Manohar Parrikar has done the unthinkable. In a span of 24 hours he has managed to reopen wounds and touch the rawest nerves of a large section of Goa, by making two contentious announcements on two issues, one of which was a catalyst in leapfrogging him to power. And more than the substance of his decisions, his style of putting them across has done the damage.
First up – the Regional Plan. This was an issue which was seen as a joint venture of the BJP and the Goa Bachao Abhiyan – a venture initiated by Parrikar, clearly to jump on the anti-government angst bandwagon, when he was leader of the opposition. When the agitation against the Final Regional Plan of 2021 was its peak, the BJP backed it completely. This agitation was mentioned even in all communication of the party before the 2012 elections. The publicity booklet for Manohar Parrikar’s Jan Sampark Abhiyan from January 15 to 30th 2012 stated “The Regional Plan published with great fanfare is being opposed throughout the state. The village gram sabhas and NGOs pointed serious errors and illegalities in the plan and expressed fears of far reaching consequences in the future as a result of a faulty plan. The Government’s vested interest is exposed. There is state-wide outburst for scrapping of the Regional Plan 2021”
This was a Parrikar backed document in 2012. In 2014, the same person has taken procrastination to a level of a fine art. He announced in the assembly now that he would review the Regional Plan in two or three months after he settled outstanding issues of mining. Where are the Chief Minister’s fears of far reaching consequences in the future as a result of a faulty plan, that he empathized with as leader of the opposition? Where is his empathy with the “state-wide outburst for scrapping of the Regional Plan 2021”.
The goalposts of the issues around the Regional Plan haven’t shifted, the goalkeeper has. And this could be disastrous.
As if this wasn’t enough, he went ahead and declared that the promoters of Special Economic Zones, whose land allotments were declared illegal, would indeed still get 30% of their plot allotments. The ostensible purpose of this was to free up the other 70% land for developmental purposes, which is around 25 lakh square metres (the total allotment was about 40 lakh square meters). This amount of land could have easily been got from fresh acquisitions or even better still, freeing up other land which is in the state’s possession, but guarded zealously by various government departments who refuse to part with unutilized land.
By trying to get part of the land back by allowing SEZ promoters to keep 30%, had the potential to spark trouble and it did. This is a very sensitive issue and affects the same constituency of people who are peeved with the standstill over the Regional Plan. Many of them had jointly gone to court or supported those who went, in order to get the land allotted back to the comunidades, so that the people could decide the public purpose of those lands.
Now the Chief Minister can take the hardline view that once the government has acquired land, it’s his call on what to do with the land. But these calls cannot be taken by wielding power, but involving people. The common grouse is that earlier the BJP and the then leader of the opposition used to come to them. Now, even after seeking appointments for months, he has not met any of these stakeholders.
For a Chief Minister who rode to power by Goans hungry for a change, it is pitiable that his actions are forcing people to say, “This is not the change we sought”.
