Serious party with good intent, a proven track record and strong leadership is what Goa needs
Any of the parties in the fray who fulfill these criteria will get the mandate
Personal attacks on social media cannot decide the will of the people
It is clear that the entry of Trinamool Congress has upset the plans of all the A teams and B teams of political parties who had a set understanding.
However, instead of reacting like mature political parties, one wonders why they have upped their army of social media WhatsApp and video specialists to make personal attacks and arguments about the place of origin of the Trinamool, instead of telling the people what their parties will bring to the table, either as the ruling party seeking another term or as a failed opposition party.
Let the people of Goa decide
Let each party put itself to these tests and state how it does and will pass these tests. And let the people be the final judge and vote for any party of their choice based on these criteria.
– Does the party have strong leadership, organisation and structure?
– Do the key people in the party (whether it has been in Goa for ages or is a new entrant) have a track record of having participated in people’s causes and fought for Goa’s culture, language and identity?
– Are people from all walks of life who have served Goa in various capacities and not just as politicians who have made politics a business, with the party?
– Are tiatrists, artists, lawyers, writers and members of Goa’s artistic and cultural community, that binds Goa together joining politics as a people’s movement and not merely to grab power?
– Is the party consolidating in Goa and the state or disintegrating all over the country with many of its MLAs and senior leaders leaving it?
Everything else besides these criteria is irrelevant. And the irrelevant space is taken up by orchestrated WhatsApp messages and videos, planned and executed by parties that think they cannot face an issue-based, record-based and performance-based elections.
Outsider party? Congress and the BJP were not homegrown Goan parties from the beginning
Neither the Congress nor the BJP were Goa born parties. They too came from the national space. It is the people who became a part of the party, sons and daughters of the soil, who made those parties.
Take a look at the disintegration of the Congress nationally
In Meghalaya, former Chief Minister Mukul Sangma and 13 MLAs are in the verge of leaving the party and joining the Trinamool Congress. India Today has reported that Prashant Kishor’s team is in talks with him on behalf of the Trinamool Congress. This follows the resignation of former Goa CM Luizinho Faleiro from the Congress and joining the TMC along with others.
In Punjab, former Chief Minister Captain Amarinder Singh citing deep humiliation is forming his Punjab Vikas Party. Amarinder was the sitting CM and was set to lead the party to the next elections.
It is clear that across states, the Congress has been side-lining and humiliating its senior leadership which has forced this alienation and the breaking away of genuine Congressmen, not for the sake of power after the results, but much before elections in order to put up an honest electoral fight for the people.
In Goa, the anytime Jumping Jack and the Conductor are playing their own game
The two local ringmasters who are controlling the Goa Congress are the anytime Jumping Jack and the Conductor. It is widely known that the Jumping Jack had been on the verge of moving from the Congress to the BJP on many occasions but has been kept hanging by the BJP which has better use of him in the Congress. Political observers have all along said that the chances of Jumping Jack leading the defection to the BJP post elections, is very high, a repeat of the 2017 situation, assisted by the Conductor who is busy taking in new people onto the Congress, many of whom have close links with BJP leaders.
If that happens, will we have to wait for another five years for a strong honest opposition?
Goans have lost their patience. And they need a credible opposition as much as it needs a credible ruling party
When they get neither, the future of Goans is at stake. The future of their children is at stake. The future of their livelihoods and prosperity is at stake. The future of Goan identity and ethos, its heritage and its environment are at stake. The future of the land is at stake. And most importantly, the future of the very idea of Goa is at stake.
A party that is going to the people must have leadership that is not under serious probe for any illegality or irregularity
Digambar Kamat is leading the party but has the Louis Berger case still hanging over him.
Judge Sherin Paul at the special court in Mapusa has ordered that the charges be framed against Digambar Kamat.
The ED had registered a case under the Prevention of Money Laundering Act (PMLA) in 2015, based on an FIR filed by the Goa police, following which a charge-sheet was filed in 2019. Churchill Alemao has also been charged in this case. According to a PTI report, it was alleged that US-based firm Louis Berger had bribed Indian officials with several crores of rupees to win two major water developmental projects in Goa and Guwahati.
Digambar Kamat has maintained that he had no direct involvement in the case, a stand that the Court has not accepted.
The Rs 1,031-crore project, funded by Japan International Cooperation Agency (JICA), was approved when the Kamat-led government was in power, for augmenting water supply in south Goa and laying sewerage lines in the state’s major cities.
The state police had earlier arrested Alemao, JICA project director Anand Wachasunder and Louis Berger’s vice-president Satyakam Mohanty in the case. It was alleged that the state ministers received bribes to the tune of $976,000 to grant contracts for the JICA-funded project in Goa.
Mining case probes in Kamat
Earlier the Goa Police SIT probing the Rs 35,000 crore illegal mining scam filed a charge sheet against Digambar Kamat and others in yet another case of illegally condoning a delay in renewing a mining lease.
In its main order on illegal mining, the Court clearly pointed out the lack of supervision and control of the then Government of Digambar Kamat (from 2007 to 2012) which led to large scale illegal mining activities.
All Goans are looking for is a good party to serve the people
It is not so much about the party but what the party brings to the table for Goans. A party that will deliver for Goans the Goa that it once had and now truly deserves. And by honest hardworking Goans who were brave enough to take out of the box decisions for the sake of their Goa.
