There comes a time when even the most die-hard political parties, must heed a certain call. The call of the people. It is the same call that the BJP heard when it came to power and it is the same call the BJP must hear again, when that call is telling them that they need to make way, for the Congress.
Any attempt made by the BJP to grab power by means not fair, but with the use of manipulative force, in the name of “pseudo stability and development”, will be a direct attack on the mandate given by the people of Goa. If the BJP claims that they have served the people of Goa and have fought these elections as all parties do-seeking the people’s vote, can they even think of doing everything possible in their command due to the power they wield at the centre, to destroy the spirit of their vote? If they do, then they should officially declare that the will of the people is a concept that should be confined to books of romance and fiction and the only game that should be played is power at all costs.
Is this what Goa will now be reduced to or has actually been reduced to?
Ask every honest BJP politician, including those who contested these elections and either won or lost, if they really think that the BJP should get another shot at power.15 of their 21 MLAs have lost, 7 of their 12 ministers have lost, 3 Independents backed by them have gone home and they have just 13 seats to the Congress 17, their lowest tally since 1999.
Let us look at the ostensible logic which has been shockingly presented, to prepare the ground for a direct attack on the people’s mandate and manipulate it to wrest power. BJP’s Logic number 1: It has got 33 % of the votes. Logic number 2: There are more number of candidates against the Congress than the candidates for the Congress.
If this logic holds, so many governments across the country will have to make way. Ultimately elections are a game of numbers and the same numbers also tell you that the BJP has lost in 27 seats. The vote share card cannot be played to form a government with those parties who have won seats by defeating BJP candidates, including the heavy-weight ministers. Imagine the BJP seeking support of the Goa Forward which decisively removed the powerful Culture Minister Dayanand Mandrekar and the Tourism Minister Dilip Parulekar from the electoral landscape of Goa till the next term, not to speak of Damu Naik, the powerful but powerless former Fatorda MLA who has lost twice to Vijai Sardesai. How will the BJP explain this to its defeated MLAs or even it cadre.
If these elections are not a sign of a desperate, angry land, using its last drop of energy to give an urgent message “please leave” then what is. Admittedly, the Congress has not set the Mandovi and Zuari on fire. Admittedly, the Goa Forward, a party shunned by the Congress, taking the animosity between the two to damaging heights, has done splendidly, damaging the BJP in three seats and admittedly the MGP, despite its defeat in Priol and Ponda have still won 3 seats. But the cumulative effect of all of the above is that the mandate has swung away from the BJP.
This score of 17 to Congress, 13 to BJP, has to be read with how much BJP has lost, than how much it has won. This was a cry of a land anguished and in pain, a land which was asking for some very simple things, only reminding the ruling party to make good its promises. The loss of its ministers is a message that the arrogance of power has been met with the power of the people’s vote. When a sitting Chief minister is defeated by 7119 votes, it is not a constituency blow. It is almost an order to the government by the people.
But Goa and Goans are forgiving. It forgives a government even if people feel let down and hurt. It forgives a government, as many said during the live discussion on our TV arm HCN, on counting day, “even when there is no space for feedback and criticism, when even institutions, media and civil society sees its spaces shrinking due to the long arm of the government”. But this forgiveness is given when the party which is defeated has the humility to step back and return to the service of people without attempting to recapture power, in a manner which may be thinly constitutional but morally bereft of any fairness.
