July 10th marked two years of the black day, when ten Congress MLA’s sneezed on the mandate they were elected to the Goa Legislative Assembly to support the BJP government. The saga ended up proving that the Congress is a party that has lost the trust of Goans and is rooted with people hungry for power at all costs. What happened on July 10th was not only a political drama but something that has forever left a scar on the psyche of Goans for which redemption seems out of sight.
Ten Congress MLA’s, led by leader of the Opposition Babu Kavlekar, met Goa Assembly Speaker Rajesh Patnekar in the evening of July 10, 2019 informing him of their split from the Congress. Antanasio Monseratte and his wife Jennifer, Francis Silveira, Philip Nery Rodrigues, Cleofacio Dias, Wilfred D’Sa and Nilkant Harlankar were the nine whose jump was the last straw that broke the Congress camels back forever.
The Congress that had fifteen MLA’s landed with five and the party that had won the most seats in the last election ended being one amongst the local parties in the Goa Legislative Assembly. The desertion of the ten Congress MLA’s was a spit on the electorate, who had, in the 2017 election, elected 16 Congress MLA’s to the Assembly.
The rot in the Congress was shown right at the top with the leader of the Opposition leading the charade and exposing that the Congress Party and its members have no ideology and their only ideology was individual self advancement at any cost. Honestly, its high time we realise, that gone are the days when the Congress Party meant something and stood as the protector of centre-left secular politics and Nehruvian ideals. It is now nothing more than a group of mercenaries who will put self interest first above all else.
Ironically, the 2017 election result had placed the Congress with the highest number of MLA’s and instead of forming the Government , the Congress spent most if its time in-fighting on the CM’s post while their Central observers/ in-charges rolled a red carpet for the BJP under the late Manohar Parrikar to form a Government by cobbling together a majority.
The Congress received the first slap when Vishwajit Rane resigned and stood on the BJP ticket after having been inducted as Health Minister. But the defection of the ten MLA’s left an unsavoury taste in the mouths of Goans that will never leave.
Goa has seen defections since the Anti-defection laws came into force many years ago and the first defection that comes to mind was when Churchill Alemao took over the reins of chief minister for a fortnight. Governments have been formed and toppled thereafter but Goa never witnessed defections of the scale seen on July 10, 2019. It was a negative 10 scored on July 10, 2019 with the leader of the Opposition running away with three fourths of the Opposition!
The BJP under Dr Pramod Sawant acted shrewdly and strategically to increase his Govt’s mandate like an ace politician, taking advantage of the divided, ideology-less and crumbling Congress house – ultimately emerging even more powerful and getting rid of the Vijai Sardessai Goa Forward Party (GFP) alliance and Rohan Khaunte who had turned tainted and were liabilities for CM Sawant.
Goa is set to face the polls in a few months time and the desertion of the Congress MLA’s will still play on Goans minds with the episode of the July 10, 2019 ringing in the ears of Goans while they visit the ballot boxes. The first memory that will flash will be of the Congress being unable to form the government despite returning with the most number of seats and the second will be the party’s inability to hold its flock or house together, which is still plagued by in-fighting and disunity.
The Congress has been bruised by the BJP in the past and has been receiving a battering from the BJP since the 2017 election. It is turning to be a party that not only does not have a face in the Assembly but looks faceless within itself with the party still unable to decide who will lead the party for the forthcoming election.
So will Goans ever be able to trust the Congress Party again after the events of the 10th of July 2019? Honestly, the answer of any right thinking and rational Goan should be a resounding NO!
