AND a few thoughts and a few observations for yet another Saturday. Though Goa may have averted merger with Maharashtra in 1967 it would appear that Prime Minister Narendra Modi and Home Minister Amit Shah are intent on merging Goa with Karnataka if not Maharashtra. And a few stray thoughts for another Saturday on further demoralizing the Indian armed forces. And a few stray thoughts on the controversy over the now very controversial film “The Kerala Story” which is reported to be so spine-chilling that the Chief Minister of West Bengal Mamata-didi has decided to ban its screening in West Bengal at lease. And a few stray thoughts on another officer of the Narcotics Bureau involved in the conspiracy against framing Sharukh Khan’s son Aryan, has been arrested in a similar honey trap. Also a few stray thoughts on the Goa government directing citizens to confirm registration number and source of water supply of tankers supplying water to their homes in Goa. DOUBLE-ENGINE GOVERNMENTS AND a few stray thoughts on the BJP government determined on merging Goa with Karnataka by hook or by crook. It began with all the talk of double-engine government and when Amit Shah managed to hijack the Goa government — by bribing eight Congress MLAs including veterans Pratapsingh Raoji Rane , Digambar Naik and Alex Sequiera. Interestingly, the strongman of Salsette Churchill Alemao has also become a BJP bakht and issued a certificate to Modiji as “Ambassador of Peace.” With both Karnataka and Goa being ruled by the BJP the process of expediting the transfer of the Mhadei river headwaters to empty Karnataka river basins is gathering pace. It was the late chief minister of Goa, Manohar Parrikar, who initiated this by agreeing to diversion of limited quantity of water from Mhadei headwaters for drinking purposes in water-starved Dharwad and Hubli areas. Subsequently, Chief Ministrer Dr Pramod Sawant is agreeable to diversion of Mhadei river waters to Karnataka at Goa’s expense. The most shocking aspect of the takeover of Goa’s main water resource by Karnataka was the statement made by Amit Shah at a public meeting in Ponda not too long ago, that he had already given Mhadei river to Karnataka and there was not a single protest in the audience against this blatant hijacking of a river which flows majorly as the Mandovi river through Goa and is a blessing to farmers en route, as also a source of water for Goan residents who depend on the river waters. Karnataka went to polls on Wednesday, May 10 and there’s a huge tussle between the BJP and the Congress. There are reportedly more than 10,000 Kannadigas living in Goa. The majority of them migrated to greener pastures in Goa after Liberation in 1961, when Goa offered job opportunities for technical staff. Prior to Liberation there were no technical training institutes in Goa for creating skills needed in the Public Works Department, Electricity Department, Water Resources Department. Even now some of the chief engineers of these departments are senior engineers from Karnataka. However, according to Election Commission of India rules only residents staying permanently in a particular state are entitled to vote in the local elections. The voter ID card is issued only to residents who have an Aadhar card specifying they are original residents of Karnataka — in the context of current elections in the neighbouring state. Residents of Karnataka who vote on May 10 also have to produce a 15-year domicile certificate in Karnataka. Citizens who are residing outside Karnataka in states like Goa are not eligible to vote in Karnataka. Even in the national elections migrants are not allowed to go back to their home states to strengthen the vote banks of individual politicians of the parties. However, in an extraordinary development, the government of Goa issued a notification declaring a public holiday on Wednesday, May 10 in Goa to enable Kannadigas settled here to travel to their home state to cast their votes. Clearly, Amit Shah has no use for Goa which does not offer any electoral benefits to the BJP. He is more concerned about the 2024 parliamentary elections when the BJP expects a maximum of one parliamentary seat, which is that of Shripad Naik from north Goa. In the last elections the BJP lost the south Goa seat to Congress candidate Francisco Sardinha. We hope the Congress or Goa Forward will challenge the decision of the government to give paid leave to all government servants and private sector employees to enable them to cast their vote in Karnataka. DEMORALIZING ARMED FORCES! AND a few stray thoughts on the BJP government further demoralizing the armed forces of the country. It may be recalled that the Central government decided to scrap all cantonments and take over the vast areas of land they occupied. For instance, in Goa itself these cantonments occupy large chunks of real estate at Altinho in capital city Panaji, where the armed forces officers mess and their private super market is located. Besides Panaji, there are army cantonments in Quepem and St Andre. The Signal Regiment of the army is located at Bambolim-Siridao. Again, the Air Force virtually occupies the whole of Dabolim including Dabolim airport which is under the control of the naval forces. The headquarters of the biggest aircraft carrier Vikram Aditya is based at Hansa airport, part of the naval complex in Vasco. The army in Panaji of course has refused to part with any of their prime real estate or shift from Altinho to a more remote location. The latest insult to the defence forces is the decision by the Centre to banish individual symbols for distinct army units. Like for instance the Gurkha regiment will no longer have the typical Gurkha identity. The Sikh regiment will not be allowed to carry the religious kirpan. Officers above the rank of brigadier will not be allowed to display their attachment to any particular regiment on their shoulders. We know even senior army officers takes pride in the insignia on the shoulders which identifies them with their regiment. Each regiment has its own history and honours list of those who martyred themselves. A senior army officer always identifies himself by his regiment. But the government has now decided all these insignia identifying the regiment of officers will be scrapped. This is a big blow to the pride of the defence forces of India we are sure. THE WEST BENGAL STORY AND a few stray thoughts on the film “The Kerala Story.” Chief Minister Mamata Banarjee’s West Bengal government has gone to the extent of banning the controversial film because it is communal and offensive to Muslims. The West Bengal government has threatened to ban the Bajrang Bali group too. “The Kerala Story” has a certificate from the Censor Board of India and ait is being heavily promoted by the Kerala government. The curious part is that nobody seems to know what the Kerala story is all about and why it has raised so much fury. It all boils down to fuelling communal politics. The theme of the film we understand is some Muslim children being are orphaned and adopted by Hindu parents. They become fully integrated with their Hindu families. The parents of the sons decide to perform full-fledged Hindu marriages for their children. This has outraged Muslims who claim that their original rights as Muslims should have been respected. Both Kerala and West Bengal are using this as a means of polarizing Hindu and Muslim people of the country. Incidentally, “The Kerala Story” is to be screened soon in Vasca da Gama port town at a multiplex. NARCOTIC BUREA CONSPIRACIES AND a few stray thoughts on the arrest of a superintendent of police of the Narcotic Bureau officer who is involved in the conspiracy to frame Aryan , the son of film star Sharukh Khan. The NCB officer in this case has been accused of framing the children of some leading politicians in Punjab. It is clear that the NCB like the Enforcement Directorate and Income-Tax Directorate are being used and misused to victimise the perceived enemies of the government. In Goa Narcotics Bureau officers were caught on video with Yatala, Israeli drug lord. Routinely, Goa police constables threaten to plant drugs on tourists and particularly foreigners if they do not pay the demanded bribe. Huge quantities of narcotics have been seized in Goa. Former Siolim MLA Dayanand Mandrekar is reported the alleged kingpin behind drug trafficking in the north Goa beach belt of Morjim, Arambol and other beaches here. The hierarchy is clearly defined. The bosses are Russians and Israelis, the first control north Goa while the second control south Goa beaches like Palolem. The Nigerians do the work of delivering drugs to customers and have a monopoly on the night clubs of north Goa. The tragedy is that so many hi fi Indian women and men tourists come to Goa to desperately experience the trance experience at the night clubs of Goa. Most do not have a clue about the drugs offered to them. This inevitably results in fatal tragedies when say synthetic drugs like mandrex are consumed. There are foreigners who manufacture LSD strips in Goa. These are extremely hallucinatory. Mumbaikars should do their research before they hit the night clubs of Goa. GOA’S WATER WOES AND a last stray thought on the government direction to house holders to verify the registration number of water tanks delivering water to them. It is also being specified that water tanks should be made of stainless steel tankers. While the demand for water tankers is huge each tanker has a water carrying capacity of over a thousand litres or is it gallons. The situation has been aggravated by the large scale digging of tube wells in remote areas and this has and is affecting surface water resources like that of wells which many Goan homes have inland and in the coastal beach belts. Goa will have serious water problems if this digging of tube wells anywhere is not regulated and eventually banned altogether.