Parrikar’s summer of disconnect
EUGENE CORREIA
The past summer has been one of contentment in the otherwise tension-charged political landscape. The issues that have been simmering on the surface didn’t boil over. Hotheads fighting the nagging issues of Dabolim-Mopa didn’t increase the decibel level of their voices but maintained steady supply of tidbits for the media in the form of statements.
The garbage issue has remained in the dumps but it got some lift with Chief Minister Manohar Parrikar visiting foreign shores to study how garbage is taken care of in those countries. The mining issue will continue to linger in the pits as long as the Supreme Court takes its time to deliver its learned opinion. The recurring theme of casinos bobbing on the waters of Mandovi, despite the CM’s firm assurance he would ship them out to sea, has got a new lease of life.
Just as the monsoon broke, Parrikar was struck with a lightning bolt from none other than his inspiration and hero Narendra Modi for making an ill-timed lapse of speaking his mind on the Gujarat riots. It seemed a legitimate question from the Indian Express editor-in-chief Shekhar Gupta, on the TV show Walk the Talk, to get Parrikar’s opinion on what the CM thought of one of the most troubling events in India’s social history. Parrikar didn’t think twice in blurting out his answer. However right he was, according a columnist he was given a slap on his wrist by Modi.
It should chasten Parrikar, for the CM hasn’t yet climbed to the high echelons of the BJP leadership to express his views openly on matters as tenacious as the Gujarat riots or any other that has the BJP under dark clouds. The prognosis of this tragedy is still awaited in the courts. National matters are the prerogative of those who rank much higher than the Goa chief minister in the party. Parrikar has to have patience for his time to come.
Even as the strong monsoon winds are lashing Goa and the state has been physically battered and people are trying hard to cope with the situation, the crisis of price rise and the stink of garbage have added to their miseries. Well, Parrikar’s trip to a German town has yielded a promise to have a mix garbage treatment plant within the next 12 months. Remember, promise comes with no guarantee.
There are other myriad issues that need quick attention and reasoned answers that would help Parrikar win back the confidence of the people, more so of those who had reposed their faith in him by electing him again to head the government. Harping on Congress misdeeds won’t help solve problems that can only be met head-on with pragmatic approaches. Confrontational politics can be left out till the day of the next elections. The focus should lie on day-to-day administration and the ability to work out solutions for the challenges at hand.
The potpourri of issues besieging the state cannot be kept aside by the BJP as it engages itself in an exercise of strategic planning to oust the Congress from the South Goa parliamentary seat. The ferment of discord at the panchayat and gram sabha levels is seen more in the south than in the north, and the recent cases of confrontation between the local bodies and the government over village-specific problems further unnerves the government. Infrastructure development has lagged behind, and with the lack of funds it would remain in limbo for a long time. The Regional Plan is a hot potato. To suggest a plebiscite for finding answers to village or zonal problems is seen as much as a political gimmick as an admission to lack of administrative muscle or abdication of decision-making.
No doubt the paucity of available funds has made Parrikar stall on his promise of abolishing casinos and, thereby, sacrifice his political capital. It’s a gamble that could make the chief minister lose on his political currency which, despite some hard knocks, has endured among those who still count on him to deliver upon his election promises. Parrikar needs to shed the Master of U-turns tag, which has invited derision, so that he could be seen again as the “able administrator”, an image cultivated in the media and in the mindsets of Goans seeking and trusting politicians without the blemish of corruption.
The CM has vowed to fight the menace of corruption, but his action has fallen short. As part of his election strategy he fought on the election plank of corruption and succeeded in weaning support from the Congress base in Salcete. After naming and shaming former CMs Digamber Kamat and Pratapsing Rane as culpable culprits deserving to be hauled into court and showing his grit and determination to nail other ministers in the defeated Congress government for their illegal deeds, Parrikar went into a cocoon for a long time. He now wants to set of these Congressmen as Diwali firecrackers. The Goan populace is holding its collective breath for the promised Diwali of immensurable delight and noise. The people want to see Parrikar go through his actions instead of just going through the motions. Parrikar on the go is much better than Parrikar on a yo-yo.
