Three years back people across Goa actually smiled, while those in other State’s grew envious, when Manohar Parrikar came through on his election promise of bringing down petrol prices in the State by Rs 11. He did so by reducing the VAT and while the people cheered this decision, the opposition grumbled that it would only increase taxes on other items. Then the government got down to more serious matters of administration and policy and an assessment at the end of 100 days found that the general feeling among the people was that the government was settling down and there was time ahead to do all that was promised.
The substantial cut in the price of petrol was still fresh in people’s mind, and yes, the Lokayukta had not been appointed within 100 days of coming to power as promised, but that could be forgiven. It wasn’t long before the opposition’s fears of taxes were vindicated and the government introduced an entry tax on vehicles driving into the State and explained that this would not hurt the Goan pockets. But, there were protests and calculations of how this would increase the price of vegetables and then the protests died down.
Now, three years since taking charge of the affairs of the State the BJP in alliance with the MGP, Independents, and lately also the GVP, has very reduced time left to deliver on its many and varied promises. It will have to drastically increase its pace of delivery if it is to fulfill its manifesto promises, and the promise of parivartan.
If governance has not scaled new heights in the past three years, politics surely has. Yes, the promised parivartan has been there, mainly in the form of U turns on some very important issues, but the people have been kept happy by putting in some additional money in their pockets. The government’s schemes – Griha Adhar, Laadli Laxmi – and so many others assured it the loyalty of the people. That was politics and this was borne out by the results of the 2014 Lok Sabha elections which gave the government an opportunity to test its strength and the people again endorsed the BJP, but the promises of governance didn’t become a reality. The Lokayukta resigned within months of being appointed and there is no replacement yet; the Regional Plan is still hanging in balance; the Information Commissioners are still to be appointed; the offshore casino remain on the River Mandovi within metres of the riverbank; the list could go on.
And then came the sudden change in guard. Parrikar went off to Delhi and to the Defence ministry. In Goa Laxmikant Parsekar took his place. The difference in the style of functioning of the two was visible early on. Parrikar had always retained all control with himself, taking interest in every department and even answering for the ministers in the Assembly. Parsekar, on the other hand, said on day one that he would give his ministers space so that they could handle their portfolios themselves. How the government and the ministers perform without Parrikar will be seen in the coming budget session of the Legislative Assembly later this month, which will also be Parsekar’s first finance bill.
With Parrikar having stepped out of the State spotlight, it is Parsekar who is going to be under focus in the next two years. It is he who has to deliver on the promises made by his predecessor and time is indeed running short. Practically the MLA from Mandrem has just a year to work on the manifesto promises. Once a government enters election year it begins to focus on the polls ahead and introduces voter-friendly measures.
There remains much to be done and Parsekar will have to prioritize. A solution has been eluding the garbage issue for years, the tourism industry saw reduced numbers, the mining industry is yet to restart operations, the construction of promised bridges will have to be initiated. Luckily for the government the Opposition has shown itself to be far from effective and taken little interest in attacking the government. The lack of opposition has been the biggest advantage for the government in the past three years, so unlike the past term when the BJP had exposed every misdeed of the Congress government. With that hurdle not in its path, the BJP government’s performance should have been better. It, unfortunately, failed to exploit this advantage.
