. Across constituencies the election arena has ‘candidates’ waiting to be picked up by parties
. The bigger the party, the better the chances of getting the available ‘players’
. There seems to be a price tag for ‘not contesting’ too
. Earning season for the common voter too. But they are ruining the future of Goa
The Indian Premier League may be coming to an end but the Goa Political League has indeed started. And the bigger parties are willing to bet the highest for the big-ticket players (candidates).
In IPL a pool of players waits to be picked up by cricket teams through open bidding. The Goa elections may have similarities
Just like in the Crawford Market of Mumbai there are different products in the stalls. Go buy what you please. The scene is not very different in this election market. Any of these scenarios is possible
1 One candidate, has two or three suitors: These days some candidates with greater chances of creating an impact have two or three parties hovering around them. One will never know till perhaps very late into the campaign the party they ultimately choose. So you may well have these candidates like coy would be brides keeping everyone guessing which suitor’s hands they will ultimately hold before the great Goan political wedding happens.
2 Valuable for doing nothing, not even contesting: There are some players in different constituencies who are assured of a very good life for doing nothing. This is the political twisted version of work from home (or not work from home actually). These candidates have the capacity to get between 300 to 500 votes which could affect a powerful candidate. They are therefore taken ‘care of’ and all each has to do is not file his nomination and be only be a spectator
3 Panch-y Package deal: The panch-y package deal is one of the more important activities that many who want to win have to do. Panchas and sarpanchas (and councillors and corporators in urban civic areas) have their own vote banks in their wards and villages. They are capable of ‘transferring’ these votes to the candidate that takes ‘care of them’. So in this case the panchas, sarpanchas and councillors are part of the auction. Big parties and candidates deal with them and they like good tour operators ensure that their voters go to the polling booth and vote in favour of who they are asked to.
4. Player of one team, played by another team: This also happens. A candidate may contest on one party ticket, but is the secret candidate of another party that funds this candidate. So in this ‘fixing’, this candidate either has to be weak and lose but in some cases, is backed to beat the candidate of the party which is funding him because of an internal intraparty rivalry.
5 Non- serious, vote splitting candidates: In many constituencies, you will suddenly notice many independents who have never been a part of the political scene and may get even less than 50 votes. But four of them together could split 1000 votes which could be enough for one candidate to get through. For this do, some ‘taking care’ is needed. After all, politics is a professional sport.
Once all the shopping is done in this Crawford Market of elections, the ‘happy’ people head off to Badshah the popular joint to have their faluda, a sweet delicacy
In the election analogy, the arena is the Crawford market and the prize – which is the ticket or the closing of the deal – is like the delicious faluda at Badshah, Crawford Market’s most famous eatery.
Holy people also love this sport: Since it is a holy sport, many holy people love this sport and participate in this. From the ancient ages, the quest for power or being the hand that achieves power for someone else has been there in princes and commoners, in priests and pundits.
But the ‘arena’ is not our future
This arena of political trading and auctioning is not our future. An honest election with people’s choice candidates is the future. If we want a genuine area of people’s candidates and not fixed ones, we have to create an ecosystem. We will always back such a system but it is the people, who have to take the lead in creating this.
In every circus, there is a joker. Here “jokers” are those who accept money for votes or support or something along those lines. But they are actually ruining their future of Goa and also their families because they are not getting a real people’s government. In that case the joke is on them while those who are managing the deals are having the last laugh.
People who really suffer are those who depend on good honest governance and we cannot fail them. This is why we must also look out for those forces, who are aligning with those who have cleared the entry of coal from two of the biggest coal players. The same parties have their Goa desks headed by a desk in charge (Dinesh Rao) who has been a vocal supporter of Karnataka rights over Goa’s Mhadei water. If the Goa Congress puts the fight for Mhadei waters a part of their manifesto, will the desk in charge from Karnataka allow it? And will activists support a desk in charge of a party, who has Karnataka’s interests above Goa’s on a sensitive issue of Mhadei?
The only hope is a people selected team fighting in the next elections in each constituency. Only then will we get a government selected by the people.
