The Hindu : The verdict in Goa

Online edition of India's National Newspaper
Wednesday, Jun 05, 2002

Opinion

Opinion - Editorials

The verdict in Goa

THE BJP HAS just managed to retain power in Goa, where its Chief Minister, Manohar Parikkar, had embarked upon a snap poll two years ahead of schedule in a pre-emptive move to save his Government from perceived destabilisation threats. Not making it to the helm would have meant a huge loss of face for the party, its political embarrassment being much more acute because of the gamble it had taken in seeking a fresh mandate; this, of course, is apart from the ignominious prospect of being left with only Gujarat and two small States under its governance. In the event, the BJP finished with a tally of 17 seats (out of 40 in the House) to emerge as the largest single group, the Congress coming a close second with 16. Now, if the BJP has had little difficulty in making up the requisite majority in the Assembly, it is obviously because the smaller leader-centric regional outfits, namely the United Goans Democratic Party and the Maharashtrawadi Gomantak Party (which together have five members), found the proposition of tying up with the BJP more attractive.

Substantively speaking, the Goa polls came to be invested with more interest than what normally attaches to the exercise in a State of its geographical size and political significance because of the new national context defined by the recent communally divisive developments in BJP-ruled Gujarat, triggered as they were just about the same time as Mr. Parikkar got the Assembly dissolved prematurely. In a calculated move, the BJP raised its stakes high — and sharply — by striking a hard Hindutva line at its national executive meeting (held in Goa), what with the Prime Minister, Atal Behari Vajpayee, himself mounting a tirade against the Islamic community at a Panaji public meeting that virtually kicked off the poll campaign. For its part, the Congress did seek to focus on the Gujarat happenings and their disturbing implications for the country's secular ethos. At the end of the day, the question whether `Gujarat' (and the BJP's ideological hark-back) has been a major determinant in the voter's choice is debatable; in a sense, the fractured verdict itself debunks any big swing one way or the other. Yet, there is a view that Mr. Parikkar's `clean image' would have fetched more seats for the BJP but for the black deeds of the Narendra Modi regime.

It is indeed regrettable that the people of Goa have not given a clear mandate to either of the major contenders to power. But then, in 1999, they did give the Congress enough numbers to form a Government on its own strength and that had not guaranteed stability. If, on the contrary, the State had to witness a quick turnover of Chief Ministers, it had everything to do with the unprincipled floor crossings resorted to by the legislators unabashedly and with impunity. To be fair, this `culture' permeates the State's entire political spectrum. One wonders if the punishment meted out by the electorate to at least some of the notorious defectors this time will bring about the necessary change in the political class.

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