By Rajan Narayan

AND a few stray thoughts for yet another Saturday. For a Saturday following the week when Aleixo A Sequeira was awarded for joining BJP. For a Saturday following the week when following the inclusion of Aleixo Sequeira half the cabinet are former Congress ministers and members. For a Saturday following the week when the Enforcement Directorate seized the “National Herald” which was started by Jawaharlal Nehru. For a Saturday following the week when the Tamnar electrical project received clearance from the wildlife board.
And a few stray thoughts on Aleixo Sequeira joining the BJP and being rewarded with cabinet berth. When Babush Monserrate led the revolt against the Congress party he managed to get seven Congress MLAs to defect to the BJP. This was not enough for a minimum of eight members was required to escape disqualification. The rule is that 2/3rd of the members of the legislative party should break away to escape disqualification.
All the other Congress MLAs including Digambar Kamat were willing to defect to the BJP. But the eighth Congress MLA from Nuvem Aleixo Sequeira played hard to get. It is only after he was promised a cabinet berth that he agreed to join the other MLAs defecting to the BJP. Aleixo has waited for four years for BJP to fulfill its promise. Aleixo Sequeira allegedly threatened to resign his seat in the legislative assembly and defeat BJP. This would have created a crisis for the BJP and would have led to the fall of the Pramod Sawant government.
The Central High Command of the BJP quickly acted asking PWD Minister Nilesh Cabral to resign and make way for Aleixo. Nilesh Cabral, who is the older BJP loyalist, protested that the party was rewarding defectors at the expense of violence. But pressure from Prime Minister Narendra Modi and the Home Minister Amit Shah was too great for him to refuse to resign from his cabinet post.
There was a great deal of drama preceding the induction of Aleixo Sequeira into the cabinet. In the middle of this, some supporters of Digambar Kamat staked his claim for inclusion in the cabinet at the expense of Aleixo. However, the High Command acceded to the promise made to Aleixo over the claim of Digambar Kamat.
Last Sunday, November 19th evening at 7pm Aleixo A Sequeira was sworn in as cabinet minister. More importantly, it was thought that he would get the extremely profitable portfolio of public works (PWD which every minister covets) which is the largest department in the government in terms of making money. The swearing in ceremony was a show of strength for the people of Nuvem constituency who were brought in large numbers in buses to the Raj Bhavan. All Aleixo’s constituency workers there to felicitate him after his swearing in as Cabinet minister at the Raj Bhavan’s original Durbar Hall. Reportedly it was some kind of a mela after the solemn swearing-in over in ten minutes with Governor PS Sreedharan Pillai presiding along with Chief Minister Dr Pramod Sawant. Despite pressure from other BJP colleagues it was thought Aleixo would be allowed to retain the PWD portfolio which was surrendered by Nilesh Cabral. However, in the end the expected cabinet reshuffle did not take place.
Aleixo Sequeira is a veteran Congressman who had never before defected party till recently. He moreover was minister in five consecutive Congress ministries. He was in the wilderness after BJP came to power. At 66 Alex decided that if he cannot defeat BJP he might as well join them. It was under these circumstances that he defected and decided to agree and become the eighth MLA to ensure that the defecting MLAs are not disqualified. Alex will not enjoy power for too long but it is enough for him to fund his candidature from Nuvem in the second election.

BABUSH REFRESHER
AND a few stray thoughts on half the Pramod Sawant cabinet comprising former Congress MLAs and ministers. Leading the pack is Babush who was elected on the Congress ticket and his wife Jennifer who was elected from Taleigao. In the case of Babush, Jennifer was made cabinet minister by CM Dr Pramod Sawant. The other leading former Congressman who got good portfolios from Pramod Sawant is Health Minister Vishwajit Rane.
Vishwajit Rane got health ministry which covers the Goa Medical College & Hospital and Health Services. GMC is the gold mine as it enabled him to provide jobs to his constituency’s workers as ward attendants, and even nurses from Sattari and Valpoi. Every second or third attendant at the GMC is from Sattari or Valpoi.
Amongst the other Congressmen who have been rewarded are Minister for Social Welfare Subhash Phal Desai and Minister of Culture Govind Gaude. With the induction of Aleixo Sequeira half the cabinet now comprises of former Congressman, and it’s no longer a BJP government but a “khichdi” government of Congress MLAs and BJP MLs and some extras.
We do not know what will happen in the next election but we know that there is simmering discontent against the BJP government. Particularly, regarding its national policies favouring Hindutva and the saffronisation of communidade lands in Goa. The latest saffronisation bid has led to the study of the Hindu epics “Ramayana” and “Mahabharata” in schools and colleges. This is absurd because the “Ramayana” and “Mahabharata” are based on religious mythology and not on the certainty of actual documented history.

NATIONAL HERALD’ AND a few stray thoughts on the Enforcement Directorate seizing the assets ofNational Herald.’ `National Herald’ is the Congress newspaper founded by the first prime minister of India, Pandit Jawaharlal Nehru. Feroze Gandhi, the husband of Indira Gandhi, was the editor of the newspaper in the beginning. Now the “National Herald” is being accused by the BJP government of laundering money. The “National Herald House” in Lucknow has also been seized by the Enforcement Directorate. The Gandhi family is calling it the politics of vendetta.
Perhaps in retaliation, Rahul Gandhi has said India lost the World Cup because Narendra Modi was present at the Narendra Modi Stadium in Ahmedabad on November 19, 2023. Rahul claims Modi was a bad omen and that is why India lost the World Cup. The crackdown on “National Herald” is a matter of concern to all other media. The Narendra Modi government has systematically emasculated and crushed print and electronic media. When it comes to electronic media the CNN18 channel, headed by Rajdeep Sardesai, was bought over by the Adani Group. Similarly, NDTV was bought over by Reliance Group. Senior media anchors like Pranoy Roy, Barkha Dutt and Rajdeep Sardesai, not to mention Arnab Goswami whose Republic TV was always pro-government but reports say has changed its tune lately.
In the print media the newspapers taking a stand against the Modi government are starved of government advertising which is a mainstay of revenue for many media houses. The “Goan Observer” is a classic victim of the Manohar Parrikar government in Goa and the Modi government at the Centre. Ever since the double-engine government came to power in Goa and Delhi the “Goan Observer” and now goanobserver.in has received practically nil advertising. This means private advertisers too shy away afraid of being raided by the Enforcement Directorate or Income-Tax people if anything against the Modi government is published by a few media publications in print or online.

POWER DEMAND
AND A few stray thoughts on the State Wildlife Board being granted in-principle approval for the Goa Tamnar Power Transmission Line Project, which according to the state government is important to cater to power demands. The Tamnar power transmission line, which passes through the Mollem Wildlife Sanctuary, was opposed by environmentalists stating it would destroy the environment as thousands of trees would have to be cut while carrying out work.
However, later, the Centrally Empowered Committee (CEC) suggested utilising the existing 220 KV power line alignment in Goa instead of cutting down fresh forest cover to lay a new 400 KV line as part of the project. It was accepted by the Supreme Court. Chief Minister Pramod Sawant said that the board has cleared the Tamnar electricity project. The power transmission initiative involves laying a 400 KV transmission line from Sangod in Goa to the Karnataka border to address Goa’s electricity demand.
Earlier in May, Power Minister Sudin Dhavalikar had said that the Tamnar project is important as it will add 1200 MW power to the capacity of the power deficit state, which has been at the receiving end of a string of indiscriminate power cuts during summer time. Speaking about the Tamnar project, Dhavalikar said that “people opposed it as the destruction of the environment was taking place by cutting trees. But now as the Supreme Court has suggested to realign the transmission line with the existing line, there will be no loss of trees. This project is very important to us as it will give us additional 1200 MW power. Work on this project is possible only after the rainy season as Goa and Karnataka receive heavy rainfall.” Sudhin Dhavalikar has also informed people of Goa that work on the project will go on following the guidelines of the Supreme Court.

UTTARAKHAND WORKERS TRAPPED
AND a last stray thought on the 41 construction workers trapped inside a tunnel under construction in northern India’s Himalayan region in the state of Uttarakhand. A video doing the rounds on Tuesday, November 21, for the first time since a partial collapse of the tunnel more than 10 days earlier, left viewers stunned by the mountain of rubble around the area. The video, captured by a medical endoscopic camera, slipped into the tunnel through a pipe forced through the debris pile on Monday, November 20, to show the men wearing hard hats, reflective jackets and a glimmer of hope on their stubble-covered faces.
The workers were trapped in the highway tunnel in Silkyara in northern Uttarakhand and it was following an earlier partial collapse on Nov 12 which triggered a suspected landslide. A narrow pipe drilled into the tunnel on the first day of the collapse has enabled rescuers to supply the trapped workers with sufficient oxygen, food and medicine, but since then, the rescue efforts have been stymied by a series of challenges.
The rescuers’ initial plan, to force a pipe wide enough for the workers to crawl out of horizontally through the rubble heap, proved to be unsuccessful, largely due to debris continuing to fall and the fear that large-scale drilling could lead to further big collapses and landslides – further trapping the workers in a 1.5 mile stretch of the tunnel.
Authorities say the rescue could take several more days, but getting the first glimpse of the trapped men, and a conversation they were able to have with rescuers by walkie-talkie, have raised hopes and morale for the rescue teams. “Are you alright? If all of you are okay, please show yourself before the camera. Please raise your hands and smile,” rescuers appealed to the trapped workers as the medical camera enquired.
The men could be seen lining up for the camera, some of them waving. “We will reach you very soon, please do not worry. Please come in front of the camera one by one. We want to show your relatives that you are okay,” a rescuer told them through the walkie-talkie. One of the trapped workers, Jaidev, got the rescuers to record a message for his mother, whom he told not to worry.
“I am fine. Please, you and father eat your meals on time,” he told his mother. Family members of some of the trapped workers have waited outside the tunnel for days, voicing anger and, in some cases, blaming authorities for the still-fruitless rescue efforts. But they’ve been able to speak with the trapped men regularly.
“I have been talking to him every day. Today also I talked via the big pipe which was inserted,” said Indrajit Kumar, whose brother Biswajit Kumar is among the trapped workers. “They are all safe inside.”
Rescuers used the same newly-drilled six-inch wide pipe on Monday to send the trapped men their first hot meal, packed in plastic bottles. They have also been sent Vitamin C and anti-depression medicine to help them deal with the stress of being trapped, officials respond. Anshu Manish Khalkho, director of the National Highways & Infrastructure Development Corporation (NHIDCL) that is building the tunnel, called the pipe the “first breakthrough.”
Authorities have come up with five possible plans to extract the trapped men, including drilling vertically from the top of the mountain into the tunnel. Drilling to create that vertical shaft was expected to start Tuesday evening, according to Devendra Patwal, a disaster management official overseeing the rescue.
The rescuers will need to dig down roughly 338 feet to reach the trapped workers, which could take several days. Efforts to reach the men by boring horizontally through the rubble heap were also set to resume after being halted over the weekend due to “loud cracking noise” heard during the drilling.
“This is an extremely dangerous environment requiring very precise engineering,” Arnold Dix, head of the International Tunnelling & Underground Space Association (AITES), who’s helping oversee work at the tunnel site, said earlier this week. Environmentalists have warned for years against major construction projects in the ecologically fragile regions of the mountains of the Himalaya. These relatively young mountain ranges are prone to landslides.
The tunnel is part of a federal government infrastructure project dubbed the Char Dham highway, it is aimed at improving connectivity between the four popular Hindu pilgrimage sites in northern India, namely Badrinath, Kedarnath, Yamunotri and Gangotri. They are the Char Dham in Himalayan pilgrimage sites for devout Hindus the world over.