The organising secretary of the BJP is a post whose position far outscores the ordinariness the designation conveys. The position (and at times those who occupy it) controls the levers of the organisation, and even the administration in BJP ruled states. Chief Ministers are not known to take major policy decision and even administrative ones without picking up the phone to speak to the organising secretary for a quiet nod.
Satish Dhond had grown to become larger than his post of Organising Secretary. In fact he had grown larger than himself. But the danger was that he was beginning to grow larger than the party, towering above it, as the master of all he surveyed, taking important political decisions on his own, promising party tickets to his favourites for the next assembly elections, and even deciding on transfers and postings in departments, especially the police.
But all this still doesn’t add up when books are balanced to account for the order of transfer of BJP organising secretary Satish Dhond out of Goa. What does is this. Satish Dhond, who has been removed (yes removed and not routinely transferred) twice before from Goa, was becoming an impediment to the BJP’s success in the next assembly elections. The BJP, which came to power riding on inclusiveness of the minorities and buoyed by promises it made, which offset on the non performance of the Congress, has lost that advantage.
While that was one of the many parts which made up the sum of the reasons for his removal, notwithstanding the attempts of the BJP organisation to call it “routine”, Dhond continued to take actions which angered a section of the traditional BJP and the RSS. He started creating parallel power centres in many constituencies especially in areas where there were MLAs who were not liked by Dhond. He went to the extent of promising a party ticket to Govind Parwatkar, who lost to Rohan Khaunte in the next elections, when the BJP was trying to win Khaunte over. Khaunte’s transformation from an MLA who pledged support to the BJP to one of its bitter critics happened due to Dhond’s antics. MLA Naresh Sawal of Bicholim, which is Dhond’s playing field, in more ways than one, has created an anti BJP power centre, whose sole objective is to eradicate Dhond’s influence in the area. St Andre Vishnu Wagh is open in his criticism of Dhond for trying to undermine him by blocking his developmental work.
Meanwhile, in Vasco, he had started creating his own group to stymie Vasco MLA Carlos Almeida and personally went to Chief Minister Parsekar to strongly object when Almeida was made the Chairperson of the Mormugao Planning and Development Authority.
Kept as the organisation watch dog over the party, Dhond was accepted by both Parrikar and Parsekar when the BJP came to power. During Mr Parrikar’s first term as Chief Minister, after returning from his exile to Gujarat between 1993 and 1996, he became the brash face of BJP’s hindutva, responsible for masterminding the removal of street signs with Portuguese names, in Panjim. His name almost always cropped up whenever there were incidents of desecration of crosses or other places of worship. During Mr Parrikar’s fresh term though, Dhond was asked to keep building the organisation. What he tried doing though was run the government. And that led to fissures.
His closeness to the Prime Minister, because of his connections in Gujarat gave him that additional edge and if insiders are correct, even Manohar Parrikar was irritated with the long arm of Dhond in the administration. Dhond’s direct influence was felt when Mr Parrikar was moved to the centre and his successor had to be chosen. It was after a decision was taken to make Rajendra Arlekar as the Chief Minister, that there was a twist in the tale and Parsekar was chosen because it was felt that he would be more pliable to the RSS while Arlekar would be his own man. Satish Dhond had more than a say in this move. Dhond was also singularly responsible for cutting short the aspirations of Deputy CM Francis D’Souza who had raised a banner of revolt threatening to stay out of government, if he was not made the CM.
But there is always the last straw. And what broke Dhond’s back was his close association with Shilpa Naik of Bicholim who he went out of his way to promote, giving her the ticket for the Zilla Parishad elections without consulting the party. Alienated party workers even threw stones at his motorcade during the Zila Parishad poll campaign. That was the time even the RSS took notice and veterans like Subhash Velingkar spoke out against Dhond. Shilpa Naik’s loss in the ZP elections also gave an opportunity for Mr Parrikar to clearly tell the BJP leadership not to encourage a disturbing power centre like Dhond anymore.
So this will be his third exit from Goa. In 1993, his bête noire Shripad Naik banished him to Gujarat after several unsavoury incidents around him. In 2007, again with Naik as President, Dhond was sent out again after the BJP got only 14 seats, in an election in which Dhond was in charge. A low profile Avinash Koli from Solapur was brought in his place. Dhond returned before the last assembly elections which the BJP won due to the anti-Congress wave. This removal comes on the back of a lot of the RSS distancing itself from Dhond’s way of functioning, notwithstanding the fact that nine sitting MLAs wanted the decision to send him out of Goa reversed.
