TOE MY LINE OR I'LL CRUSH YOUR FEET

Here's a story from a Goan journo called Armstrong Vaz...
Its about a journo who Vaz claims is being muscled by the government to give up his cultivated land in Margao city... Vaz also claims that chief minister Digu has a grudge against this farmer journo Vithal Sukhadkar. Digu had earlier complained to the management of the newspaper that employs Vithal against him for some of the reports filed in the last elections.


TOE MY LINE OR I'LL CRUSH YOUR FEET

BY ARMSTRONG VAZ
Margao September 24, 2007:

On one hand our politicians talk about lack of interest in farming and the paddy fields lying barren in Goa. They talk about plans of reviving agriculture and making farming more economical, but without any concrete results. But the next moment they are off the public platform, the same politicians will stoop to such low levels as to harass true blooded Goenkar farmers who are cultivating his paddy field to part away with his land.
Strange it may seem. But this is true story, and it is happening not in the distant past but has been unfolding in last few weeks. And yes we have not travelled far from our land to find them, politicians who indulge in double talk. They are a stone's throw away.
Politicians invariably have two faces – one for public viewing and the other the private. The public face involves giving fiery speeches pledging to protect the environment and sundry stuff while privately the same politician who had pledged support to save the environment is plotting the means in raping the environment; quick to lap up on an opportunity to strike a deal ready with their money bags.
And most politicians in the state have become land sharks and if you don't bend to their whims and fancies, they try to brownbeat you at their game. And that is what our journalist friend ardent die-hard agriculturist Vithal Sukhdkar is experiencing in Navelim village.
Our friend, who is cultivating his paddy field just behind the Navelim church for last several decades is at a point where his paddy field is to be snatched from him. AS the government wants to acquire his paddy field for a public purpose. What is the public purpose for his paddy field acquisition is not known, but the verdict is out.
The Chief Minister who also happens to be the Agriculture Minister and Margao MLA has selectively chosen Vithal's paddy field for acquisition.
And for more on Vithal and his affiliation to farming, the Sukhdkar's family is the only one who have carried on the challenges of cultivating the paddy fields in the face of modernization taking place all around them.
The paddy fields surrounding them and the ones opposite to their property have all been lapped up by the monsters of construction. Yet they have carried on farming with dignity and have been an inspiration for many to have a second look at their barren paddy fields.
Coming back to the selective victimization of Vithal, the journalist in Vithal is in serious conflict with Digamber the politician. Both are voters from the Margao constituency. The two have enjoyed a love-hate relationship in the last few years.
Vithal's reports have not been taken in the spirit of constructive criticism by the Margao MLA. And earlier as Power Minister, Kamat had complained to the management of the paper that Vithal works for about the reports which Vithal had fielded from Margao and specifically in the ones which Kamat figured.
The bye-election wherein Kamat resigned from BJP and also the membership of the party and joined Congress party saw a few fireworks from both sides. Then the fodder for the smoking gun was provided by the municipal elections.
But in the last assembly election of June 2007, a truce was struck albeit for a short period.
Vithal who only had a Power Minister's might to take on in his earlier writings, was now challenging the might of the Chief Minister. And if sending a quiet word through the management failed to cool the ruffle feathers, there were more sinister plans in store for Vithal to checkmate him and in the game of cat and mouse his paddy field has come handy for the Chief Minister.
The story of Vithal is more a case-history lesson for others. Toe our line, otherwise face consequences at your peril.
And if politicians can do to people who wield the pen and one arm of democracy what will be the fate of the ordinary citizens who have no one to turn to. And if journalists are subjected to submission, who will be the voice of the people suppressed by the powerful.
A journalist brings the wrong-doing to the surface and lends the weak and the timid a voice of their own.
In recent times we have seen a dearth of good journalists coming through the line and if regular journalists who carry out their beat duty are harassed, it is a sad reflection on the way things are moving in our society, press included.
And if watching Rajan Parrikar's Death of Goa, a photo essay on the destruction unleashed in Odxel and Taliegao a few months ago was a grim reminder, Vithal's tale reinforced the general perception that politicians of all shapes and sizes are out to rape Goa, the quicker the better for them.
Till then Vithal is gearing for a bigger and mightier fight to take on the powerful politician head-on in a lingering battle of no holds. Who wins round one remains to be seen. (ENDS)