FRIDAY, APRIL 26, 2024
Plastino D’Costa
Party B will win the forthcoming Goa’s elections, if the Opposition parties (ACT) do not get their ACT together and fast. Ouch! In my last article published on October 29 in this publication, the writer had suggested all political parties not to focus only on giving, but also pay attention to fix the forceful taking away from citizen’s unfair share of taxes. There was a suggestion to announce abolishing of Personal Income tax, but since that is a central subject, there was another suggestion made to all political parties aspiring to participate in Goa’s State election to show their intent and announce abolishing of State taxes on petrol in opposition-controlled States such as Delhi and Bengal. This was urgent and necessary as oil is on the boil.
While the opposition was in nap mode, guess what happens after publishing the above article, in a week’s time the Prime Minister cuts some part of central tax on petrol, timing it with Diwali and then all States follow including the opposition controlled. Even though the cut in taxes was cosmetic and would hardly repair the dent created on the common man’s pocket, it was still made first by the central government, checkmating all opposition parties, who could have shown the way by reducing State taxes on petrol in the States they hold office.
As far as Goa’s election is concerned, what has been the opposition strategy so far to defeat the government; surely enjoying a holiday in Goa cannot be it. Or for that matter buying fresh fish at the local market, travelling on motorcycle taxis, or cycling with locals at best can give you some optics. But if the opposition parties are not willing to bring to the table something substantial that the government can’t, then it is certainly curtains for them.
At the moment opposition parties are playing the same old, time-tested monkey tricks and the way the new entrant T is bulldozing the other opposition parties, it looks like every effort is being made for party B to regain office for another term. If so many serious opposition parties are going to be in the fray, then votes are going to split huge, not forgetting the small fries that have a slave following and will split a thousand votes here, a thousand votes there. So if the opposition parties don’t show the gumption to merge, but by strictly weeding out the crooks and the corrupt with a fine tooth comb, then there is no hope for them. In such a scenario it will not be wrong to assume that if votes are allowed to split, it means the government has made a carrot and stick arrangement with the opposition parties to ACT just enough to split but not to win.
As days to the election come nearer, more and more Goans are going to be bewildered as to who will serve Goa’s collective interest the best. This is exactly the state of mind politicians hope Goans have till the elections and every effort will be made to keep it that way. Political ACTors will look like they are saviours while exchanging amusing or provocative words at each other. Please note they are playing to the galleries and only add to the nuisance value to the elections. There will be no material change in the life of a Goan, at least the opposition party’s behaviour does not seem to suggest so. There is no party which is too different from each other, they all look and behave the same. No opposition party is willing to give us the freedom from heavy taxation, be it from our personal income or huge tax on oil, in any case taxes paid hardly matches with the service the government provides and therefore needs to go.
Talking of government service, here is an important quote "The nine most terrifying words in the English language are: I'm from the Government, and I'm here to help." There famous words were uttered by a politician and the President of United States, Ronald Reagan. In the Goan context they simply mean Goans must be allowed to live their lives with minimum government interference. This can happen only when politicians are kept off limits in every aspect of our lives. For example Party A’s disappointing announcement of spending public money on pilgrimages is a direct interference in our personal lives. Pilgrimages with other people’s money? Are they even valid?
Recently at a wedding somewhere in Uttar Pradesh it seems a politician photo was printed on the invite. It will not be surprising if Goa follows this trend, given our sucking up to politician trait deeply entrenched into our character. If we allow politicians to infiltrate into our personal space, despite their good intentions it sets a very dangerous precedent for some future politician that will not only abuse it but even make it into a law. Here is some more food for thought again from Ronald Reagan "Government's first duty is to protect the people, not run their lives."
The opposition behaviour recently has been quite irritating, you cannot barge into people’s home in the name of some stupid survey and force Goans to become members of their party. Goans on the other hand must understand, please keep an employer mindset where an employer never seeks to be a member of the employee union. Political party workers are nothing but your employees, elected to serve the people’s collective interest. So instead of forcing the people to ACT, opposition parties must ACT first in the form of showing a united front before running an advertisement and forcing Goans to ACT to become member of their parties.
Finally if the opposition really wants to win they need to do something out of the box, so far it only suggests they are hell bent on dividing the votes and ultimately get Party B elected. Abolishing of personal income tax is one idea that can disrupt the entire political dispensation and frankly only the Prime Minister looks to be the best bet to make that decision. The rest look and behave like ACTors paid to do a part.
(The author is a business consultant)
