into Maharashtra during the OPINION POLL, and cut off her tongue, they shall not, ever, be able to do so in the future. The people of Goa must take serious note of these traitors.

GOA SU-RAJ PARTY has been born to take stock of the hopeless situation Goa is in today. Men and Women of fiber, moral integrity and will to fight have come together to put forth before the people of Goa an alternative. These men and women, cannot be differentiated from one another by caste and religion. These men and women have two things which are rare today and those are DEDICATION & COURAGE, for with dedication comes commitment and with courage comes the fight. This alternative , this vision of the founders of GOA SU-RAJ PARTY can be put to the acid test, first, on its freely available CONSTITUTION. A lot of time and effort has been spent to put together its components so that it can give a sense of direction to Goa which has been lost for the past decade and more. This is Goa's own Party which will guide its destiny to its resurrection and full bloom. This is Goa's own Party that will patch up disintegrated relations between fellow Goans and be the uniting factor. This is Goa's own Party who's task is "NOT TO FIX THE BLAME , BUT TO SET THE COURSE FOR GOA'S FUTURE. This is Goa's own Party that will not fall prey to the machinations of astute and selfish politicians , for its doors have been firmly shut to them. This is Goa's own party that will guide GOA's future with the much needed support and help from men and women who are above selfish motivations, and who believe that there is everything for all, but, nothing for only a few. This is Goa's own Party that invites each and every one of you who loves Goa , whether you are a Goan or not, to join hands with GOA SU-RAJ PARTY to take Goa to the zenith as the best managed & disciplined State in the Union.

GOA SU-RAJ PARTY which will be heralded in the years to come as THE BEACON FOR GOA'S GOOD GOVERNANCE thus pledges:

• Good Governance as its raison d'etre.

• Citizen's charter in respect of every government department.

• Environmental safeguards.

• Excellent Law & Order in the State based on respect for the Law & respect for the Police.

• Respect for the individual and his rights.

• Senior citizen's charter.

• Credit rating for the State of Goa. (Fiscal Discipline)

• Excellent infrastructure i.e. power, water supply, roads, telecommunication, to invite service oriented industries and other non polluting and non power/water/land intensive industries in Goa which will absorb our young men and women to eliminate unemployment and brain drain.

• Education policy that will make our education system the best in the country and among the best in the world.

• Tourism policy that will resurrect our golden beaches, ensure safety and well being of the tourists. Adding well designed and well planned programmes of enhancing tourism in the State to cater to middle and upper class tourist of the country and the world.

• To rid Goa of social evils like drugs, adulteration , pollution and revamp Public Health & Sanitation..

• To frame laws, rules & regulations to promote safety of life and property, to define and implement tolerance zones in respect of the laws and rules & regulations beyond which swift and severe punishment is ensured.

• Agriculture policy with the installation of the much needed agriculture college to serve Goa's need to revitalize its agriculture.

• Watershed policy to conserve, preserve and replenish the fast diminishing water resources of the State.

• To initiate computer aided and tested policies that will be given the chance to work for themselves in consultation with the people who will be directly responsible in handling such policies (end users) without interference by people who do not know what is best for Goa.

• And more.

"GOD BLESS GOA"