In 2012 the people of Goa decisively threw out the then corrupt and scam-ridden Congress party. In 2017, the BJP bosses know fully well, unlike the Congress then, that the people of Goa by and large are totally disenchanted with the style of functioning of their government, rich in “U- turns” and for stifling peoples’ aspirations. But there is a “big Difference”. The BJP today have propped up several Independent candidates or “local political outfits”, skillfully designed to eat into opposition votes and bringing down the “Index of Opposition Unity” as well as the negative ill-effects of “Incumbency factor”.
For a common man, what I have stated would not matter much, but for the Congress or the Aam Admi Party it should be a matter of great concern, as the ruling BJP is “engineering skillfully” to target victory, by way-laying the confused voters. In 2014, the BJP’s appeals of Acche Din, Sab Ka Sath Sab-Ka-Vikas, less government more of governance and eliminating corruption by punishing the corrupt gave absolute majority, leaving the Congress to suck its thumb and accept defeat.
Over the last two and half years the incumbent government has placed the commonman from the “frying pan into the fire”. Should we be dictated upon as what we should eat and how we must dress and what exactly is our culture? For Goa particularly the Supreme Court had stalled illegal ore extraction due to imminent and inimical scams but the government of the day, has renewed the lease agreement against the spirit of law laid down by the Supreme Court and they have also not made resource utilisation a people- centric activity by taking locals into confidence. The Investment Promotion Board is in actuality a destructive planning body. Again the National Green Tribunal has struck down several illegal activities in the coastal zone and the haphazard garbage management systems are money guzzling institutions. The Saligao garbage plant is a scam. It needs to be under vigilance scanner; as soon as the new Government is sworn in. The dangers of helicopter or sea plane tourism, menace of uncontrolled shacks and beach beds on our beaches, the pollution peaking in all our rivers due to sewage releases from housing complexes, casinos, fishing trawlers and floating hotels, as well as river cruise boats remains largely un-addressed and unspelt by political parties in the political battle to the 2017 Goa Assembly.
Political parties in Goa only promise doles to Goans; no dignity to earn a living. Hence briefly presenting the misgivings of the environmentalists, spiritual leaders and the people at large from Goa as above, I would like to speak out the role of the main parties, as to what they need to do for the next 5 years – i.e. 2017 to 2022.
The tragedy with the Congress is that the party of 125 years has been shredded into being a spent force relying on regional satraps or local kinpins. Winnability of candidates and not the winnability of the organisation of the Congress party is their recipe. Individuals become bigger than the party. No doubt, opportunists like Mauvin Godinho, Pandurang Madkaikar, Babu Azgaonkar and Churchill Alemao desert the party as they have muscle and the money power. There is no ideology which is respected by candidates standing for elections. The constituency which they represent appears to be void and an apparent vacuum on the horizon.
At this late stage, to give winnability to the party by offering a ticket to a candidate, who is committed to Congress ideology seemed impossible, because the electorate in Goa by and large is slowly but surely losing sense of self-respect and dignity. The voters are getting used to a system of doles, freebies and illegal license raj. The youth want sports goods, the women are happy with Griha Adhar pittance, those in religious duties are seen wanting money from candidates for repair of religious structures. This columnist is aware of a candidate who forced someone to give a donation towards infrastructure development of a religious structure to ensure him, his legitimate hotel licence. Ideally one can refrain from giving donations but the due licence would remain rolling in red tape for years without the bribe or donation.
The corrupt panchayats, and those involved in governance, both at the state as well as at central levels use the licence raj, not to regulate constructions or monitor the genuineness of the commercial activities, but to suffocate and stifle the entrepreneur into “illegal gratification”. There is nothing called “Ease of Doing Business”.
The motive is to acquire riches from rags. The motto of some is to spend money to buy a ticket, to woo the voters, to get one self elected and for 5 years loot and plunder the state and become a nuisance to the public at large and also the party which may have first sold him the ticket. Standing for elections is a big business and not a service any longer. Politics is becoming a game for scoundrels.
No regional or a national party is offering Goans dignity of labour or vouching to protect, preserve and sustainably utilise our natural resources and ensuring that Goa remains green, clean and dreamy paradise for the future generations.
We get the government we deserve. The voters today have become greedy and lazy and on March 11, 2017 we would have in place our destiny and the future of Goa revealed to us through the vote counting process, as declared by the election commission. Let us hope for Mr Right for the next 5 years.
(Dr Joe D’souza is a former professor of Goa University)
