BJP Goa

For Now, Congress May Have Dodged a Political Bullet in Goa

A split looked imminent in the Congress when five of its Goa MLAs missed a meeting last week. However, it seems that the rebel MLAs don’t have enough numbers to avoid the anti-defection law.

New Delhi: The Congress appears to have averted a potential split in its Goa legislative party for the time being. The party paraded five of its 11 MLAs at a press briefing on Monday, July 11 and claimed to have the support of six MLAs, although it didn’t name the sixth legislator.

The move has put the rebels in a sticky position, as at least eight MLAs should defect from the party to avoid disqualification under the anti-defection law.

The Congress high command in New Delhi sprung into action on Sunday night, July 10 when the party’s interim president Sonia Gandhi rushed senior leader Mukul Wasnik to Panjim to contain what appeared to be an escalating situation. A split looked imminent in the party when the Goa unit of the Congress was caught off guard when five of its MLAs – Michael Lobo, Digambar Kamat, Kedar Naik, Rajesh Faldesai and Delialah Lobo – missed a meeting and went incommunicado thereafter last week.

From then on, speculations were rife that the rebels within the Congress ranks may increase to eight – a necessary number for the defectors to avoid anti-defection law and merge with the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP).

Dinesh Gundu Rao, the All India Congress Committee (AICC) in-charge of Goa, immediately accused Michael Lobo, the former BJP leader who joined Congress only in January this year ahead of the assembly elections, and its own former chief minister Digambar Kamat of attempting to break the party at the BJP’s behest.

“One person – Digambar Kamat – did it to safeguard his own skin because so many cases are against him and the other person – Michael Lobo – did it for the sake of power and position. BJP wants to finish the opposition,” claimed Rao.

“BJP agents [are] trying for a two-third split in the Congress and offering huge money to MLAs to cross over,” Rao said.

Separately, former Goa Congress president Girish Chodankar has alleged that Congress MLAs were offered Rs 40 crore to join the BJP.

Although the chief minister Pramod Sawant rubbished the Congress’s accusations, the saffron party remained a talking point as the primary actor behind the latest implosion in the grand-old party because of the serendipitous presence of Union minister and Amit Shah’s close aide Bhupendra Yadav in Goa currently.

The chief minister, however, said that Yadav was in Goa to steer the pending cabinet reshuffle, although political commentators seemed to agree that the Congress in Goa is headed for a collapse. The development comes just days after the Uddhav Thackeray-led government in Maharashtra – in which the Congress was a partner – collapsed after a rebellion by Eknath Shinde.

Nonetheless, as a corrective measure, the Congress has removed Lobo from the position of its legislative party leader.

Political commentators believe that both Wasnik and Rao are clearly in the mood to take tough decisions to resurrect the party in the coastal state, and that may include overhauling the party leadership entirely.

The party, meanwhile, has moved a petition to the speaker seeking disqualification of Lobo and Kamat for “anti-party” activities.

Congress is not new to splits in Goa. In Pramod Sawant’s first term as chief minister, 10 of its legislators had joined the BJP to reduce the Congress into an irrelevant player in the assembly. But it seemed to have avoided a similar defection string at the moment.

Also read: As Congress Flounders in the Run up to 2024, a Reminder of the Miracle It Once Pulled Off

A failed attempt?

Meanwhile, both Lobo and Kamat, who went missing ahead of the party meeting to decide its strategies in the assembly session that began on July 11, have backtracked from their earlier positions against the Congress leadership, indicating a failed attempt at corralling enough MLAs to avoid the anti-defection law. Anything less than eight MLAs defecting from the party can lead to their disqualification or could force them to resign and seek re-election.

All five legislators who had gone missing attended the first day of the monsoon session of the assembly on July 11 and claimed that the Congress legislative unit was intact. The alleged engineer of the rebellion, Lobo, went on to say: “There is nothing wrong. I don’t know what is the problem. All Congress MLAs were together. We went to South Goa for a meeting on Sunday. They (Congress leaders) again wanted to have another press conference which was not required, so we did not attend it.”

Similarly, Kamat also said he was very much in the Congress, and had told Rao in a meeting on July 9 that he was “hurt by the humiliation” that he faced in the party.

Disregarding their opinion, however, the Congress suspended both the leaders for indulging in “anti-party activities.”

Ranjan Solomon, a Goa-based political analyst and civil liberties activist, said that the “tactical retreat” by both the BJP and rebels indicate that the Congress may have avoided a split at the moment. He said on July 10, the BJP looked comfortably placed to gain the advantage from the Congress’s implosion but now the party’s leaders are more reserved.

“The BJP already has a comfortable number in the assembly. With the support of 25 MLAs in the 40-member assembly, it could have increased its strength further if Congress rebels joined its ranks. But it seems that Lobo or Kamat may not have the adequate numbers to deliver any strategic advantage to the BJP as yet,” he said.

“The rebels know that resigning and seeking re-election is not an option. They need to be in enough numbers to join the BJP and continue as MLAs for the rest of the term. Since most of the alleged rebels have won from Congress strongholds, it may be very difficult for them to get re-elected. The last assembly elections were an apt example. Nine of the 10 defectors from the Congress lost their seats,” he added.

The latest episode in the Congress is clearly bad optics for the party. As a show of strength in the run-up to assembly polls earlier this year, the Congress had made all its candidates take oaths that they will remain loyal to the party and will not switch sides in any circumstance. That oath has proven to be yet another poll gimmick, despite Congress having taken immediate corrective measures.

Talks, Ties and a ‘Resort’ to Timeless Tradition: Exit Poll Projections Keep Politicians Busy

Top leaders of hopeful parties have been mobilised on the ground to affect quick alliances when the need arises.

New Delhi: With just a day to go before the results of the closely fought assembly elections in Uttarakhand, Uttar Pradesh, Goa, Punjab and Manipur are out, political players are leaving no stone unturned to ensure they get to form the next government. Some are taking recourse to an increasingly popular trend of today – parking party candidates in a resort to avoid ‘horse trading’.

After the exit poll results were flashed on news channels on the evening of March 7, the first visible action to try and remain in power was seen among Bharatiya Janata Party’s Goa unit. Sitting chief minister Pramod Sawant flew down to New Delhi the next morning to have a one-on-one with Prime Minister Narendra Modi.

The night before, the TV channels had given Goa a fractured mandate with the BJP’s bête noire, the Congress, an edge in that coastal state. This essentially meant there might be a need to do some backroom string pulling to ensure smaller entities come to the aid of the party.

Sawant seemed to have needed the personal assurance of top national leadership that they are up to it, particularly considering that this was the party’s first election since its Goa stalwart Manohar Parrikar passed away.

After meeting Modi on March 7, Sawant told the media, “Modi told me that BJP will form the government.”

He also said the prime minister, who himself campaigned in Goa, “Took constituency-wise details about the number of seats BJP will secure in Goa.” He also added, “We will form the next government in the state and in case we are short of a majority, independent MLAs will support BJP.”

A Times of India report said, he also added that if required, the party would go to Maharashtrawadi Gomantak Party (MGP) too.

Already, the Goa in-charge of the All India Congress Committee (AICC) Dinesh Gundu Rao had told local reporters in Panaji that if his party falls short of 21 seats to reach simple majority in the 40-member assembly on March 10, it would not mind approaching the Aam Aadmi Party (AAP), the MGP and the Trinamool Congress to seek support.

In tandem, hectic parleys of the two national parties have reportedly begun with smaller parties.

Sawant’s open invitation to MGP to join hands with BJP has pushed both Congress and new player in Goa politics, TMC, to act fast. TMC is in a pre-poll alliance with MGP.

As per news reports, TMC top guns Abhishekh Banerjee and Derek O’Brien, along with its chief poll strategist Prashant Kishor, are busy on site with efforts to stitch a possible alliance with MGP and Congress if the numbers do not favour the BJP. Party sources told India Today, “The TMC and its allies are open to the idea of an alliance with Congress. If Congress sends any proposal for a post-poll alliance, the top leadership would review it.”

A senior party leader, on condition of anonymity, added, “We (TMC) are in a position to secure nearly three Assembly seats and our ally might get two to three seats. Together, we would be able to win roughly five assembly seats in Goa. And that is a praiseworthy success.” The leader also said, “The Congress has emerged as the single largest party in Goa in the 2017 Assembly polls and yet the BJP managed to form the government. All of us know what unfolded after the results were out. How Congress MLAs were poached. That is the reason we are also staying alert.”

With the BJP chief minister openly talking about reaching out to the MGP for the required numbers to form the next government, the TMC is naturally wary of that regional party breaking its pre-poll alliance if the TMC fails to corner any seat.

Meanwhile, in a bid to not repeat the 2017 fiasco in Goa, the Congress has dispatched a set of senior leaders to the state and has particularly tasked its strategist and Karnataka state unit chief D.K. Shivakumar to take over the reins. Sources in the Congress have told Deccan Herald that Shivakumar will camp in the state for three days “to ensure that the grand old party, which missed a chance to form the government by a whisker in the last Assembly elections, does not commit the same mistakes again.”

News reports also said that the party on March 8 evening moved all its 37 candidates to a resort in North Goa to ensure no ‘horse trading’ attempts by the BJP is successful.

With TMC-MGP possibly playing kingmaker in Goa, one cannot discount the independents, including the former chief minister and BJP rebel leader Laxmikant Parsekar, former Congress MLA Aleixo Reginaldo Lourenco, and deputy chief minister and BJP leader Chandrakant Kavlekar’s wife Savitri Kavlekar.

In Uttarakhand, a similar picture

Hectic parleys can be seen unfolding in Uttarakhand too where also the exit polls have predicted a hung assembly. Local reports said top leaders from both BJP and Congress, the two major contenders, have rushed in to “manage” a situation that might arise after tomorrow’s counting.

A TOI report said, “While BJP rushed senior leader Kailash Vijayvargiya on Sunday (March 6) to assist party leader and former CM Ramesh Pokhriyal Nishank in preparing for any political exigency, Congress deputed Rajya Sabha MP Deepender Hooda to Dehradun on Tuesday (March 8). Chhattisgarh CM Bhupesh Baghel is scheduled to arrive in the city on Wednesday (March 9) and stay put in the state capital till things take a final shape after the results.”

The report added, “As BJP seniors went into a huddle almost immediately after converging in Dehradun, the Congress brass, including Hooda and state in-charge Devender Yadav held a series of meetings. In case of a hung assembly in the 70-member House, the kingmakers will play a big role in government formation. If sources are to be believed, both Congress and BJP have already reached out to regional parties and ‘strong’ independents, candidates who have a good chance of winning from their seats.”

Manipur

In Manipur, where like in Goa of 2017, BJP formed a coalition government even though Congress emerged as the single largest party, other contenders are taking the exit poll results with a pinch of salt. The exit polls have given the BJP a clear majority.

Muchi Mithi, the Arunachal unit head of the National people’s Party (NPP) tweeted, “I am bombarded with exit polls of Manipur but I still hold my ground firmly. We will be the largest party in Manipur.”

On March 4, a day before the final phase of polling in the north-eastern state, Congress in charge for Manipur, Jairam Ramesh, held a press conference in Imphal accusing the Modi government of trying to buy voters by paying influential local militant groups Rs 16.63 crore under the Ministry of Home Affairs’ suspension of operation scheme in the state in the run up to the polls.

eople wait in queues to cast their votes at a polling station, during the repolls of few Manipur Assembly constituencies. Photo: PTI

Calling it a shocking violation of the Model of Conduct the, Ramesh said, “The Union Home Ministry and the BJP State Government in Manipur released Rs 15.7 crores on 1.2.22 and further Rs 92.7 lakhs on 1.3.22 to banned militant groups under Suspension of Operation(SoO). This has made a mockery of elections in four districts.”

He said, “These payments have ensured that elections in Churachandpur and Kangpokpi districts in the first phase on February 28 have not been free, fair and peaceful. These bribes to banned militant groups under the Suspension of Operation would also influence the elections in Tengnoupal and Chandel districts in the second phase on March 5.”

Punjab

In Punjab, where most exit polls have given AAP a clear majority, the two other contenders – Congress and Shiromani Akali Dal (SAD) – are yet to lay down their guards.

SAD leader Sukhibir Singh Badal told reporters on March 9 that he has no trust on the exit polls and such exercises need to be banned.

Uttar Pradesh

In Uttar Pradesh, where a close fight was anticipated between the BJP and the Samajwadi Party (SP) contesting the polls in alliance with the Rashtriya Lok Dal (RLD) and some other smaller parties, the exit polls have given the ruling party a thumping majority.

This comes in spite of multiple news reports in the last few weeks of the ground slipping from under BJP’s feet at several places. Above all, the prime minister himself had to camp at Varanasi and roll out a public relations exercise particularly through the electronic media to ensure that his party holds on to all the seats from a constituency he represents at parliament.

On March 8, SP president and former state chief minister Akhilesh Yadav accused the state administration of conducting “EVM fraud” and “vote theft” in Varanasi. In a press meet at Lucknow, he said, “Varanasi DM (district magistrate) is transporting EVMs without giving any information to local candidates. The Election Commission (EC) should look into it. We need to be alert if the EVMs are being transported this way. This is theft. We need to save our votes. We may go to court against it but before that, I want to appeal to people to save the democracy.”

Samajwadi Party workers stop the convoy shifting EVMs and stage a protest over the alleged replacement of EVMs used in the Uttar Pradesh Assembly elections, in Varanasi, Tuesday, March 8, 2022. Photo: PTI

Yadav’s serious allegations come after video clips emerged on social media on Tuesday showing EVMs being transported in trucks. However, The Wire has not been able to independently verify the authenticity of these videos.

For the BJP, a lot is riding on these elections, particularly in UP which has 403 seats in the assembly. “Notably, apart from the future prospects of leaders like Adityanath, Akhilesh and his allies, the results from UP will also impact the Presidential elections due in July when President Ramnath Kovind completes his term,” a news report in The Tribune has pointed out. While the value of the vote of an MP is around 708, “that of an MLA depends upon the population of the state according to the Census and the number of elected members of the House.”

“The value is highest for a UP legislator (208) and lowest for Sikkim (7),” underlined the report.

By the end of March 10, it will be clear if the March 7 exit poll results on UP go the way the exit polls of the last assembly elections – in West Bengal – did.

Goa Elections: With First List, TMC Plays ‘Revenge Politics’, Targets Congress, GFP

Among the 11 names hurriedly declared, TMC’s newly minted Rajya Sabha MP Luizinho Faleiro’s stands out, who is pitched to contest against GFP leader Vijai Sardesai.

Panaji: The Trinamool Congress (TMC), a latecomer to the electoral contest in Goa, released its first list of candidates on January 18. Among the 11 names hurriedly declared, TMC’s newly minted Rajya Sabha MP Luizinho Faleiro’s stands out. One of the candidates made it to the list within an hour of resigning from his local party.

Faleiro is pitched to contest against Goa Forward Party’s (GFP) leader Vijai Sardesai from the Fatorda constituency.

GFP – which won three seats in 2017 – was among the first regional parties to have been approached by West Bengal chief minister Mamata Banerjee for a merger or a pre-election tie-up. Both were turned down. Sardesai is now in an alliance with the Congress, which has so far given him three seats.

TMC’s payback strategy: to unsettle Sardesai and pit Faleiro into a contest he has no stomach for – he had told this journalist he would not be standing for local elections after he became MP.

The TMC MP did not respond to calls, neither did the party’s Goa election in-charge Mahua Moitra.

Calling TMC’s move a deliberate ploy to try and bring him down after he spurned their advances, Sardesai told The Wire he refused “to be taken at gunpoint by a Bengali party. Their agenda has been exposed. They are here to only split the non-BJP vote.”

Also read: Ground Report: Goa Wants Change, but Isn’t Sure Who to Vote For

Soon after the announcement of Faleiro’s candidature, the GFP leader received a message from TMC’s poll consultant Prashant Kishor, who has been driving the party’s strategy in Goa.

Kishor had been to Sardesai’s house not once, but thrice, the message said. “You still chose Congress, a party that gave you nothing. You made your choices, we are reacting to it,” he added.

Running an aggressive and expensive poster and media campaign, TMC is learning that deep pockets and paid news alone don’t buy local acceptance, especially in a small state like Goa, which is wary of “outsiders” calling the shots in politics, government and state policy. The Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) met with similar hostility in 2017 when it contested 39 of 40 seats and drew a blank.

Some promising candidates – most notable among them are former Congress MLA Reginaldo Lourenco, former MGP member Lavoo Mamledar, former independent MLA Prasad Gaonkar – who were proposing to join the TMC or had joined the party, abandoned ship.

Within a month, Lourenco opted out from the party, saying he had faced “a backlash from people” who wanted him to return to the Congress. The appeal didn’t cut much ice with the Congress though, which denied him a ticket. He will now contest as an independent from Curtorim constituency.

TMC’s “lavish and aggressive campaign” and poaching of MLAs has been criticised not only by the Congress which turned down its recent overtures for an alliance, but the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) too, which lost its long-time ally Maharashtrawadi Gomantak Party (MGP) to a tie-up of convenience with Banerjee’s party.

BJP leader Devendra Fadnavis on January 20, Thursday said Goa has rejected TMC’s “manner of politics”. “The aggression they have shown and the manner in which they have come with suitcases as if Goa’s leaders are for sale in the market cannot inspire confidence in the people.”

Considering past history, the MGP could go any which way if no party gains a majority.

Also read: Goa Polls: To Offset Anti-incumbency, BJP Turns to Hindutva, Polarisation

In an interview to PTI recently, Congress leader P. Chidambaram argued that neither AAP nor TMC had a cadre base in the constituencies. “They have attempted to build their parties through defections from the other parties, notably the Congress.”

With time running out and a strategy designed for disruption, primarily in seats where the Congress has a strong presence, TMC could end up weakening the fight against the BJP far more than AAP, which is trying its hand possibly in all 40 seats, giving the saffron party a shot at recouping from the strong anti-incumbent sentiment in Goa. Most of Goa’s 40 constituencies have a voter base of less than 30,000. A thousand votes taken away can make or break a winning candidate.

In a bitter contest over the secular vote, the last-minute arrival of the Nationalist Congress Party-Shiv Sena combine gives rebels from all corners a chance to dive into the mix.

BJP Ally Goa Forward Party Quits NDA Over ‘Anti-Goan Policies’

The move of the GFP, which has three MLAs in the 40-member House, will not impact the stability of the Pramod Sawant government.

Panaji: The Goa Forward Party walked out of the National Democratic Alliance (NDA) on Tuesday, citing “anti-Goan policies” of the BJP-led state government.

However, the move of the GFP, which has three MLAs in the 40-member Goa House, will not impact the stability of the Pramod Sawant government in the state since the Vijai Sardesai-led party is not a ruling constituent.

The GFP extended support to the NDA in 2017 to facilitate the formation of the then BJP-led state government under the leadership of Manohar Parrikar.

After Parrikar’s death in 2019, the alliance soured when three GFP ministers were dropped from the Pramod Sawant- led government.

The GFP’s state executive committee and political affairs committee met in Panaji on Tuesday.

Later, GFP president Vijai Sardesai, in a formal letter to senior BJP leader and Union Home Minister Amit Shah, conveyed the party’s decision to withdraw from the NDA.

“I write to you today formally declaring the Goa Forward Party’s withdrawal from the National Democratic Alliance. There is no doubt that our relationship with the NDA ended in July 2019, with no room for reconsideration,” Sardesai said in the letter.

He claimed that in the last two years, the BJP has repeatedly introduced “anti-Goan policies” in every session of the state Legislative Assembly.

Since July 2019, the BJP’s Goa leadership has turned its back on the people of the state who looked ahead with hope to the prospect of all-round development, the GFP alleged.

Parrikar’s death brought Goa to despair, ushering in a period of rampant corruption and dishonesty, it said.

The GFP has pointed out the state government’s alleged failure in handling various issues, such as three linear projects, the Mahadayi river water dispute, and other matters.

The Sardesai-led party said it is fully committed to consistently and selflessly work to safeguard, protect and preserve Goa’s culture, people and heritage.

Book Review: The Mythmaking Around Parrikar’s Life Hid Many Compromises

A new biography of the Goan politician, who had a cult following but was obsessed with holding on to power, has something for both his admirers and disparagers.

Manohar Parrikar enjoyed something of a cult following within the BJP in Goa but also had his share of critics. These grew exponentially in his last term in power, when he failed to live up to his much-hyped promises. A recently released political biography of the former Goa chief minister, who also served as Union defence minister, has something for both his admirers and disparagers. But it fails to substantially analyse and contextualise the rise and legacy of a politician who was so hung up on power that he clung on as chief minister to his dying day at great cost to Goa and the democratic process of government.

“In 2005, he told me the feeling of losing power was as painful as someone trying to rip off one’s skin. He even said that he finally realized why Congress leaders would feel restless without power,” one of Parrikar’s confidants and RSS man Ratnakar Lele is quoted as saying. Whether the decision to not step down came from a profound sense of loyalty to the BJP – to ensure the party’s untrustworthy allies wouldn’t conspire to form an alternative with the Congress – or because of his abiding belief that only he had what it took to govern Goa, the authors fail to explore.

Sadguru Patil and Mayabhushan Nagvenkar
An Extraordinary Life: A Biography of Manohar Parrikar
Penguin (July 2020)

Written by Goa-based journalists Sadguru Patil and Mayabhushan Nagvenkar, An Extraordinary Life: A Biography of Manohar Parrikar (Penguin Random House India) released a little after a year since Parrikar died from pancreatic cancer aged 63, tracks the life and political trajectory of the BJP politician from his childhood in small-town Mapusa—where his father ran a grocery store—through his years at IIT Bombay, his political baptism via the RSS and his eventual rise to power. There’s even a chapter on his quirky food habits.

The authors say:

“Dedicating a chapter about food and other habits may appear to be slightly incongruous in a political biography of a former defence minister and a politician who went on to define an entire political era for Goa. But his maverick personality, marked with oddities, charm and human flaws, went a long way into the making of his aura, which along with his sharp political acumen, carried him far.” (Emphasis added)

They claim, “By virtue of rank, Parrikar became the state’s tallest politician ever, with his appointment as defence minister in 2014. Veteran Goan politicians like Ramakant Khalap of the MGP [Maharashtrawadi Gomantak Party], Eduardo Faleiro from the Congress and BJP’s Shripad Naik have served as Union ministers of state, but none could pass the vertical barrier to become a full-fledged cabinet minister.”

Parrikar came into electoral politics in 1994 with the BJP’s debut in the state assembly. An early ambition to move to parliament was nixed with his 1996 defeat. The RSS’s astute and hard-nosed deal brokering with the MGP (which eventually emasculated the regional party to a has-been) helped the BJP and also Parrikar grow in Goa.

Even if unintended, the book does a harsh takedown of Parrikar in some passages: “His tenure in power, especially the later phases, was marked with some of the most brazen betrayals of promises and an administration that at best ranged from average to below par.” The sweeping assertions and liberal use of superlatives (the “extraordinary” in the title for instance) play into the BJP’s agenda of writing out the past to plug its new icons. (Invincible a pictorial tribute to Parrikar as “India’s most beloved Defence Minister”, was released by the Centre on his first death anniversary this March. The Goa government too has commissioned a journalist who was close to Parrikar to produce an official biography for a fee of Rs 10 lakh.)

As defence minister, Parrikar tried to insidiously erase Nehru’s role in liberating Goa by projecting only the armed forces, ignoring the many years of diplomacy between India, Portugal and the UN that preceded the 1961 action. With patience running out, Nehru defied the US to order military action which was launched on December 17 of 1961 and wrapped up in two days after Goa’s takeover.

“Although Parrikar insisted on returning to Goa for purely political and personal reasons, he would often raise the emotional, patriotic pitch with his trademark refrain that he returned to his home state after paying a debt to the Indian Armed Forces—by serving as the defence minister… ‘The Indian Army liberated the state. I think that was a debt that needed to be paid back,’” the book says, using a quote from 2018.

His successor, Pramod Sawant, Goa’s current chief minister, who was recently ticked off by governor Satya Pal Malik for his ‘botched handling’ of the coronavirus crisis, has sung a similar refrain blaming Nehru for “delaying” Goa’s annexation.

Quoting Lele again, the account claims as defence minister, Parrikar had differences with Arun Jaitley. “He never mentioned it publicly, but Parrikar often told me how Jaitley was delaying the resolution of the OROP (one rank, one pension) issue.” With Jaitley’s demise, there’s no way of sifting the chaff from the truth of these claims.

Seen through the narrow prism of family and the inner coterie of confidants and advisors (one of them a discredited former state advocate general), the biography offers an intimate account of the former chief minister’s personal life and a meandering one of his political journey. Missing, however, are the views of his critics and the few who dared stand up to him within the party. The former chief minister Laxmikant Parsekar and Union minister Shripad Naik, for instance, had openly rooted for Parrikar to step down more than six months before his passing away because of his debilitating health condition.

Laxmkant Parsekar. Photo: PTI

After an election victory in 2002, Parrikar was asked by a national magazine if he was an RSS man or a chief minister first. ‘Why can’t one be both?’ he responded. “I am a staunch RSS man and that’s why I’m not communal. What I have learnt from the RSS is to maintain justice. The RSS never taught me to be communal.” The question was perceptive, given Goa’s religious demographic composition and the initial aversion of the minorities to the saffron party.

If you’re looking for answers to Parrikar’s ambivalence on minorities and whether deep down, he did subscribe to the RSS view of a Hindu rashtra, you’re unlikely to find them in this book which deals with his RSS roots and his organising groups of karsevaks from Goa to Ayodhya (1990 and December 1992 when his mother went along) like they were taking a walk in the park.

In some elections, Parrikar went all out to polarise the vote, in others he desperately wooed the Catholics to breach the halfway mark, which the BJP managed for the first time in 2012. This was not as a result of his “social engineering skills” (another media created “urban legend”) alone, but a coalescing of a complex set of factors – an anti-Congress wave, a large infusion of funds (the casinos knew where to place their bets) and unprecedented media management that amplified the Congress’s warts and corruption. The sea of glum faces in the media section as the results flashed the BJP’s defeat in the next assembly election in 2017 said it all.

Parrikar “had promised to ban offshore casinos once in power…however, the Parrikar-led administration did not just allow much larger offshore casinos to replace the smaller casino vessels, but also did not move to appoint a regulatory mechanism like a Gaming Commissioner to ensure fair practices on the casino gaming floors,” the book says of his “legacy of U-turns” on casinos and mining. All this had been widely reported in the media.

Parrikar was indeed a leader of consequence in Goa. In the sea of faceless politicians that surrounded him within the BJP, he stood apart (the book calls him “the alpha” of the BJP). Driven by the singular ambition to make it to the top, his grassroots charisma and astute political leadership promoted the saffron party’s rise in Goa. A chapter on post-colonial politics would have given the book some depth and context. Where does his legacy stand for instance in contrast to the MGP’s golden age under Dayanand Bandodkar, or the chaotic years of Congress hegemony in Goa? Did the BJP bring any significant development in Goa (hundreds of government primary schools have shut down in recent years)? Just a recall of political developments of the last two decades is no substitute for critical analysis.

To those who’d written off the BJP in Goa after Parrikar, the saffron party’s proved it has not only survived but is thriving, one of the authors said in an online chat at the book’s launch in Panaji. The party has currently more Congressmen than those originally from the BJP in its legislature wing and a chief minister who can barely rule. The makings of several little rebellions, Congress style, are brewing within the Goa unit, one of them spurred by Parrikar’s son Utpal, who said people his father had brought into the party are being currently sidelined. Parrikar’s eventful political journey seems to be taking us right back to where it all began. A party looking more and more like the one it promised to replace.

Goa: Despite 1100% Spike in COVID-19 Cases, BJP Is Busy Raiding Its Former Ally

Breaking up the Goa Forward Party doesn’t really do much for the BJP, except to prove that the saffron party is cynical enough to play political hopscotch during a pandemic and an economic downturn.

On a day that Goa hit a new milestone with its first two COVID-19 deaths and recorded 1100% spike in cases, the BJP went on a political hunting raid trying to split its own former ally, the Goa Forward Party (GFP). Asked if the political grapevine had got it right, GFP president Vijai Sardessai told The Wire, “they are trying”.

The political moves being managed by the saffron party’s shadowy organising secretary Satish Dhond, said to have a direct line to union home minister Amit Shah, come against the backdrop of chief minister Pramod Sawant’s gross mishandling of the COVID-19 crisis and the state’s finances and provide a convenient distraction from issues that really matter.

A “green zone” till April 12 when it was COVID-free, Goa’s curve has ballooned dramatically this month, hitting 951 cases and two deaths (as on June 24), a spike of 1100%, the local O Heraldo reported. Six localities and villages across Goa now house hotspots, with the settlement at Mangor hill in Vasco leading the count with 283 cases.

Breaking up the GFP which has only three MLAs doesn’t really do much for the BJP in terms of numbers, except to prove that the saffron party has the muscle and the coffers to do it—and is cynical enough to play political hopscotch even during a challenging pandemic and economic downturn.

Goa chief minister Pramod Sawant with Goa speaker Rajesh Patnekar at Shiv Jayanti celebration earlier this year. Photo: Author provided

The BJP has already a bloated strength of 27 (in a House of 40), 10 of them acquired from the Congress and two from the MGP last year. The ruling party lost the 2017 election but still managed to scramble to power, poaching MLAs from other parties along the way. Last week, the Supreme Court issued notice to Goa speaker Rajesh Patnekar on a petition filed by the Congress Party. The speaker has kept the party’s disqualification petition against its MLAs in cold storage since August 8, 2019, the Congress said.

Sardessai, who played a pivotal role in the BJP’s return to power, has turned its biggest critic since being dropped from Sawant’s cabinet, calling his government “inefficient, non-transparent and having no administrative accountability”, accusations hard to dispute as the government lurches from crisis to crisis. The BJP’s moves to splinter the GFP comes days after the local party petitioned the state Lokayukta (notices have already been sent to the government in the matter) for an investigation into the diversion of a coronavirus relief fund meant for labourers to the pockets of BJP workers and supporters.

Vijai Sardessai. Photo: Facebook

Much of the Rs 13 crore Goa Building and Other Construction Workers Welfare Board Assistance Scheme-Covid-19 (set up end March to help workers tide over wage loss) had been siphoned off by BJP karyakartas, the GFP complaint alleges. Out to shoot down the messenger, labour minister Jennifer Monserrate told The Wire, “Don’t go by everything you hear from Goa Forward. Since when have they become so clean?”

She has bank details to prove the money (from a Rs. 5.6 crore fund, according to the government) had gone to the right beneficiaries, Monserrate claimed. Her statement, however, runs counter to the chief minister’s admission that he’d spotted the names of several sarpanchas who’d taken the Rs 6,000 dole meant for labourers (“What can I do if some sarpanch registers as a labourer?” – was his wry comment).

The Wire independently spoke to a random selection of people on the list. Among them four housewives (“I never leave the house, I have a sick father to look after,” one said), a “utility” worker who applied because he too was out of work, and even an employee of a major tyre factory who took the handout even though he still has a well-paid admin job. None, of course, are construction workers and all had been alerted to the scheme by their BJP panchas.

By its own admission, the Goa government is so broke (revenues slumped 80% making the liability difficult to handle, a senior official said) that it even diverted funds from the District Mineral Foundations to ride out the crunch. “They have no concept of the kind of financial crisis we’re in,” former deputy CM and MGP leader Sudin Dhavlikar told the local media Wednesday. The chief minister was selling state security bonds every now and then to just manage the government’s wage bill, he pointed out.

Also read: Red Flags Over Goa’s COVID-19 Testing as State Itches to Reopen Economy

Compelled to cut back on six crucial healthcare projects at the Goa Medical College because of the squeeze, the chief minister hasn’t for a moment taken his eyes off the construction of a memorial for a dead politician and the superfluous beach landscaping under the smart city project (both infrastructure projects are directly under him) where work continues apace even during the pandemic and economic meltdown.

“Only the government knows how the funds for the Manohar Parrikar Smriti Sthal will come,” a government official says. All he knows is that the Rs 10 crore project (being built by Univastu India Ltd on Miramar beach) has a deadline of March 2021, and work was fast-tracked soon as the 40-day lockdown lifted. Tonnes of concrete are being poured into the sandy beach for the structure’s foundation, even though Goa’s seen an intense start to the monsoon with flooding all around.

Miramar promenade project. Photo: Author provided

Bordering the Parrikar memorial, almost a kilometre of beach is being landscaped at the cost of Rs 13 crore with the construction of a gabion wall, a granite promenade and the random placement of gazebos under the guise of the smart city project, never mind that Goa has one of the worst internet connectivity systems in place. Launched in 2015, one of the prime objectives of the Centre’s Smart City Mission was to create an efficient urban infrastructure with high-speed internet, good public transport and uninterrupted water and power supply in 100 Indian cities.

In Panaji, the funds have been diverted to beautification projects of the chief minister’s choice, though Sawant has never lived in the city. Asked for a break-up of projects and the funds received and spent, Imagine Panaji Smart City Development Ltd said it would “take time”. The special purpose vehicle set up for the project’s execution has been often accused of a complete lack of transparency.

The beach beautification project under smart city. Photo: Author provided

It’s easy to dismiss the Goa chief minister as an incompetent, inexperienced, fumbling leader. At a recent press conference turning down the need for a short lockdown at a growing hotspot, he said “Goans have good immunity” to fight the infection. In another instance, he said coronavirus was just like the flu.

Also read: Goa: Backed by Local BJP MLAs, ‘Self-Lockdowns’ in Villages Draw Party Leadership’s Ire

The pandemic has also allowed the BJP government to brazenly subvert the system and use the police selectively against the opposition and activists. Recently, the Vasco police arrested Goa PCC vice president Sankalp Amonkar and a half dozen other Congress supporters for holding a press conference in which they pointed to the flaws in the government’s response to the pandemic. An FIR has also been registered by the crime branch against the former NCP MLA Micky Pacheco for his criticism of the government.

Last month seven activists were arrested for protesting the filling up of agricultural land for a new panchayat ghar in Taleigoa, Monserrate’s constituency. The panchayat, known to overlook violations by huge developers, runs an air-conditioned office, probably one of the poshest in Goa.

Devika Sequeira is an independent journalist based in Goa.

Goa: Backed by Local BJP MLAs, ‘Self-Lockdowns’ in Villages Draw Party Leadership’s Ire

Self-lockdowns have reportedly been imposed on grounds ranging from the government’s failure to control the spread of COVID-19 to supplementing its efforts to restrain it.

New Delhi: A decision to impose ‘self-lockdown’ by several village panchayats in Goa – leading to the shutdown of local shops and business establishments – has put the ruling BJP state leadership and its legislators and ministers in a sharp divide.

Even though the Union home ministry has lifted the national lockdown and has since passed the baton to the district magistrates to take a call at the provincial level, several panchayats in assembly constituencies represented by BJP in the coastal state have imposed a ‘self-lockdown’ within their jurisdictions.

As per news reports, these decisions, issued through circulars, have the backing of the BJP’s local legislators and ministers and even the state vice president Anil Hoble.

“The decision of the village panchayats of Sattari’s Guleri and Keri, for instance, has the backing of health minister Vishwajit Rane. The same is true for Sancorda, where the PWD minister Deepak Pauskar is the local MLA,” a report in the Times of India said.

Yet another report in the newspaper said the panchayat of Chimbel village, a part of St Cruz assembly constituency represented by BJP’s Antonio ‘Tony’ Fernandes, too issued a circular asking people to observe a self-lockdown for seven days from June 15. Some other panchayats named in news reports are Cumbarjua, Sanvordem, Merces and Aldona – all located in constituencies represented by BJP MLAs.

Self-lockdown essentially means the permission to run chemist and ration shops and a fixed time period for opening milk shops while all other shops remain shut. In some village panchayat areas, roads have also been blocked and fines for breaking the rules have been imposed.

Also read: India’s Environment Ministry Unlocked Many Protected Areas During the Lockdown

These self-lockdowns have reportedly been imposed by panchayats on grounds ranging from the state government’s failure to control the spread of the coronavirus to supplementing the government’s efforts at restraining it.

However, with growing public sentiment against the government due to a spike in the number of cases, and the imposition of fines as high as Rs 5,000 on shopkeepers for not adhering to local rules, the BJP state leadership is increasingly pressurising its legislators and ministers to not back such moves – thereby pushing some panchayats to withdraw the circulars as well.

Speaking to reporters this on June 15, the state party president Sadanand Tanavade called such decisions “illegal”. He told the Times of India that the panchayats don’t have the power to issue lockdown orders “and the person issuing them can get into trouble”. Former MP Narendra Sawaikar too reiterated the same in a tweet.

A day later, chief minister Pramod Swant too joined Tanavade in condemning such moves. However, party vice president Hoble had earlier told reporters that Sawant supported his call for self-lockdowns.

On June 15, the Panchayat minister Mauvin Godinho too said that such bodies had no authority to impose lockdowns and keep villages under lockdown.

On June 16 though, Chumbel issued a circular imposing a self-lockdown in the village but later withdrew it under pressure from the state government. News reports said that the stipulations in the circular would continue to be under observation.

St Cruz MLA Fernandes disagreed with state party leadership that such orders were “illegal” as the village sarpanch “is the first citizen of the village and can take such decisions”.

Petition Filed Against Construction of Parrikar Memorial on Goa’s Miramar Beach

The petitioner, Devika Sequeira, told The Wire that the city shoreline was a part the “ecological heritage” and that politicians were making a sudden claim on this “public heritage”.

New Delhi: A petition has been filed in the Bombay high court at Goa seeking to direct the government to stop construction of a memorial for former chief minister Manohar Parrikar on Miramar beach in Panaji.

Manohar Parrikar, a four-time chief minister from Goa and former Union defence minister, passed away on March 17, 2019, after a prolonged battle with pancreatic cancer and was accorded a state funeral the next day.

Parrikar was later posthumously awarded the Padma Bhushan in January 2020.

The petition, filed by journalist Devika Sequeira, has said that the public beach “cannot be mismanaged, misused or appropriated for constructing a memorial by causing harm and damage,” According to a TOI report, the petition also said, “The memorial will destroy the public beach in terms of the findings of the one-man committee headed by Nandkumar Kamat, constituted by Parrikar.”

The committee had been appointed by the state in 2001 following a proposal to privatise Miramar beach.

The petition has sought an immediate halt to the construction of the memorial until the committee’s findings and recommendations are considered. The petition has also sought protection for beaches from any construction, including memorials.

Also read: Goa Govt Corners Chunk of ‘No Development’ Beach for Rs 8.5-Crore ‘Shrine’ to Parrikar

Speaking to The Wire, Sequeira said that as a journalist, it would be a conflict of interest for her to write and report on the case henceforth. “But as a citizen and someone who has been born and lived in this city almost my entire life I feel very strongly about the government’s decision to build another memorial on Miramar beach,” she said.

Sequeira said that was compelled to file a case after nobody else came forward to challenge the matter in court. “Unfortunately, we live in the age of supine and self-serving politicians. Not one of them – not even the MLA of Panjim or the environment minister to whom I appealed several times – dared question such a unilateral decision,” she said.

Underscoring the public’s collective right over the beach, Sequeira said, “The city shoreline is a part of our ecological heritage, and all of a sudden politicians who have no attachment to it are making a claim on this public heritage”.

Sequeira’s lawyer Rohit Bras De Sa told The Wire that the matter would come up for admission after the relaxation of the coronavirus notification by the high court. “The state through the attorney general is on private notice and appeared before the court yesterday. The hearing was deferred for the aforementioned reason,” he said.

The foundation stone for Parrikar’s memorial, which is expected to cost close to Rs 7.8-crore, was laid on the former chief minister’s 64th birth anniversary on December 13.

Miramar beach is classified as CRZ III under the coastal regulation laws. Environmentalists say no construction is allowed in such zones up to 200 metres of the high tide line (HTL), which pretty much includes the whole stretch of beach.

Goa’s BJP-led government intends to commemorate Parrikar’s first death anniversary on Tuesday with a series of programmes that are on track despite advisories against ‘mass gatherings’ in view of the coronavirus outbreak.

#RightSideUp: The Problem With ‘Congress-Mukt Goa’; ‘No More Pakistan’

A weekly round-up of voices from the right.

New Delhi: In what the Congress could only view as a beyond unfortunate series of events, the party simply imploded in Goa with 10 of its 15 MLAs jumping ship and tying the knot with the BJP. The BJP’s presence in the state assembly has now swollen to 27 out of the 40 seats – a sea of change as compared to where the party stood at the end of the assembly election in 2017.

Before Goa, all eyes were on Karnataka. With the floor test set for July 18, the sorry saga of the Karnataka state government is likely to continue in the weeks to come.

The problem with Congress-mukt Goa

A general refrain of unhappiness has followed the political turn of events in Goa. Many took to social media to ask whether the BJP in Goa is now more the Congress than the saffron party.

Among those to put similar views out was Giriraj Pai Vernekar, the former officer on special duty (OSD) to Manohar Parrikar, the former chief minister of the state.

According to him, in an article published in OpIndia this past week, on the face of it, the “midnight surgical strike by the Goa BJP… sounds brilliant” as the BJP now has “brute strength” in the state.

Vernekars put forward why he is troubled by how politics is playing out in Goa after Parrikar’s death.

“With the latest wholesale deal of 10 MLAs though, there is a completely different colour to the Goan BJP. Out of 27 MLAs, almost 20 of them are of Congress gotra (i.e. having some ties with Congress and some point of time). The current CM Pramod Sawant could be the only one considered to be an RSS linked MLA remaining in Goa.

This fact begs the question: Goa is Congress mukt, but BJP has become the new Congress?”

The religious angle is also a major worrying factor for Vernekar, after all, there are now almost 15 Christian MLAs in the BJP.

“The 10 MLAs have also shifted the religious balance of the Goa BJP… In Goa, the Church still calls the shots (covertly and sometimes overtly) as far as elections are concerned… videos show that the Church campaigned for 1 of the 10 MLAs who have been inducted into the BJP now. How will this group of 15 behave?”

After going into the tainted pasts of some of the new inductees, he asks a few questions:

“How is BJP then a party with a difference? How can BJP now provide shelter to the men it despised in the past? How can BJP’s core now be around Congressmen in BJP’s clothing?”

Vernekar harks back to Parrikar’s days and says the way BJP has dropped its allies now to make way for Congress-turned-BJP ministers would have never happened under the reign of the late chief minister as “Parrikar publicly stated that his principles did not allow him to abandon an ally”.

Vernekar ends with a few statements:

“BJP’s core is now the Congress. One wonders how far BJP’s ideology will be carried forward by this current set of MLAs. The worst outcome of this could be the possible ganging up of the Congress Gotra MLAs and demanding a leadership change, with a CM from within them. They have the numbers to form a pressure group amongst themselves, and some of them are extremely ambitious, wily and cunning operators.

The Congress has been dealt a life-threatening blow. Down to 5, it has virtually nothing it can do in Goa. Some of the 5 remaining MLAs were also rumoured to be on their way to BJP, and they may be left wondering now why they were left behind by BJP.”

Finally, the votes of Goa are in for real confusion. Those who voted for BJP the party got Congress in BJP’s clothing.

Also read: #RightSideUp: ‘Shri Ram, the Secret of BJP’s Energy’; Mahua Moitra, ‘the Outsider’

‘No more Pakistan’

A news report published in RSS mouthpiece Organiser reported the happenings of a discussion organised by the Tamil Nadu chapter of the Forum for Awareness of National Security (FANS) on national security that was attended by “intellectuals cutting across various walks of life”.

The chattered largely centred on the idea of ‘no more Pakistan’. To this end, the speakers “explained why there will be ‘No More Pakistan’ in near future”.

Dr V.P. Nedunchezhiyan, associate professor, department of defence and strategic studies, Guru Nanak College, Chennai, reportedly spoke “at length on the origin and the manner in which dissatisfied elements in the society are slowly and steadily transformed into hardened terrorists”.

According to Nedunchezhiyan, it is protests and agitations in Tamil Nadu that are “the first step towards recruitment of operatives”.

“Tamil Nadu today is the breeding ground for terrorism. The agitations in Koodamkulam, Jallikattu, Methane, Neduvasal are the ones in which suitable operatives are selected by the recruiters, contacted, nurtured, brainwashed and trained… the manner in which the number of churches has grown manifold and that all churches are modern and well equipped. The foreign funding sources stand exposed now. The church had a hand in agitations in Koodamkulam, Kanyakumari and Thoothukudi.”

Another speaker, former principal of the Army War College, Pune and Military Strategic Studies Institute, Lt. General L. Nishikant Singh “explained why all the regions of Pakistan, except Punjab, are not happy” while elaborating on the plight of the Pashtuns and human rights violations committed by the Pakistani Army.

The solution advocated by the speakers appear to be this:

“The emergence of ‘Indian Confederation’ would be a guarantee of regional peace and development.”

Goa Cabinet Reshuffle: CM Pramod Sawant Drops Four Ministers

The ministers will be replaced by Michael Lobo, who resigned as deputy speaker of assembly earlier in the day, and three of the 10 MLAs who switched over to the BJP from the Congress this week.

Panaji: Ahead of a reshuffle of the state cabinet, Goa chief minister Pramod Sawant dropped four ministers – three of the Goa Forward Party (GFP) and one independent – from his cabinet Saturday.

A notification to this effect was issued in the afternoon.

According to the notification, the four ministers – deputy chief minister Vijai Sardesai, water resources minister Vinod Palyekar, rural development minister Jayesh Salgaonkar (all GFP MLAs) and revenue minister Rohan Khaunte (independent) – were dropped.

They would be replaced with Michael Lobo, who resigned as deputy speaker of assembly earlier in the day, and three of the 10 MLAs who switched over to the BJP from the Congress on Wednesday.

Also read: Goa’s Voters Lose as BJP Deliberately Misreads Anti-Defection Law

Lobo said apart from him, Chandrakant Kavlekar, Jeniffer Monserratte and Philip Nery Rodrigues would be a part of the new cabinet.

Taleigao MLA Jeniffer Monserratte is the wife of Panaji MLA Atanasio Monserratte. Earlier there were speculations that he would be inducted into the cabinet.

Lobo said, “Atanasio Monserratte refused to take up the ministerial berth and instead requested the chief minister to make his wife a part of the cabinet.”

The swearing-in ceremony of new ministers is scheduled to be held at 3 pm.