HERALD: You had contested more seats last year. But this time in the pre-poll alliance you’ve settled for three seats. Would you have contested more seats?
SARDESAI: For the last two years, I’ve been working to create an opposition alliance that could take on the BJP and defeat it. Our focus was to unseat this hugely unpopular government which is the sentiment of the Goan on the street. I believed that a political grouping of all opposition parties with Congress as the main force will be formidable to remove the BJP from power. I didn’t want disputes over seats to come in the way of liberating Goa.
H: Ever since you were denied the Fatorda ticket in 2012, your relationship with Congress has not been rosy. You had even said that Congress is stealing your candidates. What changed?
V: Anyone living in Goa today can see the parade of sins this Pramod Sawant govt has done in the last 2-3 years. Removing Sawant is the single most objective of every conscientious Goan. The Congress and we both realise and acknowledge this sentiment of the people and have come together to fight the anti-people regime of the BJP. My idea of Team Goa is everyone who opposes this anti-Goan dispensation, which means the people are also part of it. We’ve created the single most powerful political force that will unseat the BJP. What’s going to change is the government.
H: Do you see your move in 2017 to back the BJP and help form its government as a “betrayal” of the people’s movement since you won on anti-BJP votes?
V: The decision to continue our support to Pramod Sawant, even though it was based on my utor to a dying Parrikar, was a mistake. I have publicly apologised for it. I have not a moment’s hesitation to state that I was wrong, and by saying sorry I’ve emerged stronger. The events of 2017 that led to the formation of the BJP government has been discussed many times and commented upon, but I’ll say this: I tried till the last minute to forge a non-BJP government and failed, and our support was never to the BJP, but to Parrikar to form a stable government in Goa. A lot of energy has been spent to put forward honestly what happened, and it has been a challenge. Sometimes I’ve felt alone in doing this. I regret that I couldn’t find another way around the problem that faced us then. I learn from my mistake, and I’ll move ahead. But the position I had then is the position I have now; to be a regionalist force that upholds the aspirations of Goemkars.
H: You and your team have been focusing on the “Fatorda model” of development. How can you align it with the Goa model of development to strike a fine balance between sustainability, environment, and eco-sensitivity on one hand and construction, expansion, and infrastructure augmentation on the other?
V: The assumption that development can only happen at the expense of the environment is utterly false. This can’t be reduced to a binary. The Fatorda Model at the very core has the consent of the people for its development. I can’t see why that can’t extend itself to Goa. Look at the so-called development that BJP is thrusting upon the people. The Linear Projects, the IIT fiasco, the Coal Hub, the Casino capital; none of this has the consent of the people because it’s not their development.
H:Your political opponents keep referring to the 16B amendment (to the TCP act), during your tenure as TCP minister saying it was done to allow ad-hoc conversions of privately owned plots in the Regional Plan based on individual applications from such parties. It’s alleged that this was done to help project developers avail of zone changes.
V: This is a classic case of truths and half-truths twisted out of proportion just to malign me. I totally agree with Congress that 16B needs to be scrapped. But you must understand the context in which it was introduced, and also that it was brought in solely to give justice that was denied to Goan landowners. In 2012, under the term ’Rationalisation’, approximately 4 crore sq m of land belonging to Goans were converted from ‘Settlement’ to ‘Orchard’. At the same time, around 8 crore sq m of agricultural land belonging to Delhi builders were converted into ‘Settlement’. This was unfair and unequal and needed to be addressed. 16B was brought in as a remedy for Goans to reconvert their land after scrutiny on a case-to-case basis. This was to correct an injustice that was done to Goenkar land owners. Today, the BJP has made it into an ATM.
H: The ghost of the formalin controversy has remained with you with the charge that the biggest fish trader in Goa, who allegedly brings information laced fish into Goa was close to you and you allowed him to a monopoly business in Goa, without even looking at the health aspects of Goans eating formalin laced fish.
V:This is another of the ridiculous stories circulated to undermine the popular work I’m doing in Fatorda. I reiterate that I have nothing to do with this person you speak of, and to even suggest that I would encourage formalin laced fish is preposterous. I don’t import the fish I eat; I buy from the same market as everybody else. The wholesale market is not in Fatorda because I wanted it. In fact, I asked it to be shifted out of Fatorda many times. Thankfully, Goans see merit in the facts, not in my political rivals’ wild imagination.
H: If a situation arises that the BJP and anyone else who supports it has 20 MLAs and need just 1. In that scenario will you even offer support of your party MLAs (up to 3) to be an ally in government or outside support to this formation
V: We have a pre-poll alliance with the Congress & this combination is credible and powerful enough to fulfill the wishes of the people- to uproot the BJP. I give you my word, whatever the scenario may be, even if it means sitting in the opposition for the next five years, we will not offer any kind of support to the BJP. My priority is to see a Goa without a BJP government, and we’re confident that by now, people will come to a conclusion that our Congress-GFP Alliance is competent enough to defeat the BJP. Everything else, including being a minister is not even in my consideration.
