By Rajan Narayan

AND a few stray thoughts for yet another Saturday. For a Saturday following the week when the transformation of some Catholics into hardcore Hindutva is astounding. For a Saturday following the week when it was a grand birthday celebration for Pratapsingh Raoji Rane. For a Saturday following the week when the old problem of water flushing from the floor of the Dinanath Mangeshkar Kala Mandir (DMKM) at the Kala Academy started again. For a Saturday following the week the sudden disappearance of Hemant Soren, the chief minister of Jharkhand. For a Saturday following the week when Supreme Court directing high courts not to use religion or caste of those accused in its verdicts.
AND a few stray thoughts on how the transformation of two Catholics into Hindutva hardcore is astounding. The Chief Minister of Goa Pramod Sawant and other Hindu BJP MLAs did not respond to Narendra Modi’s call on cleaning temples on the eve of the new Ram Mandir in Ayodhya inauguration. But the first to respond surprisingly was Panaji MLA Atanasio “Babush” Monserrate. Babush Monserrate went to the Maruti temple at Altinho and swept the floor. He was joined by Calangute MLA Michael Lobo who has been competing with him to be seen as more saffron. Babush of course surprised even me by his act of humility.
At the best of times, Babush was never humble. Perhaps Babush was trying to make up for his recent accusation about the late chief minister of Goa, Manohar Parrikar. It may be recalled that the Babush claimed Manohar Parrikar did not do anything for the development of Panaji city, which is substantially true as most of the chief ministers of Goa are from other parts of Goa.
Manohar Parrikar for instance, though he represented Panaji in the assembly, is originally from Mapusa. Digambar Kamat is a resident of Margoa. Pratapsingh Raoji Rane of course always stayed in Poriem. All of them visited their official residence but did not stay there most of the time.
Digambar Kamat did not develop any attachment at the CM’s palatial official residence at the Altinho in Panaji. Unlike Vijayadevi Rane who threw temper tantrums when senior Rane was forced to leave the chief minister’s residence. Reportedly, she had the flower pots broken at the Chief Minister’s Residence.
It is strange how Catholic MLAs are very responsive to the BJP. We suppose they find it difficult to say goodbye to power and pelf. There are some MLAs who have managed to get rewarded for joining the BJP. The quietest and most patient one of them has been Alexio Sequeira. He is the only Catholic MLA or for that matter any MLA, who defected to the Congress and got a cabinet berth.
But the chief minister did not give him the coveted PWD portfolio, he had to be satisfied with the portfolio of the Ministry of Environment which is not a very profitable portfolio. However, the Ministry of Environment has enormous nuisance value. At both the state level and the central level Catholics and other Congress MLAs have been moving to the BJP. Goa of course is the notorious example where virtually the entire Congress legislative party joined the BJP, included Pratapsingh Raoji Rane, the 85-year-old former chief minister of Goa. Pratapsingh Raoji Rane enjoys the distinction of having been chief minister of Goa five times.
We presume that now our politicians can live without power. Most Congress politicians have made a career out of politics and cannot stay out of power for long. A dramatic example is Luizinho Falerio, who joined the Trinamool Congress in the hope that he would return to power. He had to be content with a seat in the Rajya Sabha. Ultimately, it appears that only Mamata Banerjee and the regional leaders of the south have stood up to the tactics of the BJP.
The I.N.D.I.A group has been seriously weakened by Chief Minister of Bihar Nitish Kumar who has joined the saffron party. Mamata Banerjee also has refused to have any alliance with the Congress in the West Bengal parliamentary polls.

RANE BIRTHDAY CELEBRATION
AND a few stray thoughts on the grand birthday celebration of Pratapsingh Raoji Rane on January 28, 2024. The Pratapsingh Raoji Rane family hosted 30,000 plus guests which included industrialists, politicians, cabinet ministers among others. Chief Minister Pramod Sawant, Union Minister of State for Tourism & Shipping Shripad Naik, Rajya Sabha MP and State BJP President Sadanand Shet Tanavade, all attended his birthday celebration.
We hear it was a grand affair which stretched to three hours. The highlight of the celebration was a dance performance by former film star Hema Malini and the playback singer “Sufi ki Sultan” Harshdeep Kaur, this performance enthralled the audience. Hema Malini herself must be in her late mid-70s but she has apparently she has not lost any of her youthful fitness in dancing. There was also a musical program. All those who attended the birthday rally were given vegetable biryani and cake by Pratapsingh Raoji Rane.
Pratapsingh never liked the idea of being called Pratapsingh Raoji Rane which is why we persisted in calling him that through my 20 years as editor of the “OHeraldo” and also another 20 years plus in the “Goan Observer.”
Not only Goa’s top politicians but even former Congress chief minister Digambar Kamat was present at Rane’s birthday bash. Of course Digambar Kamat is now part of the BJP. Though he is yet to be rewarded for returning to the BJP.
Pratapsingh Raoji Rane has been rewarded through his son Vishwajit Rane. Vishwajit Rane resigned from Congress and contested on the BJP ticket. He was promptly rewarded with a cabinet berth in the Pramod Sawant government. Vishwajit has even visited the new Ram Mandir in Ayodhya and become quite friendly with Narendra Modi. His positions himself as the chief ministerial candidate at the next assembly election if the BJP wins both North Goa and South Goa parliamentary seats.
It is unlikely that the BJP will win the South Goa Parliamentary seat. Salcette continues to be a stronghold of the Congress. It is possible that the ticket may be given to Digambar Kamat who is very popular in South Goa. The North Goa parliamentary seat has historically gone to the BJP.

KALA ACADEMY BLUES
AND a few stray thoughts on when the old problem of water flushing from the floor of the Dinanath Mangeshkar Kala Mandir (DMKM) at the Kala Academy started again. This time in addition to the floor of the auditorium getting wet there has been a new surprise for the Kala Academy. Even the water seepage would have gone unnoticed if somebody had not posted a video on Facebook. The second video showing a snake cladding under the seat of the Kala Academy has been put on display. Serious questions have been raised about the stability of the renovated Kala Academy. It may be recalled that a wall of another auditorium collapsed sometime before the inauguration of the Kala Academy.
The work of the contractors during the tenure of the BJP has been very shallow. Nilesh Cabral obviously must not have been very competent as PWD minister. The portfolio has now been retained by Chief Minister Pramod Sawant. All of them were profitable portfolios with Pramod Sawant excepting the Town & Country Planning portfolio.
Babush however continues to be an important pillar of the BJP government irrespective of who forms the government. It was Babush who helped Manohar Parrikar to come to power when he resigned and got himself re-elected on the BJP ticket. He also helped two other MLAs, Old Goa MLA and the Canacona MLA Isadore Fernandes to be re-elected on the BJP ticket.
We do not know what role Babush played in the parliamentary elections. Pramod Sawant has refused disputes with Babush. The BJP is probably relying on his support to run the North Goa parliamentary seats.
Modi is confident that the BJP will win over 400 seats. Rajdeep Sardesai says that the BJP will go up to 350 seats but it will be difficult for him to cross the 400 mark. Rajdeep has pointed out that the Congress and its alliance partners including the regional parties won more than 250 seats in the last parliamentary elections.
However, it is yet unknown to what extent the new Ram Mandir at Ayodhya factor will help Narendra Modi, particularly in the south.

SOREN MYSTERY
AND a few stray thoughts on the sudden disappearance of Hemant Soren, the chief minister of Jharkhand. The Jharkhand chief minister has vanished just ahead of a visit from the Enforcement Directorate. The Enforcement Directorate is investigating a case against him involving money laundering of several crore. Jharkhand has remained a poor state because its politicians have looted it. Irrespective of which party they belong politicians have only focused on making money and not on developing the state. Therefore, a lot of residents of Jharkhand have migrated to other states.
The opposition claimed that Hemant Soren is absconding to escape the Enforcement Directorate. The Congress claims that the Enforcement Directorate is not fair and keeps raiding Congress ministers and chief ministers and this is substantially true, the BJP has not spared even Rahul Gandhi. Recently, it filed a case against Priyanka Gandhi who is married to Robert Vadra. The basic enquiry was to estimate the assets of Robert Vadra.
It is clear that Rahul and Priyanka have huge fortunes. It is how Rahul Gandhi manages to live a lavish life despite having a low visible source of income. It is Robert Vadra who is a successful businessman and an additional source of wealth to the Congress party and is been able to support Priyanka and her expenses. There are also empowered Congressmen in two very important states, namely Karnataka and Telangana. Both these states are major information technology states and reaping good returns.
All the major IT companies have centres in Bangalore which is in Karnataka. The headquarters of Infosys is there is and Mysuru is where Infosys has a training centre. Narayan Murty is proud that he has put Mysuru on the world map as a parallel IT destination to Silicon Valley. Mysuru or Mysore is said to have been a very charming place till it started attracting IT crowd. Mysuru is now changed just as Bengaluru has become as congested as Mumbai and Kolkatta. Bangalore too was once upon a time a charming old world city, a paradise. No more for it is virtually the IT capital of India as Bengaluru now.

SC DIRECTION
AND a last stray thought on the Supreme Court directing high courts not to use the religion or the caste of the accused in its verdicts. Historically, courts in the country have always mentioned the community or the caste and this just comes down to the level of the police station or even the police officer when FIRs are filed.
The police immediately ask for your community, which means are you a Muslim, Hindu or Catholic. It is only then if you say you are Hindu they ask you for sub-caste. Even with the Catholics, they ask for the caste of the accused. This was carried out in district courts and high courts to the extent that some visitors call out saying Muslim or so and so when presented in court.
The Constitution of India guarantees freedom of worship to all citizens. Nobody and least of all the judiciary should discriminate on the basis of caste or religion. The first to implement this latest directive of the SC at the police station level. If the police station does not mention the community or caste the courts and lawyers should not do so. The police and the lawyers have to co-operate. The judges at the high court and magistrate courts can be directed by the state government or the ministry of judiciary and law not to be selective as per the new directive of the SC.