Crowding at the well
Being a small state often has its aspirational as well as political hazards. In terms of democratic muscle power, big states mean more MPs, ministers in the Union cabinet and definitely more heft in government and party fora when distributing largesse. Therefore, every politician at the Centre can, for Goa, bolster the state’s fortunes especially when it comes to crucial issues such as a plan funding formula in the context of Goa’s handicap vis-a-vis the Gadgil-Mukherjee formula given it is being, as Luizinho Faleiro puts it, “punished for good performance”. Demands for Special Status and the location of important projects and institutions also carry additional weight when a state has someone batting for it at the Centre.
From the state’s perspective ~ and it doesn’t matter to us whether it’s the Congress or BJP in power ~ Faleiro’s position as general secretary of the AICC gains some significance as he is the only Goan to have held that position. He has handled his party responsibilities in the North Eastern states and Karnataka with a degree of success and elan.
From his beginnings as the only Congress member to be elected to the Goa assembly in 1984 after Wilfred De Souza masterminded the split with the Congress (I), to pushing the Congress on the Official Language issue and spearheading the Konkani agitation, to finally being the chief minister of Goa, Faleiro has come a long way. Whether he will be able to deliver unity to his party in Goa and make a lasting contribution to the state is the challenge before him.
Another politician who ejected out of state politics in 1977 and moved to the Centre for a sustained period of time was Eduardo Faleiro. He was elected five times to the Lok Sabha, once to the Rajya Sabha and held positions of Union minister of state for external affairs, economic affairs (Finance), ocean development and parliamentary affairs among others; he was also leader of an Indian delegation to the United Nations. Among other Goan politicians to opt for national politics were Ramakant Khalap, who was elected to the 11th Lok Sabha and became Union minister of state for law and finance; Sripad Naik, who was Union minister of state for civil aviation and has had a sufficiently long stint at the Centre; and South Goa MP Francisco Sardinha and, of course, Rajya Sabha MP Shantaram Naik.
Interestingly, senior politicians such as Pratapsing Rane, Goa’s longest-serving chief minister, and ex-chief minister Wilfred de Souza did not move to national politics despite their composure and vast political experience for reasons best known to them.
The result of all this has been that in the case of the Congress, at least, there was a “crowding at the well” syndrome, where the party went into elections with even four former chief ministers such as Pratapsing Rane, Ravi Naik, Churchill Alemao and Digambar Kamat and had others like ex-chief minister Francisco Sardinha waiting in the wings. So, did this crowding at the well have anything to do a “frog in the well” perspective that hovers over a small state? Your guess is as good as ours!
Some politicians who opt to contest the parliamentary elections have been virtually forced to do so after defeats in the assembly elections. It remains to be seen how many, if any, of the long-serving politicians from the state will resign their assembly seats and make a pitch to contest the 2014 Lok Sabha election. Chief Minister Manohar Parrikar has himself had declared that he would not contest assembly elections again but later added the caveat that if the “Congress does not behave” he would change his decision. The question is: Will Parrikar bat for Goa on the national stage in 2014 or indeed 2017 if his party is in power at the Centre?
