The Goa Politician

The various traits and habits of the Goa politician are endless but may be summarised in the following

1. The Goa politician is known to have high liquidity. he can be traded very easily.Many in his tribe are alleged to be able to buy and sell themselves at will.

2. The Goa politician is Chief minister material. He can occupy the chair anytime. Dont underestimate him. If he is in the opposition today, he could be whizzing in the Chief Minister's car tomorrow. Changes are that quick.

3. The Goa politician can rarely vouch that he/she belongs to any party. All parties are their bastions to rule. He can enter and exit any party at will. Whoever offers the ticket is the party and whoever denies is the opposition. This cocktail is subject to an inverse change at the last minute.

4. The Goa politician club has members who think that Goans are foolish. They change parties as if they change schools and do not need a leaving certificate. Worse, the Goan follows to vote for them for whichever party they choose as if their latest blot was their latest qualification.

5.The Goa politician flouts many a rule in the book. Laws are for the rest of the Goans. When he moves in the official vehicle on the busy Goan roads - " make way".

6. The Goa politician does not need a qualification to be one. Very often, his uncouth disposition, firebrand image and blind following of many among the masses make up for his poor grades.

7. The Goa politician has tried many tricks in the book to garner votes. Religion, language and wooing migrant voters are some of his favourite tools.

8. The Goa politician is alleged to be owning much more booty than his affidavit published in the papers before the elections, does suggest. His alleged unaccounted wealth has few taxmen running after him with sincerity. The law finds it tough to catch up with him as if he was well oiled.

9. The Goa politician hardly trusts anyone and cannot be trusted without proving it. When a government falls, he being on either side, is alleged to be open to booty talks and is normally huddled under a "panttlo" in some 5 star luxury, to neutralise his unending desires.

10. The Goa politician has discovered that Goa assembly can be his personal fiefdom. Many of his ilk have brought in brothers and sons to be part of the 40 member circus and some have tried to rope in wives but with no success so far.

11. The Goa politician has birthdays, allegedly at the cost of everyone else. His birthdays are a loud splash of birthday wish advertisements in the newspapers, supported by a full-page well pampered description about his life, his exploits and his wishful future for his subjects, along with a "happy family" photo. The actual birth day is full of personal glorification with inaugurations and laying foundation stones of bridges, footpaths, roads, kiosks, hotels, substations, zebra crossings,etc and often ends up in a carnival rally of which he is the King Momo. In his decree, his next birthday promises to be worse.

12. The Goa politician loves greenery. But its not the greenery of Goa. Not the hills and the riversides. When he says green, some opine he refers to the dollar.

13. The Goa politician has forgotten that he is a Goan. He has sold his soul to all and sundry. He hardly cares for Goa and Goans. All that he cares for is his part of the booty. He is ready to sacrifice anything that comes in its way.

14. The Goa politician has a love hate relationship with the media. He normally wants the media to report all his exploits and wants them for all his press conferences . He cries foul when they report some harsh truths.

15. The Goa politician has foes turning friends turning foes turning freinds turning foes turning friends. He seems to be continuously turning.

Of course, having mentioned all of the above there continue to be good politicians in Goa who may not fit the above list at all. We need to identify those people and try our level best to help them cleanse the rot in the system which is affecting Goa.

Xittuk Goencar