PRIORITIES OF OUR FREELOADERS by Freddy Agnelo Fernandes, Dubai

The freeloaders are back in the news, probably trying to justify their claims for freebees from Digambar Kamat and company. I mean no disrespect to the authentic freedom fighters, as far as authentic freedom fighters are concerned; we are thankful and gracious to you all.

But the so called freedom fighters, I mean the pseudo freedom fighters led by freeloader Flaviano Dais, are certainly a different cup of woes, who want Portuguese names to be changed and are planning to travel through 200 villages. Flaviano claiming to be a freedom fighter like Karmali, should now be surely over 60 years of age, where was he and all his other stooges, all these while, since the so called liberation ? Which by facts and records was indeed nothing else but annexation. Where they busy wiping Bandodkar’s nose, adjusting Shasikala’s skirt or licking and polishing the boots of all the subsequent Chief Ministers of Goa ?

Since 1961 what have been the objectives and achievements of our so called freedom fighters ? Have they ever come forth with any constructive issues or solutions for issues plaguing Goa and Goans ? Or has it only been the Portuguese paranoia and their phobia for all Portuguese names and culture ? If it is the latter, than the freeloaders will be disappointed because every third person in Goa is a Catholic having a name that is the legacy of the Portuguese and freeloader Flaviano Dais himself has a Portuguese name ? How is that for Portuguese-phobia ?

Change of names means nothing, names are just an acknowledgment of the past which can never be wiped off, and they are a part of our history whether we like it or not. Just because majority of Indians are Hindus can the Muslim and the British history connected to India be ever forgotten. Can new names ever wipe away history ? All this is just a drama, just an effort and exercise to digest their ill-gotten freebies that often cause ethical indigestion and heartburns in them.

Calvinism, nationalism, patriotism and heritage are good but unfortunately they cannot change history. In Goa what we really need to do today is, to protect our ecology and our environment, fight against corruption, casts and religious segregations and gender biases, right to education for all, eradicate poverty, health policy that will benefit every Goan and water and electricity in every home, running 24 hours a day, these are the most essential requirements today. Change of Portuguese names will not alleviate our problems nor will it change our status.

As a result of annexation Goans were thrown from the frying pan into the fire, which is no consolation at all but only torture. It is only the legacy of corruption and communalism that we have inherited as a result of annexation by India, as a result of which all the respective governments have failed to come up with solutions to the basic needs of Goa and Goans. Each and every government in power has done absolutely nothing to alleviate the problems encountered by the common man, for our basic necessities. On the contrarily the Indian ruling coterie has successfully made India, including Goa a banana republic. At the moment for Goans there is absolutely nothing to be proud of, neither being a Goan nor being an Indian by virtue of forced annexation.

If we were ostracized by Salazar under the Portuguese, we are no better today, burdened, ravished and rapped under the pseudo democratic and pseudo secular policies and norms of India, as the supreme Constitution itself is beaten with a broomstick by the very people who run the central and local governments is a fury for self development. The earlier our freeloaders accept this fact and change their perception, the better it will be for all concerned.

In India there is a belief that every freedom fighter has the values and virtues of Bapuji in him but in Goa our so called freedom fighters have no resemblance in any way, neither to the life nor to the morals of Bapuji. Bapuji once said freedom of India is not complete, until and unless every house and home in India is free. Are we Goans free ? Don’t kid yourselves, we may have been freed from the dictatorial rule of Salazar but unfortunately we are made slaves by the pseudo democratic and pseudo secular entity called India, the forced annexation is ample evidence of it, as for the promises that were made then, have been conveniently and conspicuously forgotten and our so called freedom fighters have no qualms about it nor do they see anything wrong with what’s going on in Goa at present.

The true freedom in Goa means nothing to our so called freedom fighters, as long as they get their freebies from every government that comes into power. The ravaging scavengers at the helm of affairs in Goa have been fooling gullible and selling Goa to the highest bidder, with rampant corruption and creating vote bank leading to influx of migrants, diluting our very Goan Identity, prices of essentials have sky rocketed, garbage is still a monumental issue, our environment and ecology are in tatters, pollution an all time high, just to name a few and all that Flaviano Dais and his coterie are worried about are the Portuguese names, this is indeed shocking, I am flabbergasted at the priorities of our so called freedom fighters, but on the other hand, what else can we expect from freeloaders ?