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| Goanetters annual meet in Goa is scheduled for Dec 27, 2005 @ 4pm |
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|The Riviera Opposite Hotel Mandovi, Panjim (near Ferry Jetty/Riverfront)|
| Attending.......drop a line to [EMAIL PROTECTED] |
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OF MONEY, POLLS & CRUSADERS W/out STANDS!
By Valmiki Faleiro
"It's just five per cent of voters which get influenced by gifts and
freebies during elections," Manohar Parrikar, former Chief Minister, told this
newspaper ("Cash for query not justified," HERALD, 25/12/05.)
Parrikar is street smart in electoral politics. Being the brain
behind a party that existed only in name until the early 90s, when he assumed
reigns, bagged four opening seats riding piggyback the MGP and gained in
strength till he formed the Government in year 2000, Parrikar ought to have
known better.
Unless, of course, his above quote needs to be read with another
recent refrain: that the Goa BJP's coffers are empty!
Anyone, who knows anything about Goa's current electoral politics,
knows that majority of the electorate sways with money in the run up to
Election Day. Democracy is reduced to a farce where money buys victory.
Elections are all about money, forget the wholesomely unrealistic expenditure
ceiling laid down in law.
Gone are the days when voters swayed to emotional slogans
like "Zaleach Paijje." Ask the Maharashtrawadis to revive such slogans and go
to the voters -- with slogans alone, not commensurate moolah -- and they'll
draw a blank. Throw 200 crores (at 5 crores a piece in a 40 member House) and
anyone will give a Government that lasts the full term. (If you want your
investment returned, with or without interest, a Parrikar-like will lead that
Government not to be perceived as corrupt.)
Goa's electoral canvass has undergone a sea change where slogans,
emotion and party ideology have gradually given way to the almighty Vitamin-
M. As elected leaders exampled rags-to-riches stories, the electorate
followed, demanding their share of ill-gotten Vit-M for their vote.
Times were (and I will draw on an illustration here) when a lamp post
ordained with a party ticket won elections without a Naya Paisa to buy a
vote. As late as in 1980, when the MGP was edged out of power it held since
1963, then Congress-U leaders scoured the countryside in search of worthy
candidates.
Party president, Dr. Wilfred de Souza, came to a Salcete village, in
search of replacement for his party's sitting MLA, who (together with another
who continues in party and position) attempted a somersault to the MGP in the
infamous 1977 *Midnight Drama*. A well-wisher, the late Roberto Vas, named a
local lad, a political non entity, bereft of both controversy and money,
nicknamed, "Crusader without a stand" (an allusion to neither his spiritual
belief nor political stance -- but to his Royal Enfield Crusader motorcycle, a
smaller version of the now famous Bullet, whose parking stand the potential
candidate had no money to replace!)
The candidate's election deposit (then some Rs.250/-) was paid by the
late Ananta (Babu) Naik. The penniless candidate won with one of the highest
vote margins! (It is a corollary that this MLA reformed, in short years and
on his own admission, into the biggest Tax Payer politician -- and,
consequently, has to spend more with every successive election. He won't, of
course, spend from what was previously raked in and the vicious circle of
making money for the next election will merrily continue!)
Elections are all about money. It's only a matter of time before
voters from the hinterland constituencies wizen up to the levels of their
counterparts in, say, Benaulim or Taleigao. Where the seat goes at 5 crores a
piece. And as more and more migrants get included in Voter Rolls, that figure
is bound to change in only one direction: skywards.
One need not delve too deep into history to verify the validity of
Parrikar's statement. The BJP's predecessor, the Jana Sangh, offered some of
the best economic policies as compared to Nehru's short-sighted socialism.
Policies didn't fetch votes. The Jana Sangh churned out some of the best
election manifestoes in India. Manifestoes didn't fetch votes either.
Advaniji's Rath Yatra did.
Emotive issues will not have as much leverage in bi-polar Goa as the
unifying factor of Vitamin-M. Vit-M will override policies, principles and
parties. Isn't Taleigao a case in point? (Unless Radharao Gracias will have
us believe that his UGDP label is so popular that it actually wins elections
in distant Jharkhand!)
Emotive issues are divisive; Vit-M corrupts. National parties either
pursuing divisive agendas or riding the crest of money power, will do Goa no
good. It is time that intelligent guys like Parrikar came together to forge a
third alternative -- non-sectarian, anti-corruption, pro-Goa. The force of
charisma was successfully tested twice in Goa.
Many thinking Goans, after all, regard Parrikar as the right man in
the wrong party!(ENDS)
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The above article appeared in the December 27, 2005 edition of The Herald, Goa
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