If Sunday’s rally pitch forked AAP firmly into the political consciousness of Goa in the run up to 2017, the BJP, by its immature and nervous reactions, officially recognised the fledgling AAP as a level playing sparring partner.
In political terms, this is a giant leap that even AAP didn’t expect. Rather than waiting to analyse the response to AAP’s rally, the state BJP president and the Chief Minister chose to personally comment on Kejriwal’s rally speech, by doing the following a) Dismissing the existence of AAP b) Declaring that they will lose deposits in every seat and c) Most significantly, asking the AAP to declare the source of its funds for the rally. In three strokes, the BJP has literally handed over the principal opposition space and the role its most serious direct challenger to the Aam Admi Party. Here’s how. By out rightly dismissing the Aam Admi Party less than 24 hours after they held the largest political rally in Panjim for several years now, wasn’t very clever. Unlike in other rallies, the cream of Panjim’s society mingled with thousands of commoners from across Goa, each wearing the Aam Aadmi cap. Among them were the daughter and other family members of the Father of the opinion poll Jack Sequeira, whose statue Kejriwal garlanded on Monday morning. By stating that AAP candidates would lose their deposits in every seat, is a direct challenge to AAP’s workers. Many who attended the rally, who are future voters of AAP, will alienate themselves even further from the BJP. Finally, asking AAP to declare the source of funds for the election, has completely negated its other assertion that AAP is insignificant. When a ruling party at the state and centre, needs to ask about the source of funds of a rally of a fledgling party in Goa, with no representation in any panchayat and local body, the ruling party admitted that the rally was significant.
While there can be no quarrel about the BJP asking for funding details for one political rally of a party, which is ruling in Delhi and is set to win Punjab, it should it on the same table and disclose the source of funds for Manohar Parrikar’s birthday rally in Panjim when each MLA was ordered to send bus loads of people from their constituencies. Will the BJP tell the people of Goa, which event management company was given the task of constructing the stage and handling the very same venue and what was the bill raised for the same and whether the bill has been cleared or not. The BJP should put out a list of business lobbies, both on shore and offshore, which helped under write majority of costs for Mr Parrikar’s birthday rally.
As we have repeatedly said, this is not about AAP and the inroads it is going to create this political space. There is a very high degree of expectation from AAP. But the BJP’s response to Arvind Kejrwal’s rally makes it seem that the BJP is sensing the growth of AAP, even more than Goa’s common man is. Never has the Chief Minister and the state president, both responded to a political rally in a manner so vociferous.
It’s now clear, that Mr Kejwiral’s three- pronged strategy of a) Attacking Manohar Parrikar directly b) Describing the Congress and the BJP as joint venture partners in covering corruption and c) playing the development card of the Delhi government which can be replicated here in Goa; has hit the BJP where it hurts- its Government. If the BJP needs to stop the AAP march it needs to recoil and rethink because AAP is not a conventional opposition.
