AERIAL VIEW
You need to understand that you are here in this temple because the majority voted for you. You need to now win the hearts of the remaining voters by working for them as a genuine people’s representative without playing vindictive politics.
Remember, you have become a privileged one to enter this temple and have taken the oath of serving the people without differentiating amongst the supporters and your opponents.
Remember you have sworn in the name of God that you will solemnly affirm to bear true faith and allegiance to the Constitution of India as by law established, that you will uphold the sovereignty and integrity of India and that you will faithfully discharge the duty upon which you are about to enter.
SURAJ NANDREKAR
Editor, Goemkarponn
Dear MLAs,
With the swearing-in on March 15, all of you are now officially the MLAs of the Eighth Goa Legislative Assembly.
It is a matter of great pride of each of you and your family members and friends as out of 15 lakh Goans and 11.5 lakh voters, only 40 of you have the opportunity to enter the Legislative Assembly – which is known as the temple of democracy.
No matter what you did, how you fought, your strategies, who voted for you and who did not, you need to forget all this and work just in one direction – to take Goa forward.
You need to understand that you are here in this temple because the majority voted for you. You need to now win the hearts of the remaining voters by working for them as a genuine people’s representative without playing vindictive politics.
Remember, you have become a privileged one to enter this temple and have taken the oath of serving the people without differentiating amongst the supporters and your opponents.
Remember you have sworn in the name of God that you will solemnly affirm to bear true faith and allegiance to the Constitution of India as by law established, that you will uphold the sovereignty and integrity of India and that you will faithfully discharge the duty upon which you are about to enter.
Goa today is going through a critical phase with a financial crunch. We have amassed a liability of INR 26000 crore, people have lost jobs due to COVI19-infused lockdowns, people have lost jobs due to mining closure, people have lost jobs due to decrease in tourism, people have lost the earning members of the family during COVID, students have lost their precious days of schooling. So also, Goa is today in a phase of destruction. Our Mother Nature is being destroyed in the name of development, our neighbor Karnataka is diverting our water from mother Mhadei, and on top of all this, the tiny State of the country, which is known as a tourism paradise, is on the verge of becoming the coal capital.
Goa today is battling to save its identity, to save its nature and environment, and the elected representatives must take the voices of the people to the highest forum of democracy. Irrespective of the party affiliations, it is the job of the elected MLAs to work for the people irrespective of their caste and creed, voters, or opponents.
Goa is a small state. All the citizens want to save its identity, to save Goa for posterity. Agreed, as the world moves ahead, we cannot shun development, but it is your responsibility now to decide what kind of development Goa wants? How can we carry out development and protect our environment simultaneously?
For the last four years, the people in the mining areas have been jobless as the operations have been shut due to the Supreme Court order; it should be the priority of each one of you to restart mining. Each one has to work hard to prevent the diversion of Mhadei water by Karnataka.
We saw in the last lockdowns our children, who are our future, suffered due to network connectivity issues during online classes. Our children had to walk kilometers away to get good network connectivity to attend classes.
Last but not least, the central issue today is law and order; Goa is on the verge of becoming the Drugs capital of India, and the law and order situation is out of control. Murders and rapes, which were rare in Goa, have become common. In the Siddhi Naik case, a 19-year-old girl whose body was found in suspicious condition last July, her parents have been fighting for justice almost for eight months now.
Yes, we understand that a few of the MLAs are new and would take some time before understanding the rules and laws, but you are there because people chose you as the best to represent them; you are their hope. Hence, you have to become the people’s voice and speak for them and make decisions about what is suitable for the people of Goa and not what is beneficial to the party and politicians.
MLAs must understand after self-introspection and deliberations, a person chooses a candidate to vote. And the first thing they expect from the elected representative is to deliver on the promises or at least work diligently to fulfill them. If the candidate does not foster an environment of progress, he would not be able to come up to expectations of people.
Hence, the elected representatives must work to create employment, provide basic amenities and be accessible to people of his constituency.
You must fulfill promises you made to people before the elections.
The state should be made free of drugs and crime. Women should get their rights as far as their security and safety are concerned.
JAI HIND, JAI GOA…
