At a quaint hotel in the heart of Panjim, which has a pub called ‘Mojo’, meaning a charm or a spell, the much awaited coming together of the opposition at a press conference, showed its first sign of reality, even if it is, for now, just for the Assembly elections. Whether this works as a charm for the creation of a mahagatbandhan of like-minded forces, for upholding values and principles of the people of Goa; only time will tell. But the need for a united opposition against the BJP, could not have been ignored any further, which forced the Congress Legislature Party to even accept Monserrate, who was sacked from the party not too long ago, to be a part of this conference.
What made this different from other press conferences was the inclusion of Vishwajit Rane and Babush Monserrate to the trio of Independent MLAs, less than a week after Monserrate and the Congress battled it out in the CCP elections.
For the moment, this coming together will result in a stronger opposition in the forthcoming budget session which will prevent the ruling party dictating the proceedings and stuffing out all opposition. What it will lead to are more questions being raised in a united chorus in the Assembly, when it comes to forcing discussions on a multitude of issues starting from the declassification of the coconut tree, the threat to Goa losing as much as 50% of its forest cover, the beach cleaning scam, the functioning of the contentious Investment Promotion Board, the monkey fever menace in Satarri and the elephantine scam and obvious shades of corruption in the Dona Paula Miramar road construction project.
What also assumes significance is the dynamics of opposition politics and the desperate need to come together will override things like norms, and protocol. The Leader of the Opposition may not in reality lead the floor management among opposition MLAs. The narrative which will play out will be a united opposition narrative and not an “independent” narrative or that of Babush Monserrate or that of the Congress either. It will be important that a discussion initiated by say Junior Rane will be planned with a Rohan Khaunte, or a Sardesai led debate will have a Congress MLA backing it.
In a sense, the seeds of a Mahagatbhandhan, a grand alliance will be sown for the first time which may take fruit in the future. Above all, forces which battle against each other, rather than the ruling BJP, will finally target the common foe and make this budget session politically expensive for the BJP.
Of course, this may all turn out to be a flash in the pan too. The possibility of that happening will become greater if a couple of MLAs use this new strength for self projection and dominance at the cost of others. If that happens, this alliance in the Assembly will be short lived. Egos will have to be set aside, a level playing field has to be provided to all and a systematic challenge to each of the projects, schemes and plans of the ruling party needs to be put forth to allow a unified clear opposition voice to emerge.
Is all this too late in the day? Has a lot of time been lost? Even if the answer to both is affirmative, there is no option but to give the unity dream one last shot.
