Catholics hold key to next government in Goa The preference to BJP, however, is out of frustration over the “gargantuan corruption” under the Congress rule. Posted on March 2, 2012, 11:15 AM
By Bosco de Sousa Eremita Panaji: As Goa goes to the polls to elect its 40-member legislative assembly on Saturday, Catholics in the western Indian state are getting special attention from unexpected quarters. The Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP, Indian people’s party), the main opposition in the current assembly, and its chief ministerial candidate Manohar Parrikar have realized a bitter truth: No government can come to power in Goa without the support of the Catholic community that dominates the state’s southern region. Efforts were made in the past to dilute this Catholic influence by forcing the controversial alignment of the Konkani Railway through this sector, despite opposition from the Church and environmentalists. But the expected influx of migrants in the area, especially in Salcette taluka, was minimal. True, the state’s Catholic population has dwindled from 29 percent to 26 percent in the last decade, but the political clout some constituencies command in this region even today has convinced the BJP that it would be better to woo, rather than antagonize, Catholics. For the first time, in the run-up to the March 3 elections, the BJP has given six of the 31 seats it contests to Catholics. It has also given six seats to its regional ally, the Maharashtrawadi Gomantak Party (MGP). Both the parties believe predominantly in Hindu ideology though with varying degrees--the MGP being more moderate, while the BJP being a far-right Hindu party. However, the BJP has foisted just three BJP candidates and offered two to MGP in Salcette – a traditional Congress bastion. The parties have left three seats in the area. This apart, Parrikar has gone the extra mile to put Catholics at ease. Last month, he went touring south Goa, visiting Catholics homes, even spending a night or lunching with them. He admitted that he blundered during his previous tenure as the chief minister, where he was accused of trying to cancel Good Friday as a public holiday, besides bringing out a CD on Goa’s freedom struggle that projected Catholics in poor light. Now, however, he is wooing Catholics, reminding them that it was the BJP government that met the deadline of a new bypass to Old Goa in time for the Exposition of the relics of Saint Francis Xavier. Linette Carvalho, a Catholic insurance employee, says she had seen Parrikar “watering the surface of the tarmac before the asphalted strip was cast. He was personally supervising the construction of the road, so that it was ready in time of the Exposition.” At election rallies, Parrikar swears that facilities at the next Exposition would be even better “than any government has done.” Another effective ploy adopted by the BJP was to rope in the support of a popular daily among the Catholics, where the paper has seen a flagrant pro-BJP slant. The BJP candidate for the St Andre constituency has in his manifesto promised to declare the Procession of Saints and the Feast of St Anna at the Church of St Anne in Talaulim as state festivals. The fact remains that with a significant presence of Catholics wresting some constituencies from the BJP plank, the community has let down their guard. Some BJP loyalists were denied electoral tickets in favor of new Catholic entrants in the party. The polling pattern on March 3, however, will clearly indicate that BJP’s popularity is on the rise. “I will vote for the BJP, even if they may be communal. Who said the Congress is not communal? Corruption by Congress has crossed limits. The Congress must be kicked out,” said a member of a diocesan commission who asked not to be named. The preference to BJP, however, is not out of love for the saffron party, but rather frustration over the “gargantum corruption” under the Congress rule. Foremost is the mining scam billed to be over 250 billion rupees, which has resulted in illegal mining, destruction of fertile arable fileds, pollution of air and water, health hazards, unemployment due to a status quo on mining, road deaths, parched hilly terrain and destruction of homes due to floods triggered by indiscriminate mining. This apart, the Goa Regional Plan 2012 – a land use plan – has seen an uprising in almost all villages, after even paddy fields and hill slopes were identified for construction activity. A Catholic cabinet minister in charge of Town and Country Planning was exposed for evading some 100 million rupees tax in fraudent land transactions, where he converted huge tracts of land to builders and payoffs were in land/built up areas and cash. Even on the contentious issue of the medium of instruction in primary schools, the Congress backtracked in court despite a cabinet decision that grants would be given to schools, irrespective of medium of instruction, with the 50-odd diocesan schools being served with a “show cause” for switching over from Konkani to English. The Congress is guilty of nominating family members as party nominees for the elections ranging from nephews, daughters, brothers and fathers and sons, prompting the BJP to warn that election of kin would result in slavery in Goa. Five families comprising 12 out of 40 Congress candidates are in the fray. Caught between the devil and the deep blue sea, the Church deemed it fit to refrain from coming forth with the traditional official guidelines asking voters to keep off communal elements, preferring to resort to veiled calls. Soter D’Souza, a former member of the BJP and now heading the department of Good Governance in the Diocesan Council of Social Justice and Peace, points out that the Church was not in the business of politics. “We have decided not to focus on issues, rather on voters’ responsibilities. Moreover, the moment we ask the voters to keep off communal forces, the Congress claims our endorsement for their party.” Defending the failure of the Church to project a third alternative, D’Souza said it was not the Church’s role to meddle in politics. Political watchers claim that with the Catholic obsession to vote out the corrupt, the minorities run the risk of hanging themselves by playing into the hands of the Hindu communal party. The division of votes among the two major parties, namely the Congress and BJP, is likely to throw surprising results, with the third “weaker” candidate notching the magical mandate. Predictably, a fragmented mandate is inevitable with the next government being cobbled up with the support of independents. http://www.ucanindia.in/news/catholics-hold-key-to-next-government-in-goa/17077/daily --------------------------------------------------------------------------- Protect Goa's natural beauty Support Goa's first Tiger Reserve Sign the petition at: http://www.goanet.org/petition/petition.php ---------------------------------------------------------------------------
