ARE WE WITNESSING A CRISIS OF CHARACTER IN GOA? by Jose Maria Miranda

Among the many crises we have faced in the last fifty years, the one that ought to dismay us the most and the one which has sullied our reputation the maximum, is the crisis of character. Most of our elders lived by some principles and cherished some values, which they passed on to us, but which many of us either failed to imbibe or to profess. In the consumerist society in which we live, we have exchanged “good” for “goods” and “values” for “value”. We had seen a few turncoats at the time of Liberation.

But that was perhaps somewhat understandable - accepting the irreversible. However, what we saw, years later, by way of defections was utterly shameful and debasing. Not only did development and governance suffer due to Government instability but Goa turned notorious, being the Sate with the highest number of people occupying the Chief Minister’s chair in the shortest span of time.

But it is not of these greedy, unscrupulous and unprincipled individuals, some of them near illiterate, who still occupy Ministerial positions, that I am talking about. It is about those who we ourselves rightly placed on a high pedestal because of their high intellect, education, integrity and most of all the sound principles and ideals they stood for.

We respected and admired them, for often they stood their ground, against many odds, sailing against the tide. I am referring to the strange spectacle of some respectable gentlemen joining hands, on the Medium of Instruction, not only with their one time sworn enemies and traitors of Goa and Goans but also with the most communal and detestable elements, whose main aim, until today, is to destroy the peace and tranquility in Goa and the centuries old amity that prevails among the various communities in this State.

Granted that one is often constrained to accept or at least not to reject the support of some unworthy and unreliable individuals or organizations, though there are outspoken people like Anna Hazare who rejected politicians and asked them to stay away from his campaign. But here we have some otherwise most honourable gentlemen and even priests, themselves stooping to lend support and rub shoulders with individuals, some of dubious credibility, others blatantly communal.

Everyone has a right to his or her opinion and even to take to the streets to try and enforce it. But when respectable individuals call for a bandh in full knowledge of its pernicious effects, when no other issues which have been destroying the lives and the livelihood of thousands of poor people and hundreds of our youth, like debasing corruption, illegal mining, drug peddling, road accidents, jobs and promotions on sale, damage to the environment, etc. seem to concern them, one keeps wondering whether those who we had looked up as role models, have too been contaminated and the crisis of character has hit them too.

What pains us most is that some of these gentlemen felt inhibited to associate themselves with several of the aforementioned issues because of their party affiliations or leanings while they did not hesitate to call for the dethronement of the Government on the MOI issue.

Their social and moral standing in society would have lent credence and impetus to the various causes our people have been fighting for. But they chose to be silent and indifferent to what has been affecting our dignity, our identity, our very existence and the future of our children and of our State.

On the MOI, certain questions come to my mind, which make me wonder whether the “regional languages” protagonists have a hidden agenda:

If the general policy in the country is to support the mother tongue, which in my humble view, is the right approach, why did the Act provide for MOI “preferably” and not compulsorily in mother tongue? Certainly there were compelling reasons for such a decision.

It is an accepted fact that Konkani is the mother tongue of the Goans. Then why are the English baiters, particularly those who have in the past valiantly fought for Konkani, not insisting that grants be given only to the mother tongue and not to Marathi?

Can anyone stop parents from sending their children to English medium schools, if they can afford their fees? Won’t it, therefore, be unfair to deprive those who cannot afford them? Or are we afraid that the “servants” will become our “masters” one day if we allow free English education to those belonging to the lower strata of the society?

If the agitators are genuinely concerned about our culture and our language, why did they allow hundreds of English medium primary schools to be opened after Govt. aided schools shifted to Konkani/Marathi medium?

Is the catholic community being targeted solely because it is in the forefront of the agitation for grants to MOI in English when it is the majority community that may in fact reap the greatest benefits, since the majority of students in English schools come from the majority community?