Political Fixing
Months after he went off the political radar, Babush Monserrate decided to resurface with a splash on the eve of the State Assembly session that began on Wednesday. One assumes the ennui of Opposition politics and the prospect of suffering yet another session dominated by Chief Minister Manohar Parrikar probably has much to do with the Congress’ Santa Cruz MLA’s sudden need to shake things up politically. But scratch the surface and there’s much more than meets the eye to the fizzy “revolt” being whipped up against Pratapsingh Rane’s leadership of the Congress Legislature Party (CLP).
Inside the grand old doddering party the cynical response to the latest churning is: When was Rane’s leadership anything more than insipid, even when he was in power? So, why the sudden uprising? And if the Leader of Opposition is to be replaced, who will the disagreeable mantle fall upon? Digambar Kamat, who has been recently named in the ACB (anti corruption branch) mining FIR? Mauvin Godinho, who’s still not done with showering praises on the BJP CM? The younger Aleixo Reginaldo Lourenço who enjoys a good equation with the Ranes?
The timing of Monserrate’s political reawakening is interesting. It coincided with the news that the ACB had finally been green-signalled to lodge an FIR on a two-year old complaint over the mining scam, naming Rane and Kamat. The FIR no doubt serves to cover the government’s back with the Supreme Court hearing in the mining case now in full throttle. Politically of course, there are many ways to interpret the signals being sent out by these moves, given that two MPs, one of them the RJD’s infamous Lalu Prasad and the Congress’ Rasheed Massod are now being flea-bitten in jail. The July Supreme Court ruling that lifted the immunity our convicted MPs and MLAs enjoyed till now hangs like a dark shadow over several netas in Goa as well. All it would take is for the government to push the button.
The 2008 mob violence and attack against the Panjim police station will continue to dog the Monserrate couple, Babush and Jennifer, till the trial runs its course. For all his swagger, Goa Vikas Party MLA Micky Pacheco who sees himself as a political “supremo” on the lines of AIADMK’s Jayalalitha and the late Bal Thackeray of the Shiv Sena, is perhaps even more vulnerable. The Nadia case is still in the “investigation” stage with the crime branch. It could go to trial, or not. Given the blatant misuse of the “system” in this country, such decisions are not always based on legal considerations.
The Congress’ biggest shortcoming is its inability to rein in its satraps. Power is the glue that held them together. Bereft of power, they not only become irrelevant, but also see themselves as such. They cannot conceive the notion of a five-year term purely for legislative functioning with no T20 fireworks of government-rattling to keep them engaged, an astute MLA says.
The Congress’ stupor has been a gift on a platter for a Chief Minister caught in an economic bind, partly of his own making, and the niggling irritation of disenchantment in his own camp and beyond. Despite his apparent shortcomings ~ egocentrism would top the list, say his critics ~ the ability to strategize politically remains Parrikar’s biggest asset. What better way to create a smokescreen than to use one’s allies in the Opposition ranks to rake up dissent a few months ahead of the general election? The fact the BJP used a complaint filed by the Congress “spokesperson” Sudip Tamankar to target Rane and Kamat is no doubt a huge embarrassment to the Congress Party. But given that things in that camp are at such a low ebb, with each “leader” headed in his own direction, it’s probably just water off a duck’s back to them.
