Election Commission, as per news, has now mandated that the manifestos of political parties must be declared 48 hours before voting. (The 2019 General Elections kick off in seven phases on April 11).
It’s important for Indians, especially the Muslims, to look at Congress’ manifesto closely and understand that the grand old party has never, not now, and certainly would not stand by India’s largest minority.
Congress had nominated only 27 Muslim candidates in the 2014 Lok Sabha elections—a paltry 5.6 per cent of its total candidates.
This wasn’t true only of the remote-controlled Manmohan Singh’s government of UPA 1 and UPA 2 between 2004-2014 – even under Jawaharlal Nehru and Indira Gandhi, very few Muslim candidates were nominated by the Congress in Lok Sabha polls.
Must Muslims must not be aware that the Congress manifesto in recent assembly elections in Madhya Pradesh had promised to build gaushalas (cow shelters), medical usage of gaumutra (cow urine) and cow dung. It had promised to promote Sanskrit language and the Ram Van Gaman Path (Lord Ram’s route during his exile from Ayodhya) and protect India’s sacred rivers through laws.
Nothing is wrong with the resolution but only if Muslims remember that in the previous assembly elections in Madhya Pradesh in 2013, Congress had a whole section on “Minority Community” in its manifesto. It had promised to provide special economic assistance to madrasas, new laws against communal violence and the implementation of the Sachar Committee recommendations.
Sachar Committee is an interesting moment of reflection. It was commissioned by the then Prime Minister Manmohan Singh in 2005 to evaluate the status of Muslims in the country. Formed under former Chief Justice of Delhi High Court, Rajinder Sachar, and six other members (but for one, four were Muslims and one Christian) it gave a forceful report in support of Muslims, even going to the extent of devoting a good chunk on the supposed growth of Muslim population in India.
Sachar Committee found that Muslims constituted only 2.5 per cent of the Indian bureaucracy even though they were (then) 14% percent of the population. It stated the “backwardness” of Muslims and impediments in assimilating them in the economic, political and social mainstream of the country. Damningly, Sachar Committee concluded that the conditions facing Indian Muslims were below that of scheduled castes and scheduled tribes. (a passing query: Why committee on just one minority, what about others?)
If Muslims were in a worse state than Dalits, what was Congress doing in most of the 70 years it held India’s reins? The truth is, even in 2014, Congress nominated very few Muslims in critical states like Delhi, Gujarat, Haryana, Karnataka, MP, Maharashtra, Odisha, Rajasthan and Tamil Nadu (Do you understand the Congress dilemma on AAP now? One might demand more and the other less Muslim candidature).
The photo-ops of Rahul Gandhi as a Hindu in recent times bear no repetition. In assembly elections in Gujarat, Madhya Pradesh and Rajasthan, Rahul Gandhi lost no opportunity to visit temples and present himself as a janeudhari Shiv-bhakt. Rahul Gandhi’s soft Hindutva politics is lost on no one.
If nothing else, Muslims of this country should look at the scenario in Uttar Pradesh. Even an avowed Muslim-supporting Samajwadi Party isn’t afraid of Congress for their vote banks. They know a hypocrite party like Congress wouldn’t cut into their Muslim base in the state. They have dropped them with impunity, nudged, of course, by Mayawati’s BSP.
So my Muslim brethren, look at Congress manifesto closely this time. Soft Hindutva or Muslim protectors? Or none but the goal of power? You would have your answers.
After failing to tie-up with the SP-BSP alliance, Rahul Gandhi led Congress party seems to have faced another embarrassment ahead of the Lok Sabha election as BSP supremo has rejected Congress party’s offer of not fielding candidates at seven Lol Sabha seats in Uttar Pradesh.
On Monday, Bahujan Samaj Party chief Mayawati slammed the Congress party and clearly stated that her party is having no alliance with Congress for the upcoming Lok Sabha election, a day after the Congress had left seven seats for the leaders of the SP, BSP and RLD, who are part of Mahagathbandhan in Uttar Pradesh. The party had said that they will not field Congress candidates against Mulayam Singh, Dimple Yadav and Akshay Yadav of SP, Chaudhury Ajit Singh and Jayant Chaudhary of Rashtriya Lok Dal, BSP Supremo Mayawati, while the seventh name was not announced, which was speculated to be Akhilesh Yadav.
In a tweet in Hindi, Mayawati said, “BSP once again clears that it has no understanding or an alliance with Congress in any part of the country including Uttar Pradesh. Our people should not get misled by the words of Congress.”
“Congress is free to field its candidates in all 80 seats which means the alliance is able to defeat BJP on its own. Congress should not mislead people,” said Mayawati.
बीएसपी एक बार फिर साफ तौर पर स्पष्ट कर देना चाहती है कि उत्तर प्रदेश सहित पूरे देश में कांग्रेस पार्टी से हमारा कोई भी किसी भी प्रकार का तालमेल व गठबंधन आदि बिल्कुल भी नहीं है। हमारे लोग कांग्रेस पार्टी द्वारा आयेदिन फैलाये जा रहे किस्म-किस्म के भ्रम में कतई ना आयें।
Meanwhile, the SP-BSP alliance has stood by their decision to not field any candidate in Amethi and Rae Bareli seats. While Congress chief Rahul Gandhi is the sitting MP from Amethi, Rae Bareli is held by United Progressive Alliance (UPA) chairperson Sonia Gandhi.
The Samajwadi Party led by Akhilesh Yadav, Mayawati’s Bahujan Samajwadi Party (BSP) and Ajit Singh led Rashtriya Lok Dal (RLD) had joined together to take on the NDA, which had secured 73 seats in the 2014 Lok Sabha elections.
The SP-BSP-RLD ‘Mahagathbandhan’ has agreed on a seat share formula with SP contesting on 37 seats while BSP is set to contest from 38 seats. RLD will be contesting from three seats – Baghpat, Muzzafarnagar and Mathura.
A Chinese National was arrested in Kolkata on Sunday for flying a drone over Kolkata’s Victoria Memorial and near Fort William headquarters of Army’s Eastern Command.
34-year-old Li Zhiwei who is reportedly from China’s Gudong was detained by the CISF posted at Victoria Memorial along with two women accompanying him. They were taken to Hastings police station. He was then produced in Bankshall court that remanded him in police custody until March 25. However, the two women who were with him were released.
The Chinese consulate in Kolkata has been informed about the incident.
The Victoria Memorial lies within a three-kilometre radius of the high-security zone around Fort William, the headquarters of the Army’s Eastern Command.
A senior police officer of Kolkata police said, “On March 16, Chinese national Li Zhiwei (34) entered the Victoria Memorial along with an iPhone and a drone camera. He was detained by CISF personnel while he was flying drone on the premises. They brought him to Hastings Police Station and submitted a letter of complaint. Later the police arrested him and launched an investigation.”
According to legal experts, though one can own a drone in India but cannot fly it without a number of permissions from authorities. And flying a drone in restricted areas, like the Chinese citizen did, leads to a serious offence.
Li has been booked under the Indian Penal Code sections 188 (disobedience to order duly promulgated by public servants), 268 (public nuisance), 287 (negligent conduct with respect to machinery) and 336 (act endangering life or personal safety of others) and section 11A of the Aircraft Act 1934, which deals with punishment for non- compliance with Section 5A of the act.
Section 5A deals with the prohibition of the use of aircraft except under the authority of and in accordance with a licence. If convicted, he can be jailed for two years.
The Police have, however, said it was possible that he did not know the rules and added that they were questioning him to find out why he operated the drone. It is possible that the Chinese national did not know that the entire maidan area where Victoria Memorial is located is army property, and used the drone to take photographs of the monument as a tourist.
Meanwhile, the army had sought a report from the police about the images captured by the drone.
Closing all possibilities of an alliance with the Left Front, the West Bengal Congress plans to contest all 42 Lok Sabha seats in the state on its own. This decision comes two days after the Left announced its candidates in 25 seats out of the 42 parliamentary seats in West Bengal.
The internal rift between the alliance of Congress and the Left Front became evident as the West Bengal Pradesh Congress Committee (WBPCC) chief, Soman Mitra asserted that the left was never serious about the alliance.
“Left Front announced its candidates in 25 Lik Sabha seats in West Bengal on March 15 without any decision with West Bengal Congress. Due to the unyielding behaviour of the CPI(M) and its ally parties in the Left Front, we are calling off the proposed seat sharing in the state and have decided to fight BJP and the Trinamool Congress in Bengal with our own force,” said Mitra.
Criticising the Left Front for its negative attitude on the seat-sharing decision and urging people to vote for Congress candidates only Mitra furthered, “Left was never serious about the alliance. The way they behaved during the 2016 election was also cited. Post the 2016 results, left blamed Congress for not cooperating and fully supporting but the fact is that in many places Left didn’t back Congress.”
“It’s a matter of dignity of the party. To maintain our dignity, we have decided to come out of the seat-sharing agreement,” said Mitra.
With this, the Congress’ Mahagatbandhan fantasy seems to be getting further shaken up. Earlier, too this endeavour had suffered a major blow in Andra Pradesh where the Congress had decided to go alone in the upcoming elections, after breaking its ties with the Telegu Desam Party.
The cracks in the alliance of TDP-Congress had surfaced after the debacle in the last assembly elections of Telangana. Both the parties had cobbled up an alliance with Telangana Jana Samithi (TJS) and Communist Party of India (CPI), to combat the incumbent Telangana Rashtra Samithi CM KC Rao. The alliance, named Prajakutami, had failed miserably with Congress getting 19 seats out of 100 it had contested, and TDP getting relegated to two seats.
Similarly, the Mahagatbnadhan dreams of Congress have failed to materialise in other states as well. The recent announcement of the alliance between Samajwadi Party and Bahujan Samaj Party had brought bad news for Congress as it was kept at bay with mere two seats of Amethi and Rae Bareli. Congress had later announced that it will field candidates in all seats of UP.
BSP has also announced that in Madhya Pradesh, it will contest all the Lok Sabha seats by its own without Congress. In Bihar too, the Rashtriya Janta Dal leaders have expressed discontent with Congress.
Meanwhile, with JDS also dropping hints of leaving the Congress unless the Congress stops taking decisions unilaterally and asserting itself on JDS, the Congress’ dream of forging a national coalition to take on the ruling BJP in the 2019 general elections seems to be falling like a stack of dominoes.
With most of the allies leaving the grand old party stranded, just in the nick of time, it would now become interesting to see how Congress will go about fulfilling its bizarre and self-assured dream of taking on BJP and winning the upcoming Lok Sabha elections.
Elections are coming. If Ned Stark had lived in India, he would have replaced ‘Winter’ with ‘Elections’ for his favorite line and House Stark’s motto and it would surely have sounded equally ominous, grim and chaotic. As fate would have it, Winter is actually coming with the final season of Game Of Thrones at almost the same time elections are coming in India. Expect pandemonium everywhere. But Indian elections have a specialty. Here elections mean the grand battle of politicians, yes, but they also come with a massive entertainment package for us.
We unwashed, brown, dirty Indians do not know how to choose our leaders. As Indian mainstream media reminds us every day, we chose uncouth, unsophisticated people to lead our country in 2014. The people we chose in 2014 are neither stylish, nor fair, handsome and none of them look like our previous Prime Ministers either. Believe it or not, that is a blunder. Have we forgotten how important is it to look like Indira Gandhi for being Young India’s leader?
If not for dedicated reporters of mainstream media who work day and night to lift us Indians from the ignorance of expecting results, accountability, development, and commitment from our leaders, we would have never known the importance of dimples, colors of sarees and shade of t-shirts. The profound benevolence of asking a bunch of teenagers to call a descendant of Nehru by his first name would have been lost to us.
Take this Daily O article for example. It reveals to us that Rahul Gandhi, the Sunder, Susheel son of Sonia Maino, sorry, Gandhi, is the ‘most eligible bachelor’ of India.
Article by Daily O
Have we ever thought of that? The article is an eye-opener. We have been watching Rahul Gandhi considering him a politician keen on winning elections in his own way. We have been focusing on his inability to pronounce words, his obsession over repeating his lies, his appearances, and disappearances, his mobile factories and connected MRIs. Did we ever realise that Rahul cannot be viewed as a regular politician, cannot be judged for his words and statements because he is a descendant of Nehru and not some poor shakha Swayamsevak who won an election by a fluke?
This article tells us that Rahul should be seen from the point of view of a teenage girl gushing over a bare-chested Salman Khan sporting a guitar. Instead of asking questions like the poor girl in Odisha who foolishly asked about a badminton court, he should be marveled upon for his flawless gait, his cool attire of t-shirt and jeans, his superstar-level ease when saying “Call me Rahul”.
There are some journalists and media outlets, who, thankfully, have dedicated themselves to the task of educating us foolish Indians about the sheer divinity and the bliss of getting a Nehru descendant as a political leader. If Rahul is an eligible bachelor who ‘connects with the youth’, his sister Priyanka is all divine blessings, hope, power and positivity combined in her graceful resemblance of her Daadi.
We saw a glimpse of the dedication of these reporters when it was announced that Priyanka Gandhi was finally joining active politics, after years of campaigning for her mother and brother in every election in recent times. A gathering of ‘Congress supporters’ was being ordered, directed and stage managed to react exactly as the reporter instructed, to show the world how excited they are upon the ‘arrival’ of Priyanka.
Cursed are those people who keep blabbering about mundane, humane things like groundwork, experience, connection, results, and hard work. They are for lesser mortals. Godsends like Priyanka and Rahul do not need to lower themselves into the stature of common politicians like Modi and Yogi. The shape of their noses, the depths of their dimples and the radiance of their faces are enough to rid the country of its sufferings.
Is it not a good fortune of ours when Priyanka decides to dress like us? What more can we expect from a political leader?
India Today article
We should by now, accustom ourselves with the fact that reporters asking the general public for the performance of a political party or leader is for ‘common’ leaders, who have exploited the simplicity of ignorant Indians and cheated them with mundane, earthly possessions like gas cylinders, healthcare, road connectivity, and infrastructure. What use the blessed souls of God’s children have of these things, when they can marvel over the attire of angels like Priyanka, the fabric and make of her sarees, the kindness of her gestures when she chooses to dress like us and the opinions of the greatest designers over those sarees.
We need more and more reports like that of Priyanka’s journey yesterday. The fact that she decided to take an Indigo flight for her campaign and sat near a window seat, just like any of us, should be enough for Indians to stop being fooled by allegations of corruption made by her rivals. What are mediocre land deals and ED raids in front of this gesture of profound kindness that Indira Gandhi’s granddaughter decided to travel like a common Indian?
As the report highlights, Priyanka walked towards the plane, climbed the stairs and took a window seat, can we believe it? Who does that? 13F was the blessed seat on that plane. The report goes ahead to describe how she allowed passengers to have “informal chats and selfies” with her. Just when our poor souls were wondering what more can a voter ask for, we are told that she even had a power nap during the flight. If voters had even a shred of humanity left, they should be weeping tears of joy at that information.
As the flight lands and Priyanka disembarks, the reporter and the TV studio anchor continue the noble task of educating us of the importance of the journey. The reporter was seen sitting at a distance from Priyanka during the flight, who did not even glance at her once. She tells about Priyanka listening to the flight safety instructions carefully. She also lets on that the crew had to ask Priyanka repeatedly whether she had understood the instructions. The reporter and the anchor then discuss Priyanka’s vision and her agenda, her message for the youth, women, and farmers. Though our heathen mind asks us the question why did Priyanka not utter a sentence herself and why are the reporters who are doing all her campaigning, it is probably something the communal, intolerant devil in our mind is making us do.
Isn’t it the proof of India’s progress that in a matter of a few weeks, we have moved on from office door of Priyanka Gandhi to flight journey of Priyanka Gandhi? Journalism in India is setting global standards.
In the coming days, there will be more such reports. There are non-believers on social media who criticise the spread of good news like Priyanka taking a boat ride, Priyanka coming to drop her husband for an ED interrogation, Priyanka saying “Who?”, Priyanka getting a new office and Priyanka wearing a new saree. But the fearless, determined journalists dedicated to their faith will carry on their reportage on how she smiled, how she said thanks to an air hostess, how she enjoyed the breeze during the boat ride and probably how she waved like her grandmother.
You can praise me but make sure you keep your filthy body atleast 4 feet away from me. And also don’t expect even a glance while you are gushing over me.https://t.co/cdHOE8AOH1
We, the people, should consider ourselves fortunate that despite the sins of electing Modi in 2014, we have been blessed with leaders like Rahul and Priyanka. We might be ignorant enough to expect politicians to deliver on their promises, make roads, weed out corruption and provide India with the basic needs, but there are certain dedicated soldiers of journalism who have taken the gigantic responsibility of clearing our vision, to rid our mind of materialistic expectations and bask in the reflected glory of these beautiful siblings, who will be youth icons even in their fifties, who will be kickstarting more campaigns than Sriharikota launches satellites, and will continue to brighten our days with brilliantly chosen clothes and flashing smiles with mesmerising dimples.
Rajya Sabha MP from Samajwadi Party Tazeen Fatma has written a letter to the Election Commission demanding Z category security for her husband and SP leader Azam Khan. As per reports, Fatma has alleged that her husband faces threats from the district administration.
Fatma accused the whole administration of being hand-in-glove with BJP and demolishing the development work carried out by her husband when he was a cabinet minister in the SP government. She said that cases are being filed against the SP workers who are trying to stop the administration from demolishing the development work.
She further said that there was an atmosphere of fear and terror prevailing in Rampur ever since the model code of conduct came into effect. Fatma has also requested the transfer of five officials posted in the area. A similar letter was written to the Election Commission by former MP Chaudhary Munavvar Saleem who is known to be a close aide of Azam Khan. He had written that the current atmosphere is not conducive for a fair election. Accusing the government officials, Saleem has said that they are trying to create an atmosphere of hatred against one particular religion, a particular language and a particular party.
Saleem alleged that educational institutions being run by the Mohammad Ali Jinnah Trust are being raided by the SIT. He said that due to the bias of the administration, the SP-BSP alliance has decided to boycott the Lok Sabha elections in Rampur.
Till the very end, I did not believe it. I saw the tweet from the Goa Chief Minister’s office about the critical condition of the CM, but I kept assuming he would come out of it. Medical science is really amazing these days and I thought they would come up with something or another.
It was not to be.
Death comes to all. But very few are remembered. So I am not going to talk about his death. I am going to talk about his life.
In early 2016, the Defense Ministry was facing a problem with its budget numbers not seeming to add up.
Was that a scam? No! Ironically, the ‘problem’ was not overspending, but underspending!
It seemed like the Defense Ministry was not spending all the money allocated to it but continuing with all planned expenses nevertheless.
What was happening? Where was extra money coming from? Was it falling from the sky?
No!
That’s when Raksha Mantri Manohar Parrikar revealed that he had found $3 billion (or Rs 20,000 crore) of Govt of India money lying forgotten in a US account.
And he had used that old money to pay off some of our Defense expenses.
Folks, this is how UPA used to run our country. They ‘forgot’ $3 billion lying somewhere. After all, it wasn’t their money. Privileged Shehzadas brought up in royal families rarely have respect for other people’s money.
But a self-made IITian Chief Minister does.
This was Modi Government’s first ‘reverse scam’. The Govt finding money instead of losing it. What a change from the days of Rs 4000 paid by the govt for each roll of toilet paper during the Commonwealth Games!
And what did Manohar Parrikar do with the money he found? He started applying it towards India’s defence purchases. It helped that the money was already in USD instead of Rupees: that meant we could even save on the exchange rate and various forex related commissions.
He is no more. We miss him.
So many wonderful tributes have been paid to him.
I just thought I would remind people of the time he found our forgotten money and used it to pay for the defence of our country.
Priyanka Gandhi-Vadra has just suffered the humiliation of her life with Bhim Army, a pro-Dalit party, declaring that it would have nothing to do with Congress party in the forthcoming Lok Sabha elections.
Priyanka had last week made a beeline to Bhim Army chief Chandrashekhar Azad Ravan (why Lutyens Media doesn’t mention “Ravan” is anybody’s guess) in a hospital in Meerut where the latter had checked in after he was booked by the UP Police for violation of Model Code of Conduct.
Bhim Party’s national president, Vinay Ratan Singh has now spoken about that meeting which was nothing more than a photo-op.
“She wanted to meet Chandrashekhar ‘bhai’ but he said no. She then made a special request and they met for a few minutes. No political issue figured in their talks.”
Phew! Priyanka begging for a meeting with Azad for all this, without a word on politics: A snub by the Bhim Army in public and disdainful refusal of any alliance in 2019 General Polls.
The words of Singh would be akin to acid in Priyanka’s ears: “The Congress fought B.R. Ambedkar. The party ruled the country for so long but did nothing for us. Atrocities were inflicted on Dalits under its rule,” said Singh “There’s no single reason for us to support it.”
It’s a mystery why after the first refusal, Priyanka Gandhi-Vadra still begged for a meeting with Azad. She ought to have known the disinterest of Bhim Army in her and her party. Then why risk a humiliation?
Apparently, meeting Azad was an attempt to convey the signal to Bahujan Samaj Party (BSP) and its supremo Mayawati that Congress could cut into its Dalit base by siding with Bhim Army. As is known, BSP has dropped Congress like a hot potato in Uttar Pradesh and like a rejected lover, Congress sought its own revenge by putting Priyanka in the same frame as Chandrashekhar Azad Ravan.
As we know by now, Lutyens Media promptly flashed the photo on its front pages. A beaming Priyanka peering into the camera with Azad neither looking into the camera nor even removing the hood from his face. (Lutyens Media is a joke on Priyanka: It mentions a seven-minute speech by her as “aggressive” and has also begun to term her as “Ganga ki beti.”).
Priyanka Gandhi apparently is proving a disaster as Congress general secretary in-charge for east Uttar Pradesh. Why put her in election heat in the first place? As Akhilesh Mishra, CEO of Bluekraft Digital Foundation, writes in Indian Express today: “Priyanka Gandhi is an insurance policy that in case the rebellion against Rahul Gandhi becomes too hot to handle post-defeat (2019 Polls), then instead of the leadership going to a non-family person, she would be there to step in.”
Former IAS officer Shah Faesal, who had resigned recently to join politics, launched his political party the ‘Jammu and Kashmir Peoples’ Movement’ on Sunday. JNU Freelance protestor Shehla Rashid has also joined Faesal’s party, reports ANI.
Faesal, who had topped the civil service examination in 2010 batch, resigned as a “protest against unabated killings” in Kashmir and “marginalisation of Indian Muslims”. Faesal had said that he was inspired by Pakistan’s Prime Minister Imran Khan and Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal for their ‘political struggle’.
While addressing the gathering, Shah Faesal said, “I welcome the people of Jammu and Kashmir who have come here to attend this rally. At first, I thought I will join any prominent political party of Kashmir valley, but their reaction towards me was very negative. So, I decided to launch my own political party which will be a new platform for Kashmir valley’s youth.”
Faesal, who had referred India to ‘Rapistan’, further added that his party will work for the peaceful resolution of Kashmir as per the wishes of the people of Kashmir. “We will fight with forces intent to divide Jammu and Kashmir on the basis of religion. We will represent Kashmir’s youth. We will work for the health sector will finish corruption from the state,” Shah Faesal said.
Shah Faesal said that his intention to launch a party was to provide a platform for people from all religions and castes. Faesal also said that Kashmiri Pandits were also part of the Kashmiri culture and that they should return to the valley.
Freelance protestor Shehla Rashid, who is accused of syphoning off public donations collected for Kathua rape case, has joined the party along with Shah Faesal. Reportedly, during her short speech, ironically, she called her political stunt as a peace movement. “This is not a party, but a movement for peace and development and a movement for our dignity and unity,” she said.
Shehla also requested the women to come forward and join the newly formed political party. “We need basic living facilities and we need development. We will work for the peaceful resolution of Kashmir issue,” added Rashid.
Shehla Rashid, an ultra-left wing, career protestor, who often spews venom and hate through fake news on social media has been held accountable for her actions several times. Earlier, after the heinous Kathua rape case, Rashid had run a social media campaign with others and collected money in the name of rape victim of Kathua and as well as Unnao rape case.
However, reports had emerged accusing Rashid of not keeping her part of the promise as the money never reached her. Shehla Rashid later refuted media reports even as the reporter stood his ground that the Kathua family received no money.
Recently, Rashid was also booked by the Dehradun Police for spreading rumours and fear on Twitter, in the wake of the Pulwama terror attack. On February 16, Shehla had resorted to deliberate rumour mongering after she had claimed that 15-20 female students were stuck inside a hostel and were surrounded by a mob. She claimed that police was present at the spot but were not able to disperse the mob. However, dispelling these “rumours”, the Uttarakhand Police had clarified that the Kashmiris were not trapped in a hostel.
I want to narrate a small incident which I had heard from my cousins last September. ‘Bhaie’, as everyone in Goa referred to Manohar Parrikar had arrived at the airport and was on his way to Panaji. He had asked for some files. The trip takes around 40 minutes. He asked the driver to go slow at around 40 kms/ hour so that the journey could take 60 minutes giving him enough time to complete the files. As it happened, the files were completed within allotted 60 minutes.
Goa is abuzz with such mini- stories. It might not seem like a great deal but it tells us a lot about the man’s work ethics. Not even a minute was wasted. Call him a workaholic or a Karma-Yogi, the fact remains that he was obsessed, with his work and with Goa. Everyone remembers ‘Bhaie’ standing on the road himself to get projects completed in time. Roads were completed in record time, from years the time taken was reduced to months. Even some failures (Metro Skybus Project), tell the story of how passionate he was to try out something new.
How many of you have taken a selfie with this background in Goa?
Well, it wasn’t always like this. Not before Parrikar took over.
In a country like ours, where electoral considerations force political appointments, he became the Raksha Mantri – purely on merit. That he gave up the ministry willingly to return to ‘Amchya Goyan’ is an altogether different story. It will be a long time before Goa and this country sees someone like him again.
I have seen cancer patients up close. Cancer first robs the body of strength and then of its will. What motivated him to work till the last moment, even with such deteriorating health is something that I will never be able to understand. He was our pride, a household name in Goa. He put Goa on India’s political map. I remember my cousins mentioning that he intended to complete the Atal Sethu before 26th Jan, we were not sure whether he will make it given his health. But fortunately, he did.
The measure of a leader should be how the common man on the street reacts when he is no longer around. Today, all my Goan whatsapp groups which are usually full of activity are either silent or have exchanged a couple of sincere messages on ‘Bhaie’s demise. A relative who is an active INC member sent out a message telling how much he admired Parrikar.
For years to come, every CM in Goa will be measured against Parrikar. It will be difficult for a non-Goan to understand this, but today for me and for many Goans, this feels like a personal loss.
