PANJIM: BJP stalwart Manohar Parrikar’s death at a time when the State is heading for Lok Sabha polls and by-elections in three Assembly constituencies; has come as a major blow to the saffron party, whose pillar of existence has been Parrikar over the last 25 years. Public sympathy towards the leader may also help the party to pull up these elections.
“I will not give a big speech. I will reserve those for elections,” was Parrikar’s last statement to his party workers during booth convention held in February, attended by Party President Amit Shah. And yes, the party is definitely going to miss his speeches that have often impressed upon the public.
Parrikar, the four-time Chief Minister and former Union Defence Minister, has been a star campaigner and crowd puller for the party which grew under his guidance. He was also known for his political acumen and master planning during the elections which saw his party candidates winning hands down.
Parrikar, who was among the leaders that spearheaded the BJP’s poll campaign since 1994 in the State, has been known for single handedly steering the affairs of the party soon after being elected as MLA from Panjim assembly constituency. Not to forget, he had single handedly got the party the historic victory in 2012 elections, when BJP won 21 out of 40 assembly seats.
Parrikar’s contribution to the party’s victory in Lok Sabha and assembly elections over the years is even recognised by rivals who claim his absence will impact BJP’s performance in the State; the BJP also does not shy away from admitting this fact.
The king maker for BJP, Parrikar was always in the core team of the party which decided strategies to take the political outfit to more people. His sudden interest in Salcete, Catholic dominated belt ruled by Congress since Liberation, was considered as one of the strategy that the saffron party would never think of. But he proved everyone wrong.
This time, BJP will have to struggle to reach to certain section of people in Salcete in absence of Parrikar. The alliance partners from those respective areas might try to bail out the party, but it might not be much fruitful.
“We are going to miss ‘Bhai’…not just for the elections but overall as a friend, mentor, leader and a family. He has always been our star campaigner. His guidance and blessings were with us in the current election process and he had even said that he would like to campaign in one place at least. The vacuum will never be filled,” party president Vinay Tendulkar told Herald.
The popularity of this son of soil was so much that he was even invited as star campaigner in the states like Maharashtra, Uttar Pradesh and Karnataka besides others to woo the voters.
“Such was his command that all the partymen who were his close aides were listening to him blindly. It would look like he has not created second rung of leadership but actually it was faith in his leadership quality that made them always follow him,” said Shekhar Salkar, a family friend of Parrikar and BJP worker.
Parrikar’s aura across the State was such that during 2017 election, he had to spend much time in Goa to campaign for the party. The public meetings organised by BJP had unprecedented attendance to hear Parrikar speaking who was then Union Defence Minister.
Even though Laxmikant Parsekar was then the chief minister, Parrikar’s position could not be filled by anyone.
From his rising as a RSS pracharak to the achievement of being union defence minister, one thing that always highlighted Parrikar was his style of addressing the gathering. Though his frank speeches often landed him into controversies, but it was that entire people loved to hear from the tall leader. His story telling was all that attracted the crowd.
“His style was very informal. That was what used to appeal people,” a senior BJP leader said. For this election, the candidates of BJP might lose fizz in absence of Parrikar. There is hardly any orator who can speak as convincingly as Parrikar did.
