So the much discussed, debated and dissected “third front” has finally been announced, with its formal launch on January 26. While this is early days yet, the most significant take away from this development is that there is now a tangible entity which is staking claim to the people space.
The success of this front will depend hugely on who rises to take on its leadership and the manner in which it can extricate itself from the morass that politics in Goa has sunk to, and emerges as a true political voice of the people of Goa. If it does so, then it cannot restrict itself to being the “third force”. The third force by definition recognises the existence of two other forces and in this case it would be tantamount to recognising the BJP and the Congress as the other two forces. While the BJP is surely a force because it rules Goa, the Congress is making an effort to be relevant by building its grass-root base and launching a membership drive. But it has also shown desperation by gathering all those it can, even getting former RSS forces –like in Bicholim – to join them. But the Congress must realise, that even though time is short, it cannot resurrect the party by going from constituency to constituency by promising people tickets and announcing their candidatures in public. The jaded Congress leadership has very few takers. In fact the outpouring of disgust at a recent Congress rally in Margao, when the old guard of Ravi Naik and Francisco Sardinha stood on the dais, should have come as a warning signal to the Congress that old faces pulled out of closed cupboards, cannot be icons of change.
If greats like Pele or Maradona cannot make it to the Brazil or Argentina national team of today, there is a reason. The Congress old guard were nowhere comparable, even as political equivalents to these football giants. So they must be asked on what basis can they hope to win elections when they have been rejected emphatically by the people of Goa?
The “third force” therefore may be doing injustice to its stated objective, if it sticks to its third force pitch. I should becomes a people’s force. At the same time the pragmatism of winning elections and having enough seats to form a government, will kick in, and may force itself to ally with anti-BJP forces. But that will come much later. If it manages to do what AAP did in Delhi and go with the confidence of getting people to back them, a miracle may not be ruled out.
Currently the trio of MLAs, Vijai Sardesai, Rohan Khaunte and Naresh Sawal have announced that they will back this force but not be part of it. Well, that be just posturing for now. For starters Rohan Khaunte needs to, if he hasn’t, officially, withdraw the letter of support to the BJP, which he gave in 2012. Sawal too must communicate with the Speaker that he is not supporting the ruling party. This may make no difference to the government but will go a long way in defining their current positions.
This formation marks a new political beginning and promises to be interesting.
