04 Aug 2021  |   05:27am IST

Victory it is, but how long will govt backtrack?

The late night announcement made by Chief Minister Dr Pramod Sawant that the word bhumiputra will be dropped from the Bhumiputra Adhikarini Bill and that the Bill will be reintroduced in the Assembly in a subsequent session, is a major victory for the media – mainstream and social and Herald in particular – that pushed vociferously for the withdrawal of the controversial Bill.

Less than 100 hours after it was unanimously passed in the Assembly, Sawant announced that changes would be made to the Bill. Kudos to the Chief Minister for listening to the voice of the people and agreeing to accept suggestions from the people on the contents of the Bill, before it is reintroduced in the Assembly.

The big relief is that the contentious Bill in the current form will not go ahead. The way forward for the Bill is for the people to decide. Goa now has the opportunity to put forth its views on the Bill. The nomenclature of the Bill and its contents had created a deep divide among the people that the political class, after having allowed the passage of the Bill in the Assembly by staying away, was attempting to fuel into support before the election. It is now in the hands of the people to decide what they want in the Bill, even if they want it in any particular form. Since there were such varied views on the Bill, the suggestions could well be many. The government has to assure the people that it will not force the Bill upon the State if the citizens do not want it. 

It is abundantly clear that the government has not been putting enough thought in what it is doing. This is not the first time that this government has withdrawn a decision or a policy. It has done so numerous times in the past couple of years that it has been in power. It has, in a sense, become quite adept in rolling back its many decisions. In February last year this had even prompted a former Bharatiya Janata Party MLA to quip on social media on this phenomenon, stating that somebody in the government is playing around with polity by issuing orders to rescind later and requesting the Chief Minister to investigate why orders keep coming out, only to be repealed. If the Chief Minister acted on this suggestion is not known, but it has not stopped from happening again.

Is this an example of indecision on the part of the government or is it just appeasement in the face of criticism that in this case also bordered on ridicule as besides outright criticism, netizens also resorted to memes on social media to highlight the issue? There are numerous instances of backtracking by the government and the decision to shift the Indian Institute of Technology from Shel-Melauli after asserting that there would be no change of site, the decision in May to impose curfew after consistently remaining vocal that there would be no such measures taken to contain the spread of COVID are just the most recent examples. These indicate a government that is unsure of the decisions it takes, especially as the withdrawals happen without much of a fight from the government. 

Decision making in the government needs to be streamlined and made systematic so that the future consequences of all policies and bills are taken into account before they are introduced. It reflects badly on the government when it has to backtrack on issues. When such backpedaling happens often, then there definitely need for a course correction. A State has too many issues and administration cannot be taken lightly.