This silence is deafening. And as the Hindu fortnight of the Departed Souls (Pitr Paksh) gets over in 48 hours time, Goa awaits a weary resolution to which way the State shall head. The resolution of whether a seriously ill Chief Minister divests his Chair to someone more worthy or divests his key portfolios to someone more worthy or better still, is Goa entitled to being led by normal people going to work, meeting people and not bed-ridden. This promises to be quiet a week of redemption for Goan polity – only if it has the inclination, desire and even drive to course correct.
As BJP’s grapevine feeds fodder of uncertainty to Goans throughout the day that they still are in control of the state, the fact remains that the once indomitable party is now a congress of many fiefdoms. The party cadres are being treated as expendable soldiers whose role is over, the junior leaders are clueless whether it is Bhai-politics or Buy-politics that they should be known for. This week the different party that promised to chart out a different course in Goan politics will either try to shrug off its diffident, self-centred self or stand up and be counted. The looking glass does look pretty grim.
As the Fortnight of Forefathers come to an end on October 10th, Goa shall be seeking answers. Are we going to keep the democratic traditions of our forefathers alive (at least as a mark of respect to the fortnight past!) or will the current state of democratic apathy induce autocracy to continue unabated? There are talks of giving away departments of Home and Finance to worthy coalition partners by a largely invalid CM Manohar Parrikar. Will the BJP do that? This is an election year and every bit of administrative machinery especially policing is needed for the party in tatters to be of consequence in 2019. Will it gamble away its trump card? Or will it even dare to give off the Finance Department that controls the fortunes of the whole Government? Is the Man who did not give off his chair to anyone else, demoted his own loyal friend of twenty years so he could not eye his chair and gave away all plum ministerial berth to coalition partners so that there is no competition within his own party – worthy of such great sacrifices? The week may hold the answer to that. But the greatest answer that lies in the week is whether BJP will continue to implode within.
As American explorer Jeff Rich once said, “Hell hath no fury like a politician scorned”. And the ruling dispensation may have just triggered that. When Parrikar rewarded imports from Congress as Ministers and coalition partners as senior Ministers to his own partymen, he assumed too much. Goa’s BJP is a combination of RSS diehards, intellectual moderates, Catholic loyals and power seeking imports. It is not the Party of Atal, Adani and that Class. While demoting of former Deputy Chief Minister Francis D’Souza to fourth in the Cabinet and dropping him altogether may have been met with words, the repeated sidelining of Calangute MLA & Deputy Speaker Michael Lobo and even betraying promises made to him as Cabinet colleagues from other parties and within BJP itself treat him with snide and contempt may not end in whimper. Lobo, the unsung architect of the 2017 coalition Government that rules us now wasn’t speaking out the denial of Cabinet berth when he attacked his own party during the Mining affected workers protest. He showed the true Goan spirit – ‘Take my loyalty but don’t take me for granted, I am nice, not naïve and when I speak – I bring your house down’.
This will be the week of the BJP that has taken many a loyalist for granted just to stay on in power. If the BJP hasn’t learnt lessons from the Fortnight of Ancestors, it stands the chance of being confined alongside them in Goan polity by its own. October 10th is just days away.
