It seems ages since 14 MLAs (with the other two having good reason not to) came together for the coronation of the Goa Congress President Girish Chodankar. But it was not just the presence of MLAs including veteran former Chief Ministers to egg the perennial young turk Chodankar on, that signaled a new energy, which itself is beginning. It was the presence of workers at the Congress party.
Former Chief Minister Luizinho Faleiro under whose leadership the Congress got 17 seats in the last Assembly elections said something which should sound poignant to party workers and to the new president “We will support you totally but we will not interfere”. To a Congress sceptic who is at heart a Congress romantic, this should be the recipe he just wanted, where the old guard steps back to support and guide and fresh legs hit the streets, running with workers and young leaders for support. Corruption, family raj and the presence of the old guard were three pieces of baggage the Congress had been carrying for the past decade. In Chodankar’s appointment, at the very least, these bags need not be carried on the party’s journey.
The worker first attitude is intrinsic if the people first mantra has to be chanted. This is because the ordinary party worker is the closest to pulse of the people. And Chodankar laid down the rules of engagement perfectly when he said ‘When a leader joins a party, he takes something from the party (in terms of power and position), but when a worker joins the party, he always adds to it” And he then spoke about how he would want to go door to door to meet workers.
Moving forward, what will be important is how well all this is synergised to real work on the ground. The political syllabus has to align with the people’s syllabus and not the other way round. The party should, and perhaps it has realised so, take up issues that are in the public domain. The party’s (and for any party for that matter) war room and situation room, is on the streets, in gatherings, in cafes and in the offices of those taking up peoples issues. A party which manages to work it self into panchayat, gram sabha and municipal council meetings and campaign to support all peoples causes, will have a massive head start for the 2022 campaign.
It should begin by direct action on some key issues like the government plans to amend the Goa Panchayats (Gram Sabha meetings) Rules, 1996 and curtail discussion on any business beyond that listed in the agenda. Its communication states “No subject shall be discussed in such meetings besides the agenda as approved by the gram sabha.”
The Directorate of Panchayats, has clearly stated that gram sabhas cannot be called arbitrarily and have to be notified well in advance. While the ostensible purpose is to cut down on political fistfights, the move will curtail several spontaneous issues that need urgent attention and allow a manipulative panchayat to dodge, delay or completely avoid any agenda which is not palatable to the ruling bodies.
The route to regaining lost ground is to start looking at and identifying issues on the ground. The new president appears to be on the same page and on the same ground. And as a bonus, this energy may well spread to the Legislature wing of the party which will feed off kits energy. The CLPs invitation to Girish Chodankar to attend the CLP meeting is itself is a sign of things to come.
