The headline above could have been a question. But it’s a summary of the working of a man who had the potential to be one of the tallest leaders of Goa, who could have to leap frogged to a national presence. A scrutiny of his role in the politics of Goa is imperative now because the failure of the opposition to bring a struggling government to its knees, after a series of disastrous political mistakes, must lie at the feet of the Pratapsingh Raoji Rane, the Khashe of Satari.
His Lordship has failed to provide leadership to the opposition, as the only Congress leader who has constantly held positions of power. Even as Congress state presidents come and go, Rane has never had to play the game of musical chairs. The red beacon, the office, the 17 member staff and all other trappings have been bestowed on a man who has ruled the longest. But we are in the present. The here and the now. If the BJP, inspite of its blundering through its three years in power, feels that it will be able to pull off a repeat in 2017 albeit with fewer seats and needing independent crutches, it is because Rane has failed to drive the legislature party and give steam to his party to bring the BJP on the mat on failures and broken promises from which no party should be allowed to recover.
The Leader of the Opposition is behaving like the surgeon general of the BJP, giving life to its lungs, with his oxygen of silence. His utterances, if any have been in the media but here too each of his statements can be used to ask further questions. Speaking to a national daily last week he reportedly said that the “Congress got disorganized after the 2012 assembly loss, and the BJP played their game well by getting the minorities with them. Influential members from the minority community went with the BJP and the minorities voted for the BJP. But the Congress is working and will bounce back”
How will the congress do that one may ask. By statements like this? Commenting on U-turns made by the BJP, Rane says “The latest is the transport minister saying that helmets would be compulsory for riders and pillion riders from April 1. Was it an April fool’s joke? I think so; because today I see lot of people without helmets”. Is this the best example if BJP’s U-turns Mr Rane could come up with? His criticism of Chief Minister Parsekar is that of an adoring concerned aunty and not a fierce opposition leader. He says Mr Parsekar has been “saddled” with a lot of problems because “that gentleman” (Mr Parrikar, in case it wasn’t obvious), went to Delhi.
Even on the issue of religious polarisation, he said that it might seem that the BJP isn’t doing it but its little branches are.
The point is that on issues which will be the centre of focus in 2017, a lamb like genteel approach with few and far between comments in the press, is not a hard substitute to well prepared speeches and interventions in the assembly. One may argue that Rane has never been like that but if that is so, he should not be on that chair because a benevolent to the opposition Maharaja, will not get Congress the crown in the next elections.
At every step, Rane seems to be at odds with the party. On the day when GPCC president Luizinho Faleiro discussed a multi-prong strategy to “expose” the BJP-led Goa government, Mr Rane termed Chief Minister Laxmikant Parsekar as a “nice person” and asked him to go ahead with notifying the flawed Regional Plan 2021, kept in abeyance by Manohar Parrikar as Chief Minister, in a phased manner. The Congress’ stand on this has been to insist that the BJP fulfill its own government’s promise to de-notify the plan and come up with a fresh one.
On the issue of the Mopa airport where the Congress has tilted towards the view of South Goa’s absolute rejection of the new Mopa airport, keeping in mind its electoral ramifications, this was Mr Rane’s gem. “The Mopa Greenfield international airport is my baby. I had proposed it to the Airport Authority of India (AAI)”. Well if that’s the case, then the baby will be thrown out of the political bathwater taking Mr Rane with it. The contradiction with the party stand on this is stark. Luizinho Faleiro, when taking over as GPCC president had said that Goa is not ready for two airports and Dabolim should be defended vigourously.
However, when the assessment of the opposition is made along with that of the ruling party, Rane’s stand on the Mopa airport or the Regional Plan may still not stand out as glaring anomalies. Goa is a land of sentiment, emotion and passion and a leader is weighed on the touchstone of emotive connect to their sentiments. Pratapsingh Raoji Rane’s physical as well as emotive distance from emotional Salcete and his figurative distance from most other parts of Goa has been glaring.
When Churches burnt in North India, Mr Rane was quiet. When the beef ban was announced in Maharashtra and there was an acute shortage of beef in Goa, Mr Rane was quiet. When the government has failed to notify the bring about the new Medium of Instruction Act, Mr Rane is quiet. He is so far removed from matters that matter to the people of Goa, that his presence is irrelevant. He is as good as having retired and a war is not fought with retired Generals.
A leader’s biggest defeat is not at the hustings. It is when people cease to have any expectations of him. No electoral defeat can match the ignominy of being ignored. Pratapsingh Rane has reached that stage where he has stopped mattering. It is the Congress’ failure that it still allows such a man to be its opposition leader with the next assembly elections a little over a year away.
