One of the newly-appointed committee members of the Goa Pradesh Congress Committee made an interesting remark, reacting to the barrage of criticism that the party has ceded the opposition space and is not equipped to be the recipient of the anti BJP vote which is expected to rise close to the 2017 elections.
This office bearer said that the legislature wing of the party should not be confused with the organisation. Elaborating further he said that while his boss the GPCC president Luizinho Faleiro, had begun reviving the organisation in right earnest, the legislature wing headed by Pratapsingh Raoji Rane, has failed them. So there we have it. The organisation and the legislature wing are working (if one can call it that) at cross purposes.
Now the reason why the troubles in the Congress, become a point of discussion is that in the obliteration of opposition space and with the absence of a third new alternative, the Congress could have positioned itself on the revival path. One of the reasons why it can’t is because of what the office bearer said. While it is a given that the leader of the opposition has been a lame duck, it’s MLAs have, at the very least won in 2012, in the wake of a complete decimation of the party. While the loyalties and leanings of its own MLAs are suspect, it is up to the organisation to work on them, if they are still in the party (with the exception of Mauvin Godinho since he is too far gone down the BJP route), and win them back into the party fold. This should be done for another reason. They had won in 2012 beating anti incumbency. In the three years of the BJP rule, the ruling party has not done enough for their own base in Congress constituencies to increase. In the wake of this, the Congress MLAs haven’t really lost ground in their constituencies. That is a small beginning. The party organisation, instead of alienating itself from its MLAs, especially the likes of Curtorim MLA Aleixo Reginald Lourenco, who have singlehandedly batted for the party, needs to work with them.
While the genuineness of team Luizinho’s efforts can’t be doubted, there seems to be a bit of the old groupism that has crept in, while choosing the team and the template for Congress 2017.
Moreover from the strategy point of view, team building and strengthening the organisation, having think tank meetings and conferences are fine. But the fight for 2017 cannot be fought by playing by the book. The substance needs to be matched and taken over by style and impact. That is something the legislature party can do. But the fuel for legislative impact has to be generated by the organisation and the party. When the assembly is not in session, the party has to be on the streets on every major issue. For instance the Forum for the Rights of Children in Education (FORCE) has regrouped to ensure that promises of grants to institutions teaching English is met. The Congress was nowhere in the picture. Across the State, from the taxi agitation, to beach shack demolitions to the Baina demolitions, and the absence of a Regional Plan, issues are crying out for political intervention. Most of them are being taken up by BJP’s own MLAs and not led by the Congress on the ground. This is the party’s failure.
If the work that Mr Faleiro is doing has to have an impact, it needs to get all its players out and play impact politics and not just cerebral politics.
