THE TAILS OF TWO PARTIES DEVIL'S ADVOCATE/Frederick Noronha
After surveying the dismal scenario of Goan politics, the writer argues that the State needs more politics, not less of it -- but of a different kind. ELECTIONS ARE ONCE again round the corner. To be frank, we citizens don't have a clue how the winners -- any winners -- will make things better for Goa. And yet our political class expects us to get enthusiastic about this exercise the common citizen feels increasingly out-of-control about. Two parties have dominated Goa since the 1990s, and before. One of these, the Congress, did so since the beginning of the 1980s. The record of both is abysmal. Both at New Delhi and at Panjim, the parties that have dominated the politics of this small region have done little to protect Goa's interests. Nor is there the evidence of having built a vision for the future, in a manner that is sustainable and long-term enough to last beyond five-year visions and electoral arithmetic. For its part, Congress misrule has been legendary. That party's main 'achievement', if one could call it that, is being able to switch half of Goa, with little exaggeration, into activist mode. People have been protesting this, that and the other. Not because a sudden madness has taken over, or because they have suddenly become like children facing the prospect of a painful injection and are unable to decipher what is in their own long-term interest. The protest, of course, comes because almost every politician judges every issue on a selfish agenda. One which takes the people for granted, and believes they will allow themselves to be ridden roughshod over, as was done ever so often in the past. For its part, the BJP, which has effectively blocked dissent space in Goa, while even having failed to act as an effective Opposition itself. At crucial times, and over crucial issues -- the Cidade imbroglio, proliferating casinos, mining -- the party has failed us. Its leadership is willing to make a minimal amount of noise, just enough to pretend that it is concerned about these issues. Or, to block more serious opposition from getting built up. Apart from itself suffering from the ills of a Congress when in power, the BJP has spent much of its tenures plotting to get into power and stay there, even despite never winning a single clear majority on its own. To make matters worse, both the Big Two parties have now launched their series of pre-poll games, in their bid to manipulate the mandate of an irate electorate. Like in the past, they could just win again! A Churchil Alemao, believing in his family's god-given right to dominate local politics, has been desperate for a seat for his daughter. Campaigners in the villages stung by the fall-outs of Churchillian politics are quick to talk about such politicians' reputations. Are his 'rival party-men' any better? Don't for a moment believe that their race for power has anything beyond the ideologies of selfishness and greed. Congress ideology in Goa is reduced to nothing more than a set of clothes, to be donned by anyone who needs it for the moment, and cast off quickly later -- based on selfishness, caste, moneybags or whatever. It's high time we stop blaming the electorate for voting for such awful representatives. We have already enough evidence to see how elections are strategised by coteries, and decided on, even at the stage of nominations. Back-room manoeuvering outshines all the hundreds of thousands of buttons pressed on electronic voting machines, across this small region. Sad but true, this is the reality. The BJP itself has seen an ungainly intra-party politics at play, with an attempt to push Manohar Parrikar to New Delhi. Later, the party, with all its clever-by-half policies, sought to work out an 'alliance' with the MGP. This, notwithstanding the fact that the MGP was itself brazenly double-crossed and under-cut in the BJP's own rise to power. It took current leaders of that emasculated MGP to point out that the BJP was talking about understandings after it had already named both its candidates for the two Goa seats! Finally, you have a BJP-depending Matanhy Saldanha decide to contest the polls. In the media, there are attempts to fog up such issues, by sophistry, in the hope that at least some people can be taken for at least a ride some time! We've seen game after game after game being played, to deny the Goan electorate the right to make its anger felt strongly enough. To replace politicians, and their dynastic families, who have proven their abilities at ruining things for us all. And to go beyond cosmetic changes, by replacing politicians with others who spell change instead of choosing their ideological cousins, or persons who slept in the same political bed when another configuration of politicians was in power in Panjim. Unfortunately, the role of smaller parties (including regional ones) and Independents is hardly any more inspiring. These are either dependent on the very same forces wrecking Goa by their greed, or they conveniently (for the, not the voter) play the game of the Big Two. Split-the-votes-of-your-opponent is a game Goa has long witnessed, but surprisingly it still takes a section of the voter for a ride. Likewise, depriving the 'rival party' of a seat by propping up some other likely winner is another face of the same game. More serious is the manner in which the moneybags -- what anthropologist Robert Newman calls the 'Big Families' -- keep funding all sides of the political fence, and thus retaining their control. Whoever wins! This is not an argument in defeatism. Nor should one take the politicians-are-all-dirty (so let's stay away from it all) approach. On the contrary, the depths to which our unrepresentative representatives have sunk is a case why we need to take politics even more seriously. We need more politics, not less. But of a pro-people kind, and not just the a party-polarised type. Politics shouldn't mean once in a few years casting of a vote. This is how politicians would like it to be, but that's unlikely to be the case. The citizens are increasingly making their voices heard, which is indeed a healthy trend. At the same time, attempts to manipulate public opinion, to bend protests in a way that helps certain politicians -- these are matters of concern, which should be seen for what they are and promptly exposed. Another issue is the manner in which politicians have been able to consistently divide citizens, and thus get them to gloss over their (the politicians') negative records. If it wasn't for this, Goans could have demanded a much better deal of good governance, as their right, not long after the first assembly elections were held in post-colonial Goa in 1963. "Courage is the price that life exacts for granting peace," said the woman aviation pioneer Amelia Earhart. And good governance is unlikely to come if we merely allow our politicians to manipulate and divide us, to play games in deciding outcomes even before voters walk up to the electoral booth, and in giving free play to corruption or communalism. Or even selling their ideology to the highest bidder. First published in the Herald FEEDBACK TO the writer: f...@goa-india.org