Cong’s “communal” battle plan is a double edged sword
Behind the hurly burly of finalising its alliance the congress seems to be finally sitting down to work on a plan to counter the BJP’s campaign slogan “Goa deserves better”.
Manohar Parrikar’s march through Goa on his janpsampark yatra, has troubled the Congress. Insiders, privately admit that the crowds he has been drawing especially in parts of Salcete is “worrying” .
This plan is at every rudimentary stage and is at the moment being bounced off the senior leadership in Delhi and Goa. But the trend emerging from these early discussions, reflects a slight knee jerk desperation rather than a clear strategy. The two main cards the congress will open up in its counter offensive will be the communal and the caste card.
The Congress appears to have gone back to its tried and tested attack against the BJP. That it is communal and against the minorities (read Catholics). This line of attack is not completely wrong simply because there will be voters in Salcete who are disillusioned with the Congress but do not quite trust the BJP. It is this class the Congress is targeting. Again here, Manohar Parrikar’s bad “Good Friday” move will haunt him. As part of a larger questionnaire the party plans to release for the voters of Goa, one of the first questions will be ‘Who cancelled the Good Friday holiday for Goans”.
The second offensive is indeed interesting. Some sections within the Congress have urged the leadership to cash in on the BJP’s refusal to allow its tallest backward caste leader in Goa, Sripad Naik to contest the assembly elections. Naik, was open about his desire to contest from Porvorim and even lead the party, stating in an interview that he had all the qualities to be the Chief Minister of Goa. While Herald had reported more than a week ago that Sirpad’s re-entry to state politics, through his party route was ruled out, the final decision has left Sripad Naik thoroughly dejected. But Naik won’t revolt. The Congress is planning to cash in on the unease by pitching this as an affront to the backward castes by the upper caste lobby led by Manohar Parrikar. It expects this card to work in certain pockets of North Goa, especially in Ponda, Bicholim and Valpoi. This at best is an innovative thought though its effectiveness needs to be evaluated.
There are two ways of looking at these plans. The charitable and positive interpretation is that the party is beginning to put some thought into this election beyond trying to balance its disparate internal rivalries. The flip side is that the Congress is running out of positives of its own and has therefore been forced to take a hard anti BJP line rather than a line which talks about the achievements of its government . This is a risky approach but it’s the best the congress has. It cannot sell a “clean governance card”, with rampant corruption in the grassroots. It is also on the defensive on the mining and regional plan issues.
It therefore hopes to counter the corruption attack with a caste and communal counter attack. This is when the sensibilities and the commonsense of the Goan voter will be tested.
