CYLINDERS: The BJP’s manifesto offers amongst other things three domestic cooking gas cylinders to every household in Goa and also an offer to freeze the prices of petrol and diesel for three years

Of all the manifestos of our political parties in Goa, the Congress manifesto is the most practical and promising about what it can deliver. It’s do-able. In sharp contrast, the BJP’s Sankalp Patra or manifesto offers more mega development to create facilities for staging international events in Goa. Political parties contesting the elections are competing to drive the government more bankrupt than it already is by offers of dubious freebies and doles!

JOSHUA GEORGE analyses details of various manifestos put out by political parties in the run-up to the assembly elections….
OF ALL THE manifestos released by various political parties contesting the Valentine’s Day assembly polls on February 14, 2022, the most realistic seems to be that of the Congress. The Congress manifesto makes no ridiculous offers of three free gas cylinders to every household when it comes back to power (something it is taking for granted)! During the Modi regime the price of a single domestic gas cylinder has risen to Rs1,000 from around Rs450 during the tenure of Manmohan Singh as prime minister.
The Congress manifesto assures the scrapping of section 16B which authorises Town & Country Planning department to make changes in the conservation zones to protect heritage sites. This is the Congress’s answer to the construction of an illegal bungalow by Saina NC (senior spokesperson of the BJP, opposite Se Cathedral in Old Goa, a heritage zone).
Unlike other parties like the TMC and the AAP which are claiming that they will grant possession and confer land titles to those Goans in possession of land before 1974, Congress offers the more practical alternative of introducing a Land Title Act. Indeed, as per the Uniform Civil Code, which is a legacy of Portuguese rule, the validity of the title has to be verified over four generations to ensure that the seller has the right to transfer any property to a potential purchaser.

STRONG LOKAYUKTA
AMONGST other Congress promises there is one to strengthen the Lokayukta Act, which is a contrast to what the BJP government seeks to do – actually weaken the Lokayukta. Another promise is to set up a legal team to save the river Mhadei-Mandoavi waters, this will conduct a quality auditing for government projects. In the long run this will stop projects like the Atal Setu from turning into a mockery of potholes later on. The Congress has also promised to set up a disaster response centre under the Directorate of Fire Services.
Coming to the BJP’s manifesto it tends to be hyper! It is more king size than the Purvanchall Expressway which is so tough and strong that huge defence transport planes can land on it. The BJP woos Goan voter with three free LPG cylinders for every household and stay excise duties on petrol and diesel for the next three years. This does not necessarily mean that the prices will come down as Finance Minister Nirmala Seetharaman might well increase Central excise on petroleum products.
To promote tourism the BJP Sankalp Patra aims for a Swayampurna Goa – to make Goa self-reliant is the general aim. This includes coming up with a uniquely Goan homestay scheme for which interest-free loans of Rs5 lakh will be facilitated, as also training for residents of Goa. This will only help wealthy settlers in Goa with huge homes, which are large enough to extend hospitality to tourists. Many ancestral palatial homes owned by Goans living in Goa or abroad have been sold to the rich and the privileged coming in to Goa for holidays ranging from a week to a month or more annually. They prefer to have their own second homes which may be leased or rented out to holiday seekers during the year when they’re not in residence.

IDEAL PARADISE GOA?
EVEN the famous auction house of Sotheby’s famous has advertised for ideal villas and homes in Goa to purchase! The BJP also promises to double the number of tourist drivers to exploit the potential for inland tourism, medical tourism, not to mention spiritual tourism.
While the Congress is committed to initiating immediate steps for the resumption of legal and sustainable mining, the BJP has pledged to start mining in six months via the Goa Mining Development Corporation and auction of iron ore blocks. The Congress assures that all money received by the government from mining will be go towards the Goenchi Mati Permanent Fund – something tacitly accepting a proposal put up by the NGO Goa Foundation.
Most shocking in the BJP manifesto is a not so veiled promise to convert Goa into a 50 billion economy in the next 10 years! It is a very tall promise given Goa’s deficit economy. It’s in sharp contrast to the Nationalist Congress Manifesto which is adhering to the general rule of “Small is Beautiful.” If Goa becomes a 50 billion economy it will become a concrete jungle like Dharavi, Asia’s largest slum! Any massive expansion of the economy along the lines of the Union Finance Minister’s promise to allocate the largest share of the budget (35%) to infrastructure will spell out disaster at ground level.
A 50 billion economy imposed on small Goa will mean more bridges, wider highways, bigger airports and mega projects to benefit khaas aadmi at the expense of the aam aadmi. The BJP’s super ambitious 50 billion economy plan will also promote Goa as a destination for high-end technological research. To the existing IIT and NIT, the government will add a campus to the Institute of Science & Space Research – so that Jeff Bezos can launch his tourism rockets into space maybe!

MISSION GOLD COAST
GOA which has delayed the holding of the National Games for more than eight years has developed ambitions of preparing Goan youth to win Gold Medal in the next Olympics coming up in Paris. The BJP has announced mission “Gold Coast” – ironically, the pet name of the poorest country in Africa! Other BJP aspirations: An international football stadium to host FIFA U-20 world cup. A world-renowned coach will be hired, perhaps an offer made to Cristiano Ronaldo who is an football icon in Goa and part of Goa’s Portuguese time heritage.

DOLE COMPETITION
THE BJP is competing with all the other parties in offering freebies and doles. As of now, the BJP has Laadli Laxmi and Grih Aadhar schemes. Now the AAP too promises an inflation allowance from the present Rs1,500 to Rs2,500. The TMC contemplates offering Rs5,000 per month to every woman head of Goan households in the state. Congress has offered to increase the monthly allowance to Rs6,000. Not to be left behind the BJP will start an apprenticeship program to provide Rs5,000 per month stipend to unemployed Goans.
BJP proposes to double the income of horticulturalists by offering incentives up to Rs10 lakh – to promote export-oriented food processing plants and the construction of 20 cold storages. The BJP, which objects to the wearing of the hijab and ripped jeans, promises to make women equal partners in Goa through an action plan of incentives for female entrepreneurs.
Congress on the other hand only promises reservations for women. It has promised a 30% reservation for women in the government sector, the Trinamool Congress has also promised the same — a 33% reservation in both the government and the private sector. Women are not going to be left behind anymore!
Of course, if the BJP returns to power we will not have to worry about the taxi mafia or hiring exortionate tempo services for transporting goods. The BJP party is going to accelerate inland waterways for both passenger and cargo transportation. This may be part of the Central proposal for nationalising waterways. Perhaps the BJP wishes to compete with the Tamil Nadu government and its late chief minister, Jayalalitha, and so Goa will see the setting up of Annapurna Canteens for affordable food, short-stay homes for working women and outlets for the sale of products of self-help groups.
WILL IT HAPPEN?
FINALLY, it could be a major blow to Asia’s richest man Gautam Adani, if the TMC, the Congress and the AAP come to power – all have promised the scrapping of the infamous three linear projects: expansion of Panaji-Belgavi highway, along with the Tamnar power transmission project, and the double-tracking of South Western Railway – all three projects sanctioned by the BJP government and which will run through the heart of the Mollem National Park!
In the wake of the Covid-19 pandemic where classes, offices, meetings are confined to the virtual world, the citizens of Goa struggled with poor connection, as network connectivity was neglected — despite widespread real estate and industrial development. Offering a ray of sunshine the Congress has promised consistent and uninterrupted internet connectivity across Goa.
In conclusion, while the BJP seeks to consolidate its power by offering disastrous for small green Goa freebies, the Congress is more realistic with its agenda and attempts to convince the people of Goa that Congress is best for Goans. Pleased vote wisely. What is the larger interests of a Goa which to date has seen only peace and harmony, no communal tensions…as in some of the other states of the country where the BJP is hell bent on converting everyone into saffron fundamentalists!