JOSE MARIA MIRANDA
When BJP took over the reins of power in Goa in 2012 and at the Centre in 2014, even those strongly opposed to the party’s ideology, were somewhat convinced that a true ‘parivartan’ may even tually happen, as promised, though many did not really believe that BJP was ‘a par ty with a difference’ as it trumped up to be. Even the Congress, which looked fatigued then, seemed willing to give up without a real fight. The re sults then did not surprise anyone and were much an ticipated. However, what the Congress and many of BJP’s adversaries did not anticipate is that the latter party would try to cling to power perpetually by hook or by crook and would re sort to any type of manip ulation to stay put. Nor did people expect that Constitu tional authorities, which we find seriously compromised today, would so easily and shamelessly succumb to the pressures, instead of taking up cudgels on behalf of the people, to fight a highly au thoritarian and vindictive government.
If you enjoyed reading this article, you can help support our journalism by adding OHeraldo as a preferred source.
The diktat was and con tinues to be: ‘Either toe the line or face the consequenc es, no matter how high you are’. And, since no one wish es to face undue harass ment from servile agencies, however clean one may appear, everyone prefers to nod his/her head. Though Modi initially attempted only a ‘Con gress-free India’ in 2014, he has always been uncomfort able with opposition to his dictatorial ways, dreaming of ‘Opposition-mukt Bharat’, to advance his agenda of changing the Constitution and eventually turning In dia into a Hindu Rashtra. Despite reverses suffered in 2024, thanks to a united Opposition, BJP has relent lessly followed a fearless policy of trying to polarise the voters and usurp power, wherever possible and by whatever means. From mere seven States and UTs in 2014, the BJP expanded its national foot print to 21 covering now 76% of India from a mea gre 34% earlier, though this astronomical increase has never been by fair methods, often throwing to the winds the people’s mandate.
When BJP formed the government in Maharash tra in 2022 with Shiv Sena rebel Eknath Shinde as CM, it had unscrupulously al ready overthrown six con stitutionally formed gov ernments earlier, through defections and rebellions, surprisingly supported by High Courts and even the Supreme Court, though there had not been any split in the original party, the Supreme Court in the 2023 Maharashtra judg ment (Subhash Desai ver sus Governor of Maharash tra) specifically observed that the legislature party cannot be independent of the parent political party. Hence, a “split” only in the legislature, without a split in the organisational struc ture, is ‘legally suspect’. Critics argue that treating a 2/3 split as a “merger” is a legal fiction to bypass the anti-defection law and al low “horse-trading”, which the law actually meant to prevent. The law governing the appointment of Election Commissioners, enacted in 2023, which unceremo niously removed the Chief Justice of India from the se lection panel, and amend ments to election rules, which restricted public ac cess to poll documents, en abled BJP to use the ECI as a strategic shield to insulate itself from electoral risks. Accusations by opposition leaders that the BJP was us ing the ECI to “steal” votes, citing voter deletions in West Bengal, Maharashtra, and Karnataka, allegations of EVM manipulations, al lowing enough time of 2/3 days for counting after the closure of polls, sudden heavy surge in voter turn out after 5 pm, all this and much more didn’t deter BJP from its political and elec toral machinations. While the BJP continued to induce defections, it intensified its focus on manipulating the electoral landscape through ECI-related administrative measures to secure favour able results in State Assem bly elections. An outstand ing feature of PM Modi’s personality is his ‘ability’ to remain unfazed, immune and thick-skinned to any criticism, preferring to win elections through his stoog es, particularly the arro gant and utterly servile ECI, carefully chosen to achieve the desired results. While the Special Inten sive Revision (SIR) could have been a desirable exer cise to eliminate deceased, duplicate and absentee vot ers, the deletion of over 9 million voters in WB, with 2.7 million protesting their elimination from the rolls, left the process more than suspect. The resignation of former Chief Justice of Cal cutta High Court, T S Sivag nanam, Judge of the SIR Tri bunal, after having allowed 1777 appeals and rejecting none, strengthened the sus picion and speaks volumes on SIR and its most debas ing exercise. He slammed those responsible by saying it would take four years to complete the process and resigned in disgust. Despite severe thrashing with 3 in Keralam and 1 in TN, BJP stooped to use its nominee, the Governor Ra jendra Arlekar, to try and thwart the formation of the Vijay Joseph Government in TN. Arlekar, unfortunately a Goan breaking constitu tional conventions, refused to invite Vijay to form the Government. Thus, en couraging horse-trading in the State. For BJP’s eter nal shame, this accusation came from none other than the BJP-inclined anchor, Arnab Goswami. The egos of leaders of various Opposition politi cal parties, whose personal interests seem above the country’s and the State’s, the obvious dissensions in the Congress in Keralam, where it is unable to choose its leader, the failure of the India Alliance in meeting after the 2024 elections, the animosity seen be tween Congress & TMC in WB, the cold shoulder given by Stalin to Rahul prior to elections and the present rupture of their relations, surely do not augur well for the country, where Modi, Shah and their sycophants are aggressively pushing their attempts at decimat ing the Opposition further. Even in our own State, it does appear that the Oppo sition instead of capitalis ing on the various protests happening almost all over Goa and the prevailing an ti-incumbency wave, is get ting rather ready to hand over the reins of power once again to the destruc tive BJP. We can only hope that better sense will pre vail and the Opposition will soon put their act together not to allow another five years of destruction and authoritarian rule in Goa. (The author is a retired banker)
