Delhi has, for long, been seen a place too far away. A space too different, a nerve centre of politics Goa doesn’t quite understand, a city whose residents are difficult to understand, and a language that sounds strange.
Therefore, even for pure symbolic reasons, when the victory entourage of the Aam Admi Party moved into the Campal heritage precinct in Panjim, armed with jhadoos, with a song on their lips and broke into a merry jig dancing to the Vishal Dadlani composed hindi song ‘Paanch saal Kejriwal” , in front of ancient villas where Portuguese is spoken and from where strains of excellent western classical music emanate, from long playing records or even live, this was a bit of a culture shock. But perhaps it was coming to terms with a changing Goa as a part of a changing India. The dancers were not Dilli wallas. Those who lead the celebrations were true blue Goans across faiths and professions who mingled with some ‘outsiders’. A Valmiki Naik watched smilingly while a Suhani Shah shook a leg or two in her trade mark hat, as Joao Phillipe Pereira and Jose Maria Miranda, patrao’s of the activism space from Salcete, watched, bemused but happy.
From the splendid homes Patricia Pinto watched, from her hacienda while Dr Lilly Sequiera’s ( a much loved and respected Panjim doctor) daughter, Dr Gitanjali, sipping a cup of afternoon tea peeped out of her window to ask “Are they here?”.
In that leafy Campal by lane, the Aam Aadmi Party re-emphasized the real impact of their victory. The AAP in a sense is the only Delhi import Goa has not just tolerated but accepted. But on this Tuesday afternoon, with a hindi song playing and a frenzied group of Goans doing what looked like the Bhangra, in hallowed Campal, a little history was created.
Yes, there is every reason to hope that the symbolism of AAP’s victory can turn into substance. This is the time for it and there is an opportunity for it. In the evening, as a happy bunch of AAP members, some missing and in the wilderness for while, came to the Herald office on invitation and sat down to speak of the future, the optimism of the second coming was palpable. At the same time, the pragmatism of the challenges ahead was not missed.
The AAP in Goa has no organised party machinery. It does not have a booth level structure. It doesn’t quite have a mass worker base which can be driven. And finally it doesn’t have full time leaders who will draft vision documents on every issue Goans can think of. But if AAP- or any other formation which seeks to man the alternative people space in politics- is not able to regroup and organise itself along these lines, the failure will not be of AAP or anyone else but of the people of Goa. The AAP in Delhi has succeeded, not because of Arvind Kejriwal, but because of the will of the people of Delhi to bring a peoples government to power.
A people’s party, on similar lines, or AAP itself, will succeed in Goa, only if people move out of their comfort zones and work for the new formation. People will have to keep everything else on the backburner to plunge into this endless thankless but extremely rewarding exercise, if done in a sincere manner. Doctors, engineers, government servants, those in the media or running businesses and those in colleges who would have never even gone near a political party, leave alone work for one; will have to own this process of change. But to do this , people of Goa need to want it enough. And that will be the biggest challenge in the face of this change.
The hope for a true transformation of Goa’s politics lies in how badly Goans want this. For the first time in Goa’s politics, 2017 will not be about just the Congress or the BJP but about how badly the common man wants t give up being a commentator and start playing the game. And be the game changer.
