It, however, leaves questions of what the opposition was doing when the Bill was taken up for debate and passing in the House.
Goa Congress is waking up a little too late to the fallout of the Bill that was passed in the State Assembly last week. As the main opposition party it had the opportunity to stall the passage of the Bill in the Assembly, it chose instead not to be present in the House and walked out with the rest of the opposition. So here’s the situation – the bill was passed unanimously because the opposition was not present. It bestows upon the opposition the opportunity to state to all Goans that it was not party to the passage of the Bill. But the opposition gave up its right to debate and vote against the Bill. It was very clear that the Bill would give rise to controversy, so the opposition had a duty to fulfil by staying on in the House and not walking out before it could be passed.
A question here: was it a deliberate ploy to stay away from the House? The answer to this question is not easy to obtain, as no one will admit the true reason for not being in the House when the Bill was passed. The scenario is such that if the opposition had remained present in the House, they would have to either vote for the Bill or vote against it. Had they voted for it, they would then not be able to criticise the government on the nature and contents of the Bill. Had they voted against it they risked alienating a large section of the migrant population who are their constituents and with an election just months away, this would be a big risk to take. Walking out was therefore the best way to play it politically and that is precisely what was done. But will they admit this? For two days the opposition stayed in the House till the early morning hours, what was the reason for the walkout on the last day?
In the end the situation didn’t play out the way the opposition might have wanted as the media – mainstream and social – raised the issue forcing the political parties to declare their stand on the Bill. After having abdicated their duty as opposition to remain in the House and oppose the Bill the sloppy manner in which they later took up the issue is nothing but a ploy to pull the lid over the eyes of the people. Clearly, even senior Congressmen are not buying into this lukewarm resistance to the Bill and at least two party members have questioned the leadership as to why it took them so many days to meet and deliberate the issue. For that matter, was there need for deliberation? This should have been an open and shut case for the party MLAs and organisation to say out loud and in one voice that they are opposed to it.
What next for the opposition? The opposition’s post passage of the Bill assertions have not made much of a difference as the Bill now stands withdrawn. It is when the Bill, in its new form, is reintroduced that the role of the opposition will come into play. Will the same parties that have now, outside the Assembly, shown their displeasure to the Bill, vote for it in the House when it is introduced in a new form? It will be interesting to see how the opposition does respond.
