[Goanet-News] On the prowl... by Tomcat (Herald, June 15, 2008)

[Goanet News]

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ON THE PROWL : BY TOMCAT
Herald 15 June 2008
[The column written by Ashwin Tombat]
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It's a Sunday, and Tomcat is back, completely out of whack,
from yet another week of nights out on the prowl. It was a
week in which Goa Chief Minister Digambar Kamat pulled yet
another rabbit out of his hat.

Digu-bab, in one stroke, wiped out the spectre of SEZs, by
the simple executive action of cancelling their land
allotments.

It was also a week in which, for the very first time in his
long and illustrious maritime career, Anil Salgaocar, Goa's
wrecker-in-chief of ships, actually salvaged and towed away
one of his floating disasters that was threatened to become a
permanent attraction on Caranzalem beach.

All Tomcat can say is 'third time lucky' for Goa. The earlier
two ships just continued to lay where they were grounded. Why
did the Goa's admiral of the grounded fleet get it right this
time? Read on....

It was a week in which we all saw a completely new side to
Mickky Pacheco. Now, Tomcat's going to have to re-christen
him Mighty Mouse. For, the way he 'ministered' to his Captain
of Ports, the man snapped into action and remained virtually
in perpetual motion till the 'Andheri Nagri' was gone from
the Caranzalem shore and the beach was no more an 'area of
darkness'. If that's what Mickky's going to do each time,
then this Cat is all for the mouse. He can play, even when
I'm not away.

The week also saw a cold war between Mickky Pacheco and
Vishwajit Rane break out. You may recall a certain 'move' that
was 'touted' to overthrow the government. Only, it was
'outed' when Vishwajit Rane informed Herald from France, where
he was holidaying, that he had no part in it.

Then, on his return, he firmly 'grouted' the ministry's
stability by saying that his 'group of seven' was firmly
behind Digubab's government, and was committed to it for the
next five years. That, it seems, is what 'routed' any
rebellion. And that is when Mickky 'bad-mouthed' his
erstwhile buddy, saying he had 'no right to speak on behalf
of a party that had its own command structure both at state
and central level'.

Wow! That last statement 'hit-out-ed' Vishwajit so hard, that
he had notin' to say. Only, what seems to be totally 'out' in
this exchange, is their comradeship. As they say, all good
(and bad) things must come to an end....

Last, but by no means least, it was a week in which the
editor of Herald got a legal notice from, guess who, none
other than the alter-ego major domo, spokesperson-at-large
and minister-in-absentia of the mighty Mickky Pacheco that
Tomcat's been writing about these last two weeks.

But, it seems, Lyndon Monteiro has no objection to being
called any of those names. Rather, he is incensed that Tomcat
obliquely suggested he was in some way connected to a certain
rumour about an apocryphal rebellion against the Digambar
Kamat government.

Says Lyndon or, rather, his lawyer, that Tomcat's little tale
has 'tarnished' his image and caused 'great damage' and
'irreparable loss' to his 'reputation'. (What was that last
bit all about?) He also says Tomcat's two bits has 'affected'
his 'political image' to a 'great extent'.

Wow! Tomcat didn't know a few words could accomplish all
that. And in just a week? Maybe Lyndon actually doesn't
deserve all those fine titles. If he can turn from hero to
zero because of a rumour about a rumour, then his rivals --
who he alleges are responsible for Tomcat's writing -- won't
even have to huff and puff to blow him down.

Now now Lyndon, my lad. Take heart. All is not lost. Take a
long look at what you're up against, it's only a Cat. And if
a little kitty can do all that to you, how are you going to
make your way up the shaky ladders of the big, bad world of
politics...?

DIGU'S DHAMAKA

You've got to hand it to Chief Minister Digambar Kamat. Just
when it seems that everything is going wrong for him, he
comes up with a masterstroke that completely turns the
tables.

Whether it is political revolts or social unrest, he has the
knack to come out on top even when it seems the sky is
falling on his head. And this week, Digu-bab did it again!

One innocuous Friday afternoon, just as all good government
servants were packing up their bags for the weekend ahead, he
dropped a bombshell by getting the Goa Industrial Development
Corporation (GIDC) to cancel all the land allotments it had
made to SEZs in the state. Just like that....

Tomcat doesn't know if anybody noticed, but what Digu
actually did was to completely bypass his own cabinet, by
making it an executive order of an 'autonomous' government
corporation, rather than a government decision. Now that's
tactics and strategy for you.

The ministers who supported the SEZs are all at sea; they
might as well be on Anil Salgaocar's 'Andheri Nagari' -- now
on its way to distant Jaigad -- for all they can do about
this decision. And, which one of them is going to dare to
challenge it in the next cabinet meeting and risk the wrath
of the people?

SEASIDE SAGA

The one question everyone is asking, is what made Sanvordem
independent MLA and mining magnate Anil Salgaocar, the
undisputed Shahenshah of Shipwrecks, drag away his 'Andheri
Nagri' and let the sun shine once more on the Caranzalem
shore? There's lots of theories, but none of them is correct.

The one -- and only -- language that Anil-bab seems to
understand is dollars and cents, rupees and paise. If he left
his earlier two ships to rot, it was probably because they
were floating shipwrecks long before they actually hit the
sands.

And the reason this one wasn't, is because it's a new ship,
in fairly good condition, and it had value. And, if he hadn't
acted pronto, the state government would have moved to seize
it. With the ore business being as good as it is, that would
have meant lots of dollars and rupees lost in the muddy
waters of the Miramar bay.

Good politics, they say, starts with good economics. Now you
know why the man is a two-term MLA. He knows exactly which
side his bread is buttered, and which ship deserves to be
scuttled.

THE BANE OF BHAILE

Salcete strong-man Churchill Alemao saw his life's ambition
come true last month, when he cut his birthday cake in
Winston Churchill's room in the House of Commons, in London.

A raven from the Tower of London tells Tomcat that a group of
Goans in London had organised a Tiatr in Swindon in honour of
Churchill's visit.

It got off to a great start, but sometime during the tiatr, a
commotion broke out, as some people got into a fight over a
seat which, apparently, was wrongly allocated to someone
else. Does controversy follow Churchill wherever he goes? Not
this time. He had nothing to do with this.

It turns out that Goans in Swindon are more or less equally
divided into two groups -- people from Siridao and people
from Goa Velha. And, the two being neighbouring villages,
they don't get along.

The bickering, Tomcat hears, can often get pretty intense.
But, this raven told me, it's not only Goans in Goa who are
facing a problem because of migrants. It's Goans in Swindon
too. Since they're not too educated and their knowledge of
English is mostly functional, most Goans in Swindon work in
factories packing sandwiches, or in cold storages. The local
economy centres round the packaging industry.

At one time, it seems, Swindon was known as a mini-Goa. But
now, with the arrival of thousands of Polish immigrants in
the UK, it seems Swindon's Goans are losing jobs to them.

Poles, it seems, work harder and are very supportive of each
other, unlike Goans, as the above incident demonstrates. Now
does that sound familiar or does that sound familiar?

GPA & GBA

On Monday, there's a meeting at Panjim's Mandovi Hotel. It's
called the Goa People's Assembly. And it's going to discuss
-- what else -- mega projects, the very flavour of the season.

Well, the first thing that seems a little out of place is the
venue. Since when did the city's finest hotel become the
place to knit together a people's assembly?

It turns out that while the meeting has been convened by the
Peaceful Society, the venue (and, presumably, the
refreshments) is being paid for by one Rajan Parrikar, who
styles himself as a lone-ranger crusader for a green Goa,
allied to no group, but wedded to the cause.

I'm sure you must have noticed the similarity in last names
with a certain Leader of the Opposition. But, let Tomcat
hasten to assure you, they're not brothers, or even cousins.
They just happen to share a last name. But matters don't end
there....

Though he does say he's an individual, Mr Parrikar, (R, not
M) has the unqualified support of a group of non-resident
Goans who think the solution to Goa's problems is to once
more make Parrikar (M, not R) the chief minister.

The second, and more ominous, similarity is the acronym of
this august assembly. GPA sounds uncannily like GBA, or the
Goa Bachao Abhiyan, the group that saved Goa from being
concretised by the Regional Plan 2011. Why make the one sound
like the other...? Just what is going on?

Could it just be that this has a little something to do with
the BJP, the party lead by Parrikar (M, not R) making a
recent announcement that it was going to set up 500 NGOs in
Goa?

A final flick of the tail: Now that Digambar Kamat has been
chief minister for a year, he's set a new record. He is
officially South Goa's longest-serving chief minister ever.

Churchill Alemao lasted 17 days. Dr Luis Proto Barbosa just
over eight months. Luizinho Faleiro couldn't make it to a
half-year and Francisco Sardinha made 11 months.

Before we extend the customary congratulations, a word of
caution to Manohar Parrikar. He'd better topple this
government soon, otherwise he might just find himself in a
position to challenge Dr Jack Sequeira's record for time
spent as the Leader of the Opposition!

Until next week, meeeoow!