Goa Diary: Bullfight, booze on beach & BJP leader’s oops moment

Goa may not have the political heft of other states around it and may not be hogging the national headlines as often, but it is never short of dramatic developments. One leaked cable authored by Paul Folmsbee, Mumbai consul general of the US embassy in 2009, pretty much demolished Chief Minister Manohar Parrikar’s written response tabled during the ongoing budget session, in which he categorically denied the existence of foreign mafia in Goa. Quoting celebrated cop Rakesh Maria, then Mumbai Crime Branch head and currently head of Maharashtra’s anti-terrorism squad, Folmsbee said in his cable to Washington: “Maria alleged that most trafficking of foreigners to Mumbai is connected to Russian and Israeli mafia operations in Goa, explaining why the Mumbai Police had not cracked the trafficking ring”. When a few corporate ‘suits’ got together to brainstorm a way ahead for Goa, which is suffering from an industrial logjam, the mention of Gujarat Chief Minister Narendra Modi did not surprise many. The praise which Goa’s ‘corporate types’ heaped on Modi at the session organised by the Goa Chamber of Commerce and Industry could just give our own Chief Minister Manohar Parrikar a touch of blush; despite their publicly confessed fondness for each other.