Sunday, June 12, 2011

Fatorda - an OBC Loyalist Constituency

Fatorda - an O.B.C. Loyalist Constituency


By: Wilmix Wilson Mazarello 


Going by the past history of the Assembly Constituency of Fatorda for the last 25 years, it has always elected candidates from among the Other Backwards Communities (OBC)s.


Not that the voters of Fatorda are casteist or communal in their approach but it is just that they trust their own. That’s all .


Many a times in the past, upper-class candidates have been forced on the voters of Fatorda, but each time the people of Fatorda have shown them the door.


I do not remember any exception to this pattern but if ever there was one it could have been just “a flash in the pan”.


Fatorda always went back to the OBC fold.


Political Analyists say this is because there is a very vast majority of voters in Fatorda belonging to the OBC Community and they are all loyal to their own.


Two-term MLA Shri. Alex Cardozo (alias Mama Cardozo) of the Congress Party, is a fine example of the loyalty of the OBC Community in Fatorda.


There is absolutely nothing wrong about it.


In fact, it is always better to have a Representative of the dominating community, in a given constituency, to understand the local problems better.


In the recent past too, many aspiring candidates from outside the community have tried to woo the Fatorda voters to their side, but none have succeeded till date.


The voters of Fatorda did switch their loyalties from one Party to another in the past, ie. from the Congress to the BJP, but one thing they never did switch was the OBC candidate . The candidate elected was always from the OBC community.


Money-Power usually does not work in the Fatorda Constituency.


Fortunately, the present day Youth of Fatorda is well educated and will not get carried by false promises from non-OBC candidates.


Candidates from outside the OBC community have in the past, tested the voters of Fatorda by organizing Functions such as Tie-Breakers, Dhirios, Fetes , Competitions , Beat Shows, Tiatrs , Nattaks, Sponsoring Church and Temple Activities, distributing money etc. but have never ever succeeded.


To check on this analysis, I met a ‘fisher-woman” of Fatorda and asked her a straight question “whom will you vote for in the forthcoming Assembly elections?”.


To this short question she gave me a long answer: “Please don’t mention to anyone , but we the fisher-folk of Fatorda have decided to accept whatever goodies offered to us by any candidate, to whichever Party he may belong but we will finally vote for one of our own”.


Then I met another “laborer” also from Fatorda and I asked him the same question .His reply was “ We will never desert our own. Long live the OBC Community".


Next, I met an “immigrant’ who has settled in Fatorda for the last 20 years.


To the same question his reply was “All my neighbors are voting for the OBC candidate, how can I be different?”


Finally I met a “Tiatrist” of Fatorda and I posed him the same question. The Tiatrist’s reply was just like any other tiatrist “You see election time is a time for us to make money. We perform for anyone who pays us. But we will finally vote for someone we believe in”.


That’s how, I suppose it works for Fatorda.


When it comes to supporting a candidate for Assembly Elections , the Fatorda Constituency is always an O.B.C. domain.


Political Parties are you listening? 


It definitely seems wise to field only an OBC candidate at least in Fatorda, for the forthcoming Assembly Elections of 2012.

 
 
- Forwarded by http://www.goa-world.com/