It is rare in Goa for a political party to throw such a welcome for a Party president as the Bharatiya Janata Party did on Thursday for its National President Amit Shah. The turnout and the motorcycle cavalry from Merces Circle to the Panjim BJP office may have given the party cadres a big boost, but it exposes the party’s need to always be in the limelight and hence in the news.
Shah’s visit was a well-planned public relations package that the party has become extremely professional in. Missing altogether was the substance within the package for where substance is concerned there was little that Shah could give to Goans. He somehow even failed to make the right sounds that would take everybody along. What about those issues that are burning in Goa?
There were no firm assurances from Shah, just vague statements that the din that accompanied the visit drowned out. And across Goa, many must have felt let down by the BJP president’s statements on special status for Goa and on the beef ban.
On the beef ban the BJP national president said that while the party would not look at imposing a ban on the meat across the country, in States that are governed by the party, including Goa, the sentiments of the people would be considered before bringing in such a ban. Now, that is a statement that Shah could have considered twice before making. Just a couple of months back the shortage of beef in the State had led to some strain on the administration and the government. Under pressure it had to ensure that the meat was brought in and made available and even the Goa Meat Complex that is a government organization and which is an abattoir had to step in and make arrangements to procure beef and supply it to cold storages. Given that there are a substantial number of people that consume beef in Goa, the need to take the people into confidence on a possible ban on beef should never have arisen. Shah should have rejected even the thought of a ban on beef in Goa. He didn’t assure the people on this.
Shah was also vague on special status for Goa. All he said on the issue was that the Centre was sympathetic to the demands for special status from various states and will form a policy on this. He did not refer to Goa in particular and even later in the day, when he spoke to BJP MLAs he was non-committal on the issue. Since during the campaign to the 2012 Assembly elections the BJP had promised special status for Goa, the party’s national president could have been more forthcoming on the subject. He should have been briefed on both these subjects by the party unit in Goa so he was prepared to make the right sympathetic noises.
And so, Shah’s visit was all noise and colour but little of substance to show. The party is celebrating the first anniversary of the Narendra Modi government at the Centre and perhaps it expects that it should be excused for neglecting the more pressing issues. But it can’t forget that in Goa another election is less than two years away and the party hasn’t really been able to make the inroads in the State that it had hoped to after its historic victory in 2012 when it gained a simple majority in the State.
Here was an opportunity for the BJP’s top party functionary to reach out to every Goan, to assuage the hurt feelings of the minority communities in Goa over the calls for ghar wapsi that have been made over the past few months in Goa and outside. BJP can’t forget that if it won a convincing majority in the State it was due to the votes it received from the minority communities. It, therefore, can’t ignore any of the communities living in the State. The social engineering experiment that produced results in 2012 will not work again unless there is some delivery. The BJP’s Catholic MLAs reminded him of this late in the evening, perhaps had they met with him earlier and expressed their sentiments, he would have been more forthcoming on these issues.
This is a missed opportunity that won’t come again soon. BJP should have grabbed it and didn’t. Shah’s next visit may not come for a while, and until then the concerns of the minorities in Goa will remain unresolved.
