The art of making the voter powerless May 1, 2017 Devika Sequeira devikaseque...@gmail.com
The speculation over where chief minister Manohar Parrikar is likely to contest from -- Panaji, Mapusa, Curchorem, Mayem, Calangute -- says a lot about the BJP's and Parrikar's level of confidence after the March 11 result stinger. The derisive bravado at the April 9 Amit Shah felicitation is far from reflective of the anxiety in the BJP camp to find a 'safe' seat for the chief minister. Vishwajit Rane at least has no such problem. There's no knowing of course that Babush Monserrate will not throw in his lot with the BJP. A September bypoll is still a long way off and it gives the CM time to exercise his celebrated persuasive skills. The move to reschedule the panchayat elections is just as telling. Goa could do with a breather to recover from the recent election, Parrikar told journalists. Indeed, it is the BJP that has to recover from a defeat of its own making. Were it to put its ear to the ground -- its intelligence gatherers are probably already on stealth mode -- it would pick up the pulse of seething resentment against the current arrangement that has rendered the voter inconsequential. The Chief Justice of India J S Khehar recently brought up the matter of the absence of political accountability in the country. "Even our legal system provides no consequences be suffered by political parties if promises made in the manifesto are not fulfilled," he said. The manner in which the BJP manipulated the Goa and Manipur results went beyond even dishonouring electoral promises. It contravened the very idea of democracy: the right of the voter to have his say, and the duty of the constitutional authority like governor Mridula Sinha to uphold it. In an interview to a TV channel soon after he won the trust vote, Parrikar made some very telling points. He'd have to "compromise on the BJP agenda" for now, he said, insisting there had been no "financial deals" in government formation. But the icing on the spin was the justification that what was done was done "for the betterment of Goa". The arrogance of the presumption that he and the BJP alone know what's best for the rest of us, even at the cost of turning the voter powerless, signals the direction in which the country is currently headed. Whatever Vijai Sardesai, who's positioned himself as the saviour of Goan culture, may claim, the regional identity issue will be mere sloganeering till the BJP finds a way to move in for the kill. Shah recently asked the party's national executive members to work for the "golden age of the BJP", with a BJP chief minister installed in every state and in positions of power at every level from panchayats to parliament. How it gets there will be of little consequence. Minister Francis D'Souza concedes it won't be easy to manage a coalition of 13+8. But Parrikar, he says, "is the ideal person to hold such a coalition". So far the chief minister has doled out the heftiest enticements to those with the potential to cause most heartburn. Sudin Dhavalikar and Sardesai have the biggest money spinners, PWD, transport (both with Dhavalikar) and TCP. Sardesai also hopes to carve his pound of flesh from the PDAs. All three Goa Forward MLAs are ministers. Leaving even one out could have risked his resignation. No doubt the BJP in Goa is different from the Congress. Its biggest plus is its dominance by a single personality. Even the eight Catholic BJP MLAs who one assumes haven't been drilled in the RSS line of discipline, have learnt subservience on the BJP side. Intemperate in criticism when in the Congress, Mauvin Godinho has been relatively quiet and submissive on the saffron side. He was among the last to be accommodated in the ministry and given the innocuous panchayat ministry. While Parrikar's dominance is perhaps good for cohesive, political action, personality cult politics precludes the rise of second-rung leaders, which explains the utter failure of the Laxmikant Parsekar government. So who would the BJP turn to after Parrikar? Certainly not Michael Lobo or Nilesh Cabral, who as "minorities" cannot aspire to go beyond the cabinet. After his sellout, Vijai Sardesai may well fit the bill. Sardesai's political future does lie perhaps on Modi's side. -- The writer is a senior journalist. The views expressed are her own. http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/city/goa/the-art-of-making-the-voter-powerless/articleshow/58451077.cms