By James Monteiro
From the evening of March 11, 2017 to date, the local and national print and electronic media, the social networking sites and most Goans (especially Xaxtikars) are abuzz with only two names – one of an MLA , the other of his political party. Streams of vitriol have flown and are still flowing in the name of this one MLA and his nascent party. There is only question that comes to mind. Why are the electorate of his constituency and Xaxtikars outraged? Why?
I do not know the concerned MLA personally, but have heard and seen a lot of him. He was seen as the most vocal person in the outgoing opposition benches, who left no stone unturned to put the ruling party on the mat and clobber it to smithereens. It was a job well done. I had also heard of his earlier days as a councillor, a youth leader of the Congress, his very close proximity to highly-tainted politicians.
Some people with myopic sight, who are now crying hoarse, cozied up to him in a bid to use him as a vehicle to dethrone one monster in power and enthrone another. I know sections of this electorate who were swayed with freebies, not only at election time but also during the entire tenure. If the dubious antecedents of this individual were known and you turned a Nelson’s eye and ushered in his victory, you have only yourself to blame. And the individual himself is smugly giving us the un-mouthed reply: “I was always like this. If you didn’t (or wouldn’t) read me, don’t fault me. I am not to blame.”
A large section of this constituency is clamouring for the resignation of this MLA. A lot of illiterate voters are also up in arms against him, realizing they have been back-stabbed. I can understand some of his die-hard headless supporters who blindly follow their pied piper. But I am aghast at the feeble attempts being made by some educated, right thinking, and otherwise decent people who, in spite of being fully aware of the gross impropriety committed (every unbiased Goan feels so), trying to justify this volte-face or to compare it to others who have resorted to similar U-turns in the past, and conclude that two wrongs make a right. There is yet another breed which couldn’t care less as long as “their job will be done”.
Let me make it clear that I hold no brief for any political party. In fact, I would have been happy if neither of the two parties in contention had succeeded in forming a government, as both are unworthy of the same. From the fractured mandate given, we were bound to fall “from the frying pan into the fire” had the formation gone the other way. We were doomed to be burnt anyways. Maybe better sense would prevail on the Goan electorate and a new mandate could have been expected had there been fresh polls.
Meanwhile what do we see? The concerned MLA appears in all the channels of the regional and national electronic and print media giving interviews and reeling rhetoric. He is even in magazines rattling off his well-spun yarn, hoping that if repeated over and over again, it could start resembling a fact. Blame the whole world under the sun to give his act of betrayal an honorable tone. Is he unaware (or pretending to be) that the full facts are before the public and honorable people of Goa are watching him with disdain?
What about the other regional outfit that is in power? You could love it or hate it but you can’t fault it on the count of betrayal. This outfit had clearly signaled that it was greedy enough not to shut its doors to anybody. To remain in power as done in the last decade, it had openly advocated the return of the present CM for winning its support. Further, it had kept its doors for communication open with the other dispensation, in the event the need arose. So they did exactly what was expected of them. So did the one independent MLA who won on the pre-poll support of the party he finally supported. The other independent MLA was also very vocal against the previous government and worked up an anti-government rhetoric throughout his last tenure. He willingly took the pre-poll support of one party to romp home only to jump on the band wagon of the other party when enticed by the dangling power, dishonouring even the little honour that existed in the politics of today.
In all this, a word of praise for the ex-President of the severely bashed, insulted and trolled party who promptly resigned the moment he heard his party was sold for thirty pieces of silver (what was a person of his stature doing there anyway?). Hats off to you, sir! And to those MLAs screaming “BETRAYAL”, you are sore because the U-turn MLA beat you to the post. You were tied down by the anti-defection law else many of you would have also participated in the race for power. Even now, if the anti-defection law is suspended for an hour, there will be a beeline outside the CM’s door. So much for party affiliations and loyalties! Very few of you will have the guts to take the risk of resigning and getting re-elected on a different platform – that is exactly what is needed. That would mean that your electorate is firmly behind you. Otherwise no MLA has the right to betray his voters. Screaming that your electorate is behind your betrayal is not enough. It should be seen by one and all.
And a parting “what the stars foretell”. All the din and dust over the back-stabbing and betrayal will settle down. The concerned MLA will be a minister, milk the exchequer and nurture his constituency. Very soon you will find some of the people who are screaming obscenities at him, singing a different tune (that’s when you will realize that they have been pandered to).
And at the next Assembly elections this same MLA will win with a much higher margin! That, my friends, is the sad, sad state of Goan politics.
