*ERASING CULTURES*

Goa, in case you hadn't noticed, is on an Erasure Mission.

Sawant and his merry tribe are the new 

"Missionaries" of quite a different breed: ERASURE! 

Sawant seeks to Erase Portuguese Culture. 

Vishwajeet seeks to Erase the Regional Plan and, despite promises, Erase the environment. 

Joseph Sequeira went on a suicidal mission to Erase Shivaji Maharaj.

The venerable Congress leadership in the state is hell bent on Erasing itself (talk about self- loathing). 

My grande amigo, Aires Rodrigues, has Erased his biting daily broadsides against the Government. 

Digambar and Aleixo, desperate for ministerial berths, are in serious jeopardy of Erasing their bank accounts.

Babush is Erasing Taleigao and Santa Cruz, one field at a time.

Together as a Government, the BJP is Erasing Maa Mhadei, our forests and our hills, our Goenkarponn and our sanity.

And Oh Yes! 

Rohan and Michael have sworn an allegiance to Erase Drugs, Damsels of ill- repute, and Daylight Dacoity! 

(Ok, ok, I was just kidding about this last bit: I know it’s a joke worse than Adipurush). 

On a more serious note, what was certainly the story of the week was the kerfuffle over the Shivaji statue, installed in Calangute (albeit with no permissions) and the storm that broke out thereafter.

So let’s get some indisputable facts on the table which we, as Goans, need to stare at straight in the face. 

I reiterate again and again. 

Shivaji Maharaj was, is and always will be an icon for every right-thinking Democrat and Indian. 

Just as we are all rooting for Zelensky and his brave, brave people to beat back the invader tyrant Putin, we must comprehend this Invader/Invaded equation in perspective. 

The free people of any nation will celebrate for posterity such heroes and heroines, who despite all their faults, stood up and resisted the invaders.

This is an unfiltered, unfettered, indisputable FACT.

Even the great Americans (who pretend to be our friends) celebrate Washington and Lincoln and Jefferson. 

Do we even know the names of their British masters whom they tossed into Boston harbour, along with their Tea bags??

Hence, in the context of Goa, Portuguese Culture will always live on.

The music

The food

The way of life 

That is deeply engrained! 

Sawant can only change Congress turncoats into BJP acolytes.

He cannot change stuff that is part and parcel of daily life.

He may live in LA LA Land — that is his prerogative. 

But, and this is important, 

Portuguese RULE (not to be confused with Culture) was balls-on barbaric, colonialist, racist and very, very violent.

Those who sucked up to them, both Hindu and Christian elites, were comfortable selling their souls, sleeping with the enemy and getting fattened on the gravy train (my ancestors too, I presume).

But many rebelled (some of my ancestors did too, I am sure) and perished for their struggle for freedom.

Sometimes, even more than Shivaji, it is the extraordinarily brave Sambhaji, who died very young and never ever lost a battle, who must be lionised in Goa.

As must the countless freedom fighters and intrepid Cuncolim warriors and so many others whose stories we do not know.

So please tell us the history of India under the Mughals and the Portuguese, the British and the French.

We must be aware of History. 

Of course.

But never ever glorify invaders.

No country does that.  

You must glorify those who resisted the invaders through the centuries, and who eventually gave us our freedom and our now tottering democracy.

Modi instinctively understands this sentiment.

The Opposition instinctively does not.

But whichever way you look at it, despite Sawant and his government’s paeans to Shivaji and all our great Goans, this government on the ground is of the highest level of fraud and chicanery.

Corrupt, venal, self-serving — seeking to annihilate Goa and all that it means to the world. 

From the 1990s onwards, we have hurtled downslope and now we are at the very abyss, all set to plunge into the next mining pit that is being dug up.

In a perverse twist of logic, it is safe to say that even the Portuguese barbarians would have loved Goa more than this current lot! 

 

*POSTSCRIPT*

I wonder if, despite my revulsion for this Government, l need to salute them sometimes. 

Look at the evidence. 

We are almost at the end of June and it 

seems like they have succeeded in *ERASING* the monsoons.

Time for a Marie Antoinette twirl: 

If they have no water, let them drink feni instead! 

 

*DR. OSCAR REBELO GOA*