IFFI: In conflict with ‘conflict of interest’

Yet another edition of the International Film Festival of India (IFFI), the fortieth overall and the sixth in Goa is on, this time with the red-carpet in full flow, yet the head-honchos and honchos at the Entertainment Society of Goa (ESG) just don’t seem to learn.

Everyone and sundry in the ESG are in complete conflict with ‘conflict of interest’. The head-honcho of the controversial hotel that’s won the hospitality contract is also a head-honcho at the ESG! Ditto with the eternal King Momo of Goan Carnival -- Francisco Martins -- who, in the last few years lost his monopoly over the state’s R-day tableau, but seems to be slowly and surely, building a monopoly over IFFI.

Less spoken the better of the smaller honchos at ESG like the self-proclaimed father of Goan Cinema, Rajendra Talak, and his associates, who as members of the Red Carpet Committee believe they own the Red Carpet. While anybody who is somebody is getting to walk the red carpet, these bunch of self-seekers managed to ensure that Goa’s ‘Man Beyond the Bridge’ stayed just there... beyond the bridge.

Laxmikant Shetgaonkar earned us laurels not just beyond the bridge but beyond a hundred bridges, rivers and seas... in far away Canada. Yet this home-bred lad, these honchos thought should be dealt a raw deal. But, all this back-biting has a reason. Not very long ago, at the Maquinez Palace itself, the maker of ‘Poltodcho Munis’ had the courage to stand up and tell Chief Minister, Digambar Kamat, that the ESG, packed as it is with self-seeking businessmen out to corner the loaves and fishes, the film culture won’t progress very far. Bravo indeed, but the businessmen in ESG don’t think so. Why should these businessmen show any courtesy to the award-winning film-maker? Why all this brouhaha in the media over Shetgaonkar’s Red Carpet fiasco?

Diggu rocks... now with fans!

Goa’s CM rocks again. Digambar Kamat seems to have taken IFFI this year both in letter and spirit. At the Ravindra Bhavan bliztkrieg on Day Two of the festival, he sang a line on stage and even did the jig. And Asha too joined him and broke into dance. Days after this, there was this huge political show, to celebrate his 10 years as minister in Margao, unfortunately on a day when the rest of the nation was sombrely remembering 26/11, its heroes, victims and all. But all said and done, the state’s first couple did rock at Ravindra Bhavan, and now Diggu also has an official ‘Fan Club’, whatever that means. On the political stage, however, Diggu seems to be ploughing a lone furrow at the IFFI. Except for Water Resources Minister, Filipe Neri Rodrigues, who also happens to be the vice-chairman of ESG, and Quepem MLA, Babu Kavlekar, whom he’s put in charge of the Red Carpet, not many politicos from the ruling side have kept him company at the film fest. Even Speaker Pratapsing Rane, who heads the Kala Academy where most of the action takes place and who’s towering presence was always felt at past IFFIs, has been pretty conspicuous by his absence!

Shacked

This can happen only in Goa!

Certain events, savoury and unsavoury, that have unfolded in the bitter factional feud among ‘shack owners’ (sic) has proved the impossible true. For instance, that the distance from Delhi is shorter than from Altinho for the tourism department at Patto. Now, that two factions of self-proclaimed ‘shack owners’ are engaged in a bitter battle over the government’s shack policy, is common knowledge. What’s not, however, are the many little sub-plots within the larger battle. For instance, one that reduced the distance between Delhi and Patto-Panjim to less than that between Altinho and Patto-Panjim.

It so happened that one of the factions, The Goa Traditional Shack Owners Association (TGTSOA), which is reportedly backed by PWD Minister, Churchill Alemao, approached the Bombay High Court at Goa. It accused the Tourism Department of hanky-panky in allotment of shacks this year. The court after hearing all the parties, including the state’s Advocate General on behalf of the tourism department, struck down the process and directed that shacks be allotted purely by lots, with 90 per-cent of the quota reserved for ‘experienced’ shack owners and the balance 10 per-cents for new-comers in the business.

But the tourism department did not implement this order of the Bombay High Court for almost five days, ostensibly because its director, Swapnil Naik, did not get a copy of the order. But in these five days that the Tourism director did not get the copy of the order, the other faction Shack Owners Welfare Society (SOWS), which is reportedly backed by Churchill’s new-found buddy, Tourism Minister, Francisco (Mickky) Pacheco, was busy in Delhi searching for the ‘best lawyer’ to secure a stay on this order from the Supreme Court of India. Finally, the Supreme Court granted SOWS the stay. But astonishingly, the order of the Supreme Court granting the stay on the order of the Bombay High Court at Goa, reached the desk of the Tourism Director in flat six hours!

So now, shack business has to stay up until December 4, when the Supreme Court will hear the petition filed by SOWS next.

Quite a slip between the cup and the lip!

FOOTNOTE: Inspite of the shack owning on the many Goan beaches for decades, I have been unable to come to terms with the term ‘shack owners’. If the so called ‘shack owners’ are indeed owners, what is it that these shack owners own, now that the tourism department is caught between the courts and hasn’t allotted any shacks on the beach? Thin air?

Dwarfed by the giants?

On Friday the 13th, Chief Minister, Digambar Kamat, held a press conference at his official Altinho residence to announce ex-gratia for the missing fishermen. At this press conference, Diggubab was flanked by the 'giant' trawler owners and ex-trawler owners from his cabinet -- Churchill Alemao, his brother Joaquim Alemao and Jose Philip D'Souza. Also present, with the tattoos on his forearms prominently visible, was St Andre MLA, Francis Silveira, who jointly with his family members, reportedly owns some half-a-dozen trawlers.

More than announcing the ex-gratia for the missing fishermen was this press conference meant to assure the trawler-owner politicos that the government would consider converting the Phyan losses into gains? Diggu said at this press conference that he has asked both the district collectors to assess the losses of all the trawler owners and submit the report to him so that he can forward it to the Union Agriculture Minister, Sharad Pawar, for seeking assistance. This said, the journos at the press conference were treated to some cacophonic laments from the trawler-owner politicos of how Phyan had destroyed the nets on their trawlers. By the way, the cost of nets on each trawler, could add up to Rs one-crore depending on the size of the trawlers!

Phyan: Mammoth disaster for Goa

When at Christmas in 2004 the tsunami drowned a multitude, the role of the Met department came into sharp focus. Governments and everybody and sundry devoted their time and energies to discuss how more should be invested into advance warning mechanisms to alert humanity of such tragedies in the nick of time. Half a decade later, there seems to be no progress. The Met office warned us of cyclone Phyan much after we began to feel its effect, and the result? Well, disaster!

Goa hasn't seen a worse tragedy strike it in decades. Sixty-odd fishermen are still missing and are presumably dead. Yet, there's no feel that disaster has struck us. On day one, 'No major damage, few vessels missing' said the headline of one major daily in rather bad taste. In hindsight, it perhaps echoed the general response of Goans to this tragedy -- Oh, nothing much, just a few vessels missing and some non-Goan workers on them lost.

Non-Goan. That's the key-word. Is it because those 60-odd missing men are 'ghantis' as we Goans generally call these 'non-Goans', that this tragedy hasn't stirred our hearts enough?

The shabby treatment given at the Goa Medical College to some Tamil fishermen who survived the cyclone and landed at the Malim jetty wounded, is another shocking example of this inhuman trait in us Goans, especially in our dealings with these 'ghantis'. The three wounded men were ignored for six whole hours, simply because they were 'non-Goans' and admitted only at 2 am when they had knocked the hospital's doors at 7.30 pm. Florence Nightingale must be frowning in her tomb.

Churchill, Mickky still on warpath?

The much talked of backroom truce between Tourism Minister, Francisco Mickky Pacheco, and his colleagues in the cabinet, the Alemao brothers, has seemingly not percolated down to the battleground. At the most it seems to have thawed the ties between Mickky and the junior Alemao -- Joaquim.

As for Churchill, he seems to have not forgotten the humiliation he suffered at Mickky's hands of being defeated in the assembly election from Benaulim in 2002. The hostilities between the supporters of the Senior Alemao and those of Mickky on ground zero meanwhile keep raging. In fact, recently the two sides even knocked the doors of the High Court on the contentious Shack Allocation Policy, devised by the department headed by Mickky to please his supporters who run the Shack Owners Welfare Society (SOWS). Churchill supporters who run The Goa Traditional Shack Owners Association (TGTSOA) weren’t pleased. SOWS chief, Cruz Cardozo, is from Cavelossim and a known Mickky supporter. As for TGTSOA, Kennedy Afonso, is its pointsman and there's no doubt he's a Churchill man. He in fact is the man who filed the plea in Delhi High Court challenging the Election Commission's grant of legitimacy to the Save Goa Front faction led by Antonio Gauncar on which hinges Mickky’s petition before Speaker Pratapsing Rane, seeking Churchill's and Reginald's disqualification. Meanwhile, round I of the shack war has gone to Churchill faction with the High Court scrapping Tourism Department's policy tailor-made to suit Mickky's supporters. But the war hasn't ended. News is that Cruz Cardozo is in Delhi, scouting for a good Supreme Court lawyer!

Digambar for status-quo?

Apparently, Chief Minister, Digambar Kamat, is a compulsive status-quoist in his efforts to retain the top political post in the state. That's why the much-threatened change in his cabinet hasn't happened yet. Maharashtra polls was the pretext taken to postpone the decision of dropping a minister or two and replacing them with those for long longing to be ministers. The polls are over, and a government has taken seat in Mumbai after much wrangling for the loaves and fishes of power between the Congress and NCP there. Yet, there's no sign of any cabinet reshuffle in our Goa.

Kamat, according to Congress insiders, is a strong votary of Newton's third law of motion, not in physics but politics. Therefore, he isn't too keen to act, lest he'll have to save his CM's chair through the turbulence of the reaction. So lacking in inertia is this CM that his politics is seemingly defeating the very principal that has ruled Goa's political scenario since 1990, of politics being dynamic, not static.

But, the calm on the surface is deceptive. If sources are to be believed, dissidence is taking root and a whole load of them, including Dayanand Narvekar, Pandurang Madkaikar, the Alemaos and their new found friend, Mickky, are prodding Speaker, Pratapsing Raoji Rane, to make the move and challenge Digambar's leadership. The senior Rane seems willing, especially after junior Rane has reportedly agreed to stay out of the cabinet if Papa gets to be the CM again. It is in light of these backroom developments that Rane senior made the strong statement against Sanatan Saunstha, saying the right-wing organisation should be banned. A stand, diametrically opposite to the Digambar's on the issue.

Rane watchers say, its typical of him to play such softball politics. It's his way of testing the waters. Interestingly, Digambar too is a player of similar political technique -- defensive -- unlike serve-and-volley politicians like the Parrikars, Luizinho's, Churchill Alemao's and Dr Willy's. This Digambar-Rane rally, therefore promises to be a long one, with both sticking to the baseline.

Goa Police: Led from the middle?

Not many police chiefs have been the 'real bosses' of the force they head in Goa. In fact, it's always been the No 2 that called the shots. Except perhaps for Dhuriya of the 1990s and more recently Amod Kant, the Director General of Police (DGPs) in Goa were all left playing second fiddle to the DIGs of Qamar Ahmad's and Karnail Singh's ilk. The scene seems no different today. In fact, it has 'progressed' to the Number 3 running the show. DGP Bassi and his second-in-command, Inspector General of Police, KD Singh, are tweedling their thumbs and it's Deputy Inspector General (DIG) of Police, Yadav, who's the operational boss of the men in uniform in our state.

Journos got to see this state of things in the police force one Saturday afternoon. It was Saturday, October 31, when a group of journos dashed off to DGP Bassi's Altinho residence after success eluded all their efforts to get confirmation and information on the arrests of Vinay Talekar and Vinayak Patil by the SIT investigating the Margao blast case. For 20 whole minutes, the DGP made no appearance, and when finally he did, Bassi didn't have much to offer. He plainly admitted he didn't know the 'exact details' like the name of those arrested, etc., etc. But, he said he would ask DIG Yadav to hold a briefing and requested the journos to meet the latter in his cabin at the Police Headquarters. That done, some of the correspondents of outstation news organisations who have early deadlines, then requested the DGP to ensure that Goa Police's official spokesperson, SP (CID/SB) Atmaram Deshpande, pre-pones his daily briefing from 6 pm to 5 pm. Bassi agreed to tell Deshpande. Satisfied, the group of journos decided to leave Bassi's residence but he insisted they do that only after sipping a cup of tea. He summoned his cook and asked him to serve the guests tea. Unfortunately, the tea never came, and another twenty minutes later, Bassi discovered to his horror that his cook hadn't obeyed his order and instead got busy doing something else.

Profusely apologising for keeping them waiting, he then resigned to the journos leaving without the promised cup of tea.

Dashing down to the police headquarters from Altinho, the journos were in for a ruder shock. DIG Yadav, who Bassi had promised would brief them, the journos found was stubbornly non-cooperative. He refused to take any questions and spoke only in mono-syllabals, reading out bare minimum details of Talekar and Patil's arrest. And, to top it all, Deshpande had his briefing that evening well beyond 5.30 pm!

Margao blast: A wake-up call!

A little less than a year ago, our hopelessly unprepared Goa police were running helter-skelter to secure the state's 105-km long coastline. Because, having seen what ten men did to Mumbai in what is now referred to as the '26/11 terror attacks', it wouldn't take a Brajesh Mishra or his successor, M K Narayanan to tell that Goa is a 'sitting duck'.

Historically, Goa's coastline has been extremely porous, exposed by the innumerable 'landings' one heard of in the pre-liberalisation era. So, it was natural that the top brass at the police headquarters go about thumping their chests over coastal security. It's another matter that they are still clueless over the task, but even as they go about burning the midnight oil to secure our coastline, it's ironic that they get smitten by this shocking attack that had its origins in hinterland Ponda.

Surely, the Margao blast is a wake-up call not just for the police but also for the Digambars, the Ravis, the Dhavlikars, the Ranes, the Monserrates, etcetera, etcetera...and of course, the Parrikars too!

We were lucky that the two members of the Hindu right-wing outfit Sanatan Saunstha, who later died -- Malgounda Patil and Yogesh Naik -- were the only ones injured, and from the evidence available, were themselves carriers of the Improvised Explosive Device (IEDs) that exploded.

Had their plans materialised, Margao would have had a bloodbath, and God knows, a possible repeat of Curchorem, with Moti Dongor and Kharebandh facing all of the backlash.

No amount of walks and public meetings can ensure peace. Merely setting up groups and tagging the word 'secularism' to its nomenclature, can help when known right-wingers don't condemn the blast. It would have made better sense if Uday Bhembre, Sridhar Kamat, Dr Francisco Colaco, Dr Oscar Rebello and co had done what it takes, to bring on stage Shramad Raiturkar and co, to condemn the blast if secularism was their goal.

Is it just a coincidence, that Shramad who is Manohar Parrikar's blue-eyed boy and claimant No 1 to BJP's Margao ticket has lost his voice? It's more than a week now that Margao witnessed a blast that killed two people, yet there's not a word from the otherwise verbose Shramad. Surely, his silence and that of my friend Rupesh Mahatme and others from the BJP brigade in Margao is deafening, and perhaps, revealing.

As for Parrikar, it would do Goa and his own tottering party a world of good if he only left his potshots at Ravi Naik for some other day, and let the cops do their job in the blast case, lest it end up like the Socorro mosque burning case... dead but not buried.

No policing this!

Doesn't seem like our cops are up to it. Although their immediate response to the Margao blast was speedy and more than satisfactory, the way their men have been going about staging nakabandhis is ridiculous to state the least.

A senior colleague who travels home to Vasco on a two-wheeler from our St Inez office always past mid-night had this very queer story to tell. On the day of the blast, the policemen at the Cortalim Nakabandhi post were extremely strict, stopping every vehicle that went by. But from day two, they seemed more interested in latching on to guys on two-wheelers without helmets, rather than checking antecedents of those moving in those unearthly hours.

They just let a whole load of vehicles pass by because of this uncanny trait of theirs to eke out a few bucks from helmet-less bikers, narrated this senior colleague of ours.

And, another colleague from Margao says, the festivities at Harimandir, the heartland of Digambar country, went on well beyond midnight despite the blast, when cops went about shutting down Narkasur events all over the state!

‘Ban? How can we ban?’

These were the exact words that the world's largest newspaper quoted Chief Minister Digambar Kamat: "Ban? How can we ban them? They will go to court," in the context of the demand for a ban on the Sanatan Saunstha's activities.

So has Goa Foundation, but that did not deter him or his government from promulgating an ordinance and later a law, to save a hotel in blatant defiance of the land's highest court -- the Supreme Court of India.

Pramod Muthalik of Ram Sene too has gone to court challenging the government's ban on his entering Goa. But then, that's the process of law that needs to be followed and not put the cart before the horse to pre-empt a ban, if it's prudent to defeat the bigots and terror mongers.

Mickky on the backfoot?

The Maharashtra elections are over, and as expected, the Nationalist Congress Party (NCP) has lost its top position to ally Congress. Sources say, encouraged by what's happening in Maharashtra, Congressmen here in Goa are bracing themselves up for another round of NCP-baiting. Another round of 'observers' coming from Delhi cannot be ruled out, say some senior Congressmen.

So, where does it leave Toursim Minister, Mickky Pacheco, who belongs to the NCP and has been under fire over his escapades in a casino? Clearly on the backfoot, with or without the Alemaos.