INTIMIDATION: In an attempt to frighten the Opposition and NGOs protesting against projects which will destroy green Goa, Chief Minister Pramod Sawant has declared the National Security Act applicable to South Goa district

BY RAJAN NARAYAN

On Revolution Day June 18 Leader of Opposition Digambar Kamat called for the liberation of Goa from BJP rule. Soon after Chief Minister Pramod Sawant proclaimed the National Security Act applicable to South Goa District. This gives him the power to arrest Digambar Kamat, leaders of AAP and activists, who are fighting against the double tracking of the South Western Railway and the transmitter at Mollem. Under NSA an accused can be detained for six months without the benefit of bail!

ON the 75th anniversary of Goa Revolution Day on June 18 Leader of Opposition Digambar Kamat made a statement at the Lohia Maidan that Goa should be liberated from the BJP rule! Promptly a nervous, insecure, frightened Chief Minister Pramod Sawant announced the imposition of the National Security Act in south Goa only. Many Goenkars including me were left wondering whether the Portuguese were still in power.
It was to protest against the denial of freedom of speech and expression that Ram Manohar Lohia protested at what is now the Lohia maidan in Margao on June 18, 1946. Shockingly, the democratically elected government of Pramod Sawant invoked the NSA against its own people. Not only to silence Digambar Kamat and the Congress party but also to threat groups like the Goencho Avaaz and other NGOs fighting to protect the green status of Goa.
Let us first understand what the implications of imposing the National Security Act (NSA) are. Sorry, Pramod Sawant, you cannot fool all the people all the time. The imposition of NSA is not a routine affair as you claim. The NSA is invoked only when there is a fear that the elected government might be overthrown through violent acts. The NSA has the power to silence protests completely. It has the power to kill movements like the agitation against the doubling of the South Western Railway tracks for the benefit of the Ambanis, Jindals, Adanis and other favourite heavyweights of the government. It has the power to permit Power Minister Nilesh Cabral to destroy Mollem Wildlife Sanctuary. It may be recalled that the proposal to set up a transmitter in the middle of the Mollem Wildlife Sanctuary has been rejected by the Green Tribunal.

NSA DECLARATION

THE NSA has not been declared to restrict attendance at the fresh public hearing on environmental issues like doubling of the tracks. It may be recalled that the last time the public hearing was held at the Ravindra Bhavan in Margao and Kala Academy in Pasnaji there was such a big public gathering outside the gates that the hearing had to be abandoned. The Goa Foundation in fact won a petition in the High Court which had challenged the notification for holding the public hearing on ecologically sensitive projects which would further destroy green Goa and impact climate change and quality of life of Goans.
It must be clarified for the benefit of the aam aadmi that whenever a public project is undertaken, involving large scale cutting down of trees or violation of the CRZ rules, the affected communities have to be consulted. We are not a dictatorship like China or Russia where the government can do what it wants and put anyone who opposes a project in jail.
Under the National Security Act the protestors, however legitimate their grievances, may be can be arrested and put in jail for six months. Unlike the Criminal Procedure Code, those who have been arrested under the NSA are not entitled to even apply for bail. The NSA is exactly like declaring an emergency, as Indira Gandhi did when she was disqualified from Parliament by the Allahabad High Court. And she arrested not only the entire Opposition but even the editors of The Indian Express and The Times of India.
To give you an example of what Pramod Sawant can do under the National Security Act, which is for the moment being limited to South Goa, it has necessary to take you back to the 90s. When Ravi Naik was the Congress chief minister in 1994, he extended the NSA to the whole of Goa. Within 24 hours all thugs and goons were arrested.
Those taken into custody included Rudolf Fernandes and “Mummy Dearest” Victoria Fernandes from Santa Cruz. The Regos of Merces, who I understand have turned a new leaf, and Babuni Shaikh and a goon called Popat, who used to attack people with beer bottles, were arrested. So were the goons of Khareband in Margao and the gangs of Vasco.
Not even Churchill Alemao, whom I had labelled as the “Godfather General of Goons in Goa” was spared. Though Churchill absconded and evaded arrest for some time he had no choice but to surrender to the police. Ravi Naik only arrested the goons and their patrons.
But in the case of Pramod Sawant there is no guarantee that he will not arrest Opposition leaders of NGOs fighting to save Goa’s environment from undesirable mega industrial projects and butchering of forested hills and valleys of wildlife sanctuaries which will trigger massive environmental damage through avalanches and dry up water resources in forested areas of Goa and the biologically rich with fauna and flora Western Ghats.
The BJP has arrested not hundreds but thousands of political activists all over India. Even those who have posted criticism of the Modi government on Facebook and Twitter have been arrested under the Anti-terrorist Act and Unlawful Activities (Prevention) Act (UAPA), of which 138 victims have been freed by the courts. Such victimisation has been unleashed by Narendra Modi’s chief ministers in the BJP-ruled states. Just last week the Delhi High Court granted bail to three activists who had participated in the Pinjara Tod agitation and had been languishing in jail more than a year. Even after the verdict of the Delhi HC granting them bail the police would not release them, claiming that they have to check their bank accounts and Adhaar cards.
It was only on the insistence of the Delhi High Court that the protesting activists were finally allowed to go free after two days of illegal detention. What is disturbing however, is that the Supreme Court while approving the bail granted to the three activists, had objected to statements by the Delhi High Court that every protest was not an act of terrorism.
It is scary that the highest court in the land has remarked that the right to protest is not unconditional. This contradicts earlier judgements which have declared that bail and not jail should be the rule. Despite which an 80-year-old Jesuit priest, Father Stan Swamy’s application for bail, has not been heard by the SC for the last two years. This is not due to covid-19 or the lockdown because in the case of the Republic Television editor Arnab Goawami, the same SC granted bail within 24 hours!

CHALLENGE IN SOUTH GOA

THE invoking of the National Security Act only in South Goa and ironically on 18th June, Goa’s Revolution Day, is a challenge to not only the people of South Goa but for all Goans. No government of whichever party can take away the fundamental rights guaranteed to all citizens of India, including Goa, by the country’s Constitution.
The right to freedom of speech and expression, which includes right to protest, is amongst the fundamental rights of every Goan and Indian. No government can terrorise the people into accepting ill-advised and illegal projects promoted by the government for the benefit of the partisan interests of the Adanis and Jindals.
Not surprisingly even during the curfew since May 1 there has been no ban on the movement of barges and mining trucks. It is another matter that at least in Goa daru is consider as essential commodity.
The motive behind the imposition of NSA only in South Goa district reveals the fears and intentions of the Pramod Sawant government. By a coincidence or otherwise most of the protests against eco-unfriendly projects have been led by the people of south Goa. Whether it is the anti-Mopa agitation or the more recent agitation against the doubling of the South Western Railway double tracking the movement has been led by the Goencho Awaaz.
Similarly, the agitation against the location of a transmitter in the heart of Mollem, started in South Goa. It is not a coincidence that the imposition of NSA in South Goa came immediately after Digambar Kamat called for a fresh liberation struggle against the BJP government.
We need to fight against the imposition of NSA by the chief minister. We hope the Congress and activists of south Goa, including leaders of the AAP, will challenge the imposition of NSA before the Goa Bench of the Bombay High Court.