Post 2022 elections when the BJP assumed power due to their majority in numbers, everyone in Goa believed that the voter had the last say. People were confident that for the next 5 years there would be stability and a strong government in place. The public at large were sure that this time there would be no betrayal and defections since the candidates had publicly sworn affidavits and promised before God and the Constitution that they would not change their parties post elections.
September 14, 2022 changed the whole perception held by the people. The entire State was in for a rude shock. Even the diehard BJP members as well as affiliates were shocked and bewildered to witness the eight Congress stalwarts elected by the people on Congress tickets sashayed seamlessly into the BJP fold. The unconditional cross-over by Congressmen was indeed an act of betrayal and shamelessness. The defectors this time have made a mockery not only of democracy but of God as well. During the recent elections in 2022 there was a wide spread understanding among the people that defectors should be shown the door and that led to many losing their seats. But once again, the bug of defections has bitten the elected representatives of our State and the question now justly asked by the electorate in every street, pub, club and restaurant and homes – why do our elected representatives hop and jump so often from one party to another with impunity? As they say: where there is honey there are bees and where there is money there are thieves. The 40 legislators of Goa have often been referred to as the 40 thieves of Ali Baba.
There is a need now to stop describing this phenomenon of defections and seriously reflect upon the motivations as to why defections are taking place with such high frequency and why have the electors lost control on their elected representatives?
The foremost reason which comes to my mind is the breakdown and undermining of the Congress High Command. If Congress today is in such a sorry state of affairs and in disarray, it is primarily because of Congressmen and their leaders who have stabbed the party and deserted its ranks. These very people who have forsaken the party in search of political power and currency were once the beneficiaries who enjoyed the fruits of power from the Congress. Even a child is aware that the Gandhi’s cannot be held responsible for the decline in the fortunes of the party. Goa is a stellar example where several Congressmen were promoted as Chief Ministers and enjoyed the loaves and fishes of power and have now joined hands with rival parties. We have Luizinho Faleiro who is at present with the TMC and Digambar Kamat who is now with the BJP.
Let’s take a look at the entire nation. Assam was once a bastion of the Congress. The BJP weaned away disgruntled Congressmen and brought the State under its rule. Through the Assam channel the BJP has now made strong inroads among the North Eastern States and has reduced the Congress as well as the regional parties to play second fiddle. As we look at the political map in the year 2022, BJP is making inroads into every State and union territory in the country. It appears that the opposition is bull-dozed into a non-entity. This is a time for all human rights activists, the intelligentsia and the public at large to be watchful and vigilant. The former GPCC president’s petition challenging the defection of 10 Congress MLAs to the BJP in 2019 is pending before the Supreme Court. The Tenth Schedule was brought to curb the evil of defection. The Apex court seems to be sleeping over these petitions. In the meanwhile people of Goa seem to have grown accustomed to political instability and uncertainty. When a society slips into a dysfunctional mode, it is acche din for the crooks and thieves.
September 15 is celebrated annually as the International Day of Democracy in order to review the state of democracy around the globe, as it is perceived to be a vital component for nourishing a peaceful, secure and equitable society. It was in 1994 that the BJP won four seats in the Goa assembly election for the first time. Three of the winners went on to make an everlasting impact on Goa’s politics.
Apart from Shripad Naik, who is now a minister in Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s cabinet, the other two – late Manohar Parrikar and Digambar Kamat have had an interesting past between them. Digambar Kamat began his political journey with BJP in Goa. Later, as a Congressman, he led a coup to topple the BJP government complaining of ghusmatmar (suffocation) within the party. Today, he is back in BJP bringing Congress to its knees. All those who are saying that they have gone to the BJP for development, had come to the Congress because they were complaining that under the BJP dispensation they were deprived of adequate funds for development works in their constituencies.
The Congress has suffered a big meltdown in Goa, a State where it was once a dominant political force. While the Congress has started a Bharat Jodo Yatra in the rest of the country, in Goa it has been the ‘Congress Chhoro Yatra’. Can we now say that it is not only the people of Goa who are ajeeb (strange) as Nehru said but also her politics?
(The writer is a social scientist and a senior practising criminal lawyer)
