The man who walked with Manohar Parrikar to college in Mapusa every afternoon, to give him company, finds himself very lonely in a party he joined, because of his then closest friend. For Francis D’Souza, who was edged out by the cumulative might of the Sang Parivar and its gatekeepers in Goa, from the Chief Minister’s post, after Mr Parrikar’s exit, is hearing “strong” rumours about his spurious elevation as a Governor of some state, akin to sending him on exile.
While Chief Minister Parsekar has tried to put a lid on this by saying the BJP cannot afford another by election, this remark itself can be seen as an insult to the Deputy Chief Minister, who along with Dr Wilfred Mesquita, are the minority veterans command space and gravitas within the BJP. It would be perfectly fair to assume that their discomfort within the BJP is rising after Mr Parrikar’s exit. Parsekar’s statement insinuates that the only reason why D’Souza will remain his deputy is because the BJP doesn’t want another by election.
While Mr D’Sousa’s shunting off to Rajasthan or any other state as Governor, a post normally reserved for geriatric party veterans past their political sell by dates, may not happen, it is clear that the saddened and almost hapless Deputy Chief Minster, puts nothing past his party, in order to belittle him. His remark when journalists asked him, to comment on the rumours about this gubernatorial move, that he would take voluntary retirement and spend time with family, is a reflection of what he actually wants to do.
As TCP Minister, he may have shown a sense of purpose but his willingness to get trapped in the wily TCP’s trap of re-introducing the discredited Regional Plan 2021 in a majority of village panchayats has recoiled very sharply. Though as Minister, he has shown interest in departmental work, Francis the leader and the politician of the BJP is demoralised. But Francis the Mapusa MLA and a leader in his own pocket still survives and that is what keeps him going.
A ring of RSS backroom boys, Satish Dhond and Vice President Dattaprasad Kholkar are running the party whose colours are not changing. They are merely getting back to the normal hue of saffron. In its truest sense, the BJP in Goa is getting back to normal, with all pretences kept aside. Let’s face this. Francis D’Souza doesn’t not fit into their scheme of things. He may surely be in the frame of Parrikar and certain other sections of the party but that is not the same-not any ore- as what the present party feels.
While there are no specific developments or any changes planned, the BJP has suffered a massive perception hit- with liberal doses of reality- among the minorities. The leap of faith of the Catholics towards the BJP has worn off and the chasm between the BJP and the minorities has become a gaping wound.
Francis D Souza’s obvious discomfiture in the BJP will further deepen the huge mistrust and sense of betrayal that the minorities feel, in the context of how they voted for the BJP in the last elections. His re appointment as Deputy Chief Minister was a reluctant consolation prize that the hawks handed over to him because they couldn’t afford a total visible alienation from the minorities. Now it doesn’t seem to bother them.
The BJP needs to be careful. Even if its present leadership rides on the residual affection of the people of Panjim towards Manohar Parrikar and delivers the seat to the party in this by- election, it should be prepared for a tectonic shift in how Goa sees them from now on.
To begin with, their own Deputy CM, lonely and frustrated, sees them differently now.
