Now, men and trees will mourn

GOA: He was Goa's original environment activist. The first of a breed of persons who fought for a cause, who had a vision, who believed in saving Goa for future generations and would not back down from the high moral ground they took. It was the 1970s when Goa first heard of Matanhy Saldanha, a science teacher in Don Bosco High School, Panaji, who was on a hunger strike leading the cause of the traditional fishermen against the onslaught of mechanized fishing. At that time, in a society that built a wide wall between castes and class, it was almost inconceivable to think of a Catholic 'Brahmin' bhatcar to be taking up the cause of the 'kharvi' community. Matanhy did it and not only did he obtain for the ramponkars their rights, but dealt that first blow on societal prejudices in Goa, managed to awaken the Church to social causes and in the ensuing elections the ramponkar movement turned out to be one of the issues that led to breaking the hold the Maharashtrawadi Gomantak Party (MGP) had over Goa.He didn't stop with the fishermen's issue. It was the starting point of many more causes and while Matanhy was a successful leader of agitations and causes, he, however, was not a very successful politician having contested numerous times and managing to make it to the legislature just twice. As a minister he was even less lucky. In 2002 he opted to stay out of the cabinet and allowed his United Goans Democratic Party (UGDP) colleagues Atanasio 'Babush' Monserrate and Francisco 'Mickky' Pacheco to join the Manohar Parrikar cabinet. When he did join the cabinet in 2004, it was not long before he lost the post as the government fell a few months later, before he could do anything to leave behind a legacy. Now, when finally Goa had a defender of its environment as protector of the state's environment, Matanhy was taken away even before he was able to begin to formulate his plans. All he was able to do was announce that no more forest land would be diverted for mining and that the government would take up the tiger corridor issue with the Union government. Less than 48 hours later Matanhy would not be among the living.He was a man who stood by his principles, his Goa and never attempted to make a political career by forsaking his ideals or his roadmap for the land of his birth. As a founder member of the political party Gomant Lok Pokx, Matanhy struggled, along with the few other idealists that had come together, to give the then union territory an alternative to the existing political parties. Unfortunately there were not too many among the electorate that would believe in that principled stance of the GLP and the party was never able to send an MLA to the assembly.The GLP experiment may have failed, but it didn't break Matanhy's resolve to make the difference to Goa by raising the issues in the assembly. He took the decision to make common cause with the UGDP and having joined the party won his first assembly election in 2002. That's when the firebrand leader showed a mellowing of the fighting spirit and when he displayed leanings towards the BJP, some of the members of his old clique slowly distanced themselves from him, though he never strayed away from his concerns, which in recent times included the demand of special status for Goa. Matanhy is no more with the people of Goa. The state has lost one of the most ardent defenders of its environment, its culture, its forests. Less than a week back when the forest and environment portfolios were entrusted in his care, the trees must have swayed their branches in glee. Today, as the coffin maker saws the wood for Matanhy's coffin, the trees will join the rest of Goa in mourning their champion defender, the man who sacrificed for the land and its woods.