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NOTHING, IT SEEMS, CAN STOP OUR POLITICIANS' UNPRINCIPLED BEHAVIOUR By Joseph Zuzarte [EMAIL PROTECTED] There is a saying: "You live by the sword, you die by the sword." Our Chief Minister, Mr. Manohar Parrikar needs to keep that in mind in the midst of the current murky political situation in Goa. Considering the policy of intimidation and dadagiri adopted by him vis-a-vis opposition MLAs, it should not surprise anybody if the Congress too uses its considerable political muscle to get even with the CM. He also needs to keep in mind that too much of a good thing can turn out to be a bad thing. He has already forgotten that the Goa government is a coalition government and not a BJP government, though of course the BJP is the biggest party. And that even the BJP legislature party has swelled its ranks only by getting opposition MLAs to join in, virtually sidelining the original BJP candidates, and that some of these "other" MLAs who joined the BJP are powerful members of the Catholic community, not Sangh Parivar or Hindutva leaders. It's a peculiar situation for the BJP because its ideological base is thus exposed to be totally hollow. It's just another political grouping of power hungry individuals who will go to any extent to retain power and continue to enjoy the loaves of office. In that sense it has got nothing to differentiate itself from the other major political grouping, the Congress, which is composed of exactly the same type of individuals. Also, in practically every state and at the national level, these two Goliaths of Indian politics are fighting a no-holds-barred battle for political one-upmanship. It's a battle which has been going on for many years now. Over these years both the Congress and the BJP have managed to cut each other up to a really small size, which is how they have had to come to rely on "other" political entities for government formation, the coalition era. Many efforts have been initiated for a "third front" by ambitious leaders who have sensed the political vacuum, but the total destruction of these two current Goliaths of Indian politics is still a while away. What we are thus witnessing in Goa is the same fight-to-the-finish between the BJP and the Congress. As can already be seen, the other MLAs have already emerged distinct winners with some of the most plum ministerships. There is also the inevitable gravitation to the winning side. Things were fine for the BJP in Goa as long as the BJP was also leading the coalition at the Centre. But the change in the Union government last May has now forced the BJP here on the back-foot. First there was the embarrassment of the Micky Pacheco press conference while the BJP's top-brass were doing their "chintan bhaitak' at Dona Paula. It was a clearly piqued Manohar Parrikar who took the battle right into the ranks of the Congress and poached one of their MLAs. The Congress has hit back with the recent IT raids on a minister and the former MLA from Poinguinim. One can only expect further twists and turns in this battle. If Mr. Parrikar thinks it's only the Congress that he has to battle, he's got another thing coming. The other BJP MLAs are unlikely to have taken kindly to most of the plum ministerships being given to the "other" MLAs and may decide to revolt against the current chief minister for "appeasing" the minorities. The CM and the BJP will also find that this "appeasement" of the smaller Catholic community may not go down very well with their core support group of Hindus. As the recent BJP 'chintan bhaitak' concluded, it was this erosion of support from this core support group which led to their Lok Sabha trouncing. That core Hindu support eroded because of a dilution in the BJP's ideological platform. The BJP had to dilute its ideological stance because of the compulsions of coalition politics. With the BJP reluctantly having to lead a coalition government in Goa, a similar situation has also emerged here. Luring more Catholic MLAs into the BJP fold will clearly not help matters for the BJP because they may be reluctant to mouth the BJP's Hindutva ideology. There is also the possibility that the BJP may poach the Hindu MLAs from the Congress, as it had once done in the past, to consolidate its hold on power. But this again may not go down well with the "original" BJP leaders who also obviously will be nursing their own political aspirations. Once again thus Goa's political chess board is interestingly posed. Nobody can really say what the next move will be. On the Congress side there are too many former chief ministers all jostling for power, and each apparently does not hesitate to sabotage the chances of the others. Going by the abysmal track record of Goa's politicians, a similar situation will sooner rather than later also emerge on the BJP side as the "original" members try to sideline the "defectors". If anybody thinks the situation is getting ripe for the emergence of a third force once again any time soon, they will probably be sorely disappointed going by the record of the "other" parties here, the MGP, the UGDP, NCP, Janata, etc. The first two are purely regional entities. Though the MGP ruled for many years in the 60's and the 70's, today it is a spent force. Consequently the UGDP MLAs have been clearly exploiting the shortcomings of the two Goliaths and enjoying more power than its small numbers would otherwise suggest. The NCP and Janata Party are also have-beens at the national level. As Manohar Parrikar enters the toughest period of his chief ministership, his situation is akin to that of a ship's captain caught in a rough storm. You do not throw away your ship-mates and you cannot get fresh ship-mates. You have to ride out the storm until it ends, that is if the storm doesn't get you before that. He has already shown great dexterity and has also been generous with the spoils of office, and it should not surprise anybody if he comes out of this still smiling. One only fears that in the process he may further reinforce Goa's unique status as being the avant garde of the sinking political class in this country. The recent Congress MLAs resignation, after all, was the first in India to circumvent the new anti-defection laws. Nothing it seems can stop our politicians from unprincipled behaviour. ### [The writer is a senior journalist who returned after spending many working years in Mumbai.] --------------------------------------------------------------------------- GOANET-READER WELCOMES contributions from its readers, by way of essays and think-pieces, that share views and ideas among the 7000-strong readership of the Goanet network of mailing lists. If you appreciated the thoughts expressed above, please send in your feedback to the writer. Our writers write pro bono, and deserve to hear from those who appreciate their work. --------------------------------------------------------------------------- Goanet, 1994-2004, building community for a decade. Raising social capital. --------------------------------------------------------------------------- ########################################################################## Goa's premier mailing list Goanet - http://www.goanet.org is 10 years old today