panaji panajis azad maidan stands as a symbol of freedom the statue of goas portuguese conqueror afonso de albuquerque that stood there till liberation was replaced by the ashes of the father of goan nationalism triatao de braganca cunha yet the bare maidan that fills up for public meetings also symbolizes todays politybereft of ideas but loud in volume fifty years after liberation goa exists but does not know what it wants or where it is going it didnt five decades ago and it doesnt now its people are only now awakening to the fact that democracy includes challenging the government and not merely voting in an election and are taking the resistance a bit too far a sign not too healthy for democracy it was december 1963 two years after the indian tricolour had fluttered in the wind alongside the river mandovi signaling freedom from a long period of colonial rule people were queuing up to elect a government this was the first time they were participating in governance unfortunately the runup to the election had given people little to choose from politics in goa was being defined by rhetoric emotions caste and religion merger with maharashtra was the only issue that decided the outcome of the elections that saw a vertical divide among the two major communities not much has changed except perhaps for the nature of the rhetoric politics in goa continues to be defined by an abject lack of ideas last month congress said it would grant election tickets to winnable candidates a week ago the bharatiya janata party said it would field eight to ten candidates from the minority read catholic community five decades since liberation goas politics has not emerged from the trap into which it got itself entangled in during those early years after the indian army dispatched the portuguese forces from the state today the state is living at a time when a cabinet minister takes his government to court and this doesnt surprise anybody when a chief ministers continuance in office depends on the report of a commission that is investigating illegal mining but his image doesnt take a beating when politicians are sent to jail and emerge from behind bars even more popular politics in goa has descended into the pits deeper than those created by illicit mining and rescuing it from there amounts to a task far more arduous than that of streamlining the muchmaligned industry in the state if this is the moment to do it then it is not happening little introspection and even less flourish mark this golden jubilee the programmes listed by the government have failed to enthuse the citizenry the ideas come from a government devoid of foresight something the state is suffering for the lack of what goa requires is vision there is no intelligent debate on issues people are carried away by emotions and what results is opposition from various quarters a government cannot allow itself to be dictated to by the