TUESDAY, MAY 21, 2024
Let us begin with absolutely the latest development country-wide. Bengal witnessed alarming violence two days ago. An Enforcement Directorate (ED) team was attacked and its vehicles damaged in Sandeshkhali village of North 24 Parganas in West Bengal, while on a raid on the residences of block-level leaders of the ruling Trinamool Congress (TMC). There was an obvious political flare-up between the ruling BJP and the TMC which rules Bengal.
Without going into who is right, and maintaining that violence has no place in democracy, look at who was first off the block demanding President’s rule in Bengal. No, not the BJP but the Congress leader of the opposition in the Lok Sabha, Adhir Ranjan Choudhury. The TMC retorted sharply calling him a BJP agent. Anyone with a minimum sense of politics will realise that when a national alliance has been formed with the sole purpose of unitedly taking on the ruling party, obvious political differences and enmity can be kept at bay. After all, Bengal is not going to the polls this year. India is.
Can the Congress decide on seats without rebuilding the party and its grassroots organisation?
Another clear indication that for the Congress it is all about itself and the selfish nature of its leadership, is that it decided to announce on its own that it is going to contest 255 seats in the next Lok Sabha elections as a part of the INDIA alliance, thereby jeopardising the very spirit of the alliance. But can you win seats without building the party? Can the Congress in Goa, Bengal, UP and many other states do what Telangana did? The answer is ‘yes it can’, but will never do it as long as selfish leaders, who have done nothing to change the perception that they are hobnobbing with the BJP, continue to thrive in the party and destroy it.
An all-time election loser is in charge of all North East States and still hungry for the South Goa seat
Goa is as good an example as any State where individuals’ selfish interests are riding over party interests. A former State president who has not won a single election in his life is appointed in-charge of eight States of the North East. Does this even show that the Congress is serious about winning seats in the North East? Any political watcher will see this as a move to surrender the party in that belt. People like this must make it clear to the people of Goa whose interest they are serving. Who is their real master?
The same lot who were responsible for giving the gift of power to the BJP in Goa, in 2017, when the people of Goa had voted for the Congress, are the people who are still managing to get positions and tickets. Girish Chodankar is open about getting the South Goa seat. The people rightly ask, what are his credentials? Has he won any elections? Has he built the party or left in it absolute tatters?
After Luizinho Faleiro built the grass-root organisation of the party and took it to the doorsteps of power, those who were close to the PAs and peons of the Gandhis presented the key of Goa’s government to the BJP, which had only 13 seats, and got Manohar Parrikar back in power through the back door, simply by delaying and preventing Faleiro from going to Raj Bhavan to stake claim.
Another architect of this saga is the former AICC Goa in-charge Digvijaya Singh who too appears to be a permanent warden of a school of political defeat, given what happened in Madhya Pradesh in the last Assembly elections.
We reproduce an extract from a recent article in the respected The Print on the Congress defeat in Madhya Pradesh reflecting on Digvijaya Singh’s role. “Digvijaya first said he’s taking sanyas, but he still wants his Rajya Sabha. He still wants a Cabinet berth for his son who’s a first-time MLA. He was instrumental in getting rid of Scindia and establishing himself as number 2 in Madhya Pradesh. All of this came at the cost of the party,” a senior Congress leader and former AICC general secretary told The Print
Has Singh made himself accountable for what happened in 2017 which destroyed the party and the organisation? The architects of this betrayal got away and Luizinho Faleiro who led the party to a huge success was side-lined.
Where is the signed affidavit from Goa Cong MLAs that if they defected, the act should be treated as their resignation as MLA
Cut to 2023/24 in Goa. Some questions and their answers are obvious. The questions only need to be asked. Can the Congress isolate itself from the defection of eight of its MLAs to the BJP in the second attempt?
Key people in the party were very much aware of the first attempt at defection which did not finally materialise due to a variety of factors. Within a few months, the second attempt happened. Before all this was played out, the fake narrative of taking an oath at holy paces pledging never to defect was taken.
Moreover, an affidavit on legal paper was signed by MLAs stating that if they defect, it should be counted as their resignation from the Assembly. While no one has resigned and all are enjoying the riches and trappings of power, the affidavit is not in the public domain. Why didn’t the former GPCC president Girish Chodankar, under whose watch the party was broken, produce that affidavit, make lakhs of copies of it and distribute it across the constituencies of the defectors?
Meanwhile, there are small but telling instances of intense bonhomie between office bearers of the GPCC, other partymen and elements in the BJP (most of whom are from the Congress anyway).
Can it be denied that a senior North Goa Congressman’s close relative got a job as a teacher through the Goa Public Service Commission, with the recommendation from a very senior member of the BJP government?
Can it be denied that a trio of GPCC office bearers and a BJP MLA or two spent most evenings together?
Can it be denied that a sand mining contractors’ agent, and close to ruling bigwigs, is a close chum of a senior Congressman from deep South Goa and is seen on the same stage as him at functions? This begs the question. Has the GPCC as a whole made the issue of illegal sand mining an important campaign issue?
This has led to anger among other Congress people who are frustrated and don’t quite know what to do. “One person is trying to control the party and wants the South Goa seat even after getting the North East charge - Chodankar. There is no seriousness in trying to win the elections; many bodies are defunct and the GPCC hardly meets to discuss agendas and programmes. Everyone is in it for themselves” a senior office bearer said.
In Goa and the rest of the country, personal political interests have risen above party interests. This is not only unfortunate but a betrayal of lakhs and lakhs of genuine Congress supporters who hope and pray that the party revives itself.
But selfish leaders in the Congress are doing such a good job for the BJP that the ruling party can easily focus on other things knowing their job is getting done. This is a great tragedy and travesty and a terrible letdown to any hopes of a joint effort to give our country the basic essence of democracy - a credible opposition and a possible alternative.
