By Rajan Narayan
OUR double-engine Congress-BJP government has completed two years in Goa. The present Dr Pramod Sawant government was formed following the defection of ten Congress MLAs to the BJP. Of the ten, two — Mauvin Godinho and Vishwajit Rane — quit the Congress before the last general elections, contested and won on the BJP ticket. The remaining eight Congress MLAs led by Babush Monseratte joined the BJP two year ago. This included stalwarts like Pratapsingh Raoji Rane who has been Congress chief minister of Goa five times and Digambar Kamat, the two time Congress chief minister from Margao.
Among the defectors is Alexio Sequeira, the only one of the defecting MLAs rewarded with a cabinet berth by the BJP government. Alexio Sequeira, however, was only give the science and law ministry but not the PWD held by Nilesh Cabral. Alexio has very profitably used the environment and legal departments to create barriers for TCP Minister Vishwajit Rane.
Indeed, the infighting between Alexio Sequeria and Vishwajit Rane has undermined the authority of Chief Minister Pramod Sawant. It may be recalled that the government was forced to withdraw amendments to the Town & Country Planning Act. Chief Minister Pramod Sawant has also been under pressure to withdraw the permission granted to the mega housing projects in Reis Magos and Sancoale. In Reis Magos the Delhi based DFL group is putting up 62 super luxury villas, each priced at an average of Rs40 crore. In Sancoale the Bhutani group is putting up multi-storied mega complexes.
FACEBOOK IMAGE
THE attack on green Goa is best dramatized by the Facebook image of a fisherwoman carrying a basket marketing mega-super-luxury housing projects builders from Delhi and Mumbai. The double-engine Cong-BJP government is driven by the greed of Vishwajit Rane, TCP minister. He is assisted by the Revenue Minister Babush Monserrate. The crucial offices of the collectors of North and South Goa are controlled by Atanasio Babush Monserrate, who along with his wife Jennifer Monserrate, make up one of the three couples in the double-engine government. Besides Jennifer and Babush Monserrate we have Deviya and Vishwajit Rane and Delilah and Michael Lobo. Except for Michael and Delilah Lobo the other two couples are defectors from the Congress.
Interestingly, the major beneficiaries of the defection of eight congress MLAs to the BJP have been Atanasio Monserrate and more recently Alexio Sequeira. Pratapsingh Raoji Rane has been compensated for with his son Vishwajit making the most of the allotted to him plum portfolios of TCP and Health.
Perhaps the biggest loser in the defection game has been former chief minister Digambar Kamat. The BJP high command has yet to fulfill its promise of giving Digambar Kamat a cabinet berth. Mauvin Godinho has also benefited from joining the BJP having secured the transport ministry. But in keeping with BJP culture he is considered junior to Vishwajit Rane.
Then some of the other ministers like Govid Gawde and Subhas Phaldesai have also been part of the Congress at one stage or the other. Significantly, a large number of the MLAs of the Congress-BJP double-engine government are from the Catholic minority community.
In the last elections the BJP was compelled to give tickets to several minority community MLAs like Nilesh Cabral in Curchorem, Joshua de Souza from Mapusa and of course Michael Lobo and Delilah Lobo from Calangute and Siolim constituencies. This is besides the tickets given to minority community MLAs in Catholic-dominated south Goa. The BJP has realized that the Catholics in Salcete may vote for a Catholic BJP candidate but will not support a Hindu BJP candidate.
REJECTED PALLAVI DEMPO
THIS was dramatized during the parliamentary elections when the candidature of Pallavi Dempo was rejected by Catholic and Muslim minorities in south Goa. Not only is the Pramod Sawant government which has two more years to go dependent on the Congress defectors, but even more so on the minority community MLAs. Even though the Catholics may only comprise 25% of the population no government can be formed and sustained without the support of the Catholic minority. This is precisely why the astute former chief minister, Manohar Parrikar, reached out and gave BJP tickets to several Catholic candidates in south Goa way back in 2012.
But now with the Congress getting more aggressive and with a dip in the fortunes of the BJP, there is the possibility that the defecting Congress MLAs will return to their original party from which they defected. It is perhaps of the fear of the ghar wapasi of the Congress MLAs that the BJP has delayed a decision on the disqualification of the eight Congress MLAs.
The Supreme Court has given an ultimatum to the Goa assembly speaker to decide on the disqualification before October this year. The Congress party has filed and arduously following up on the disqualification petition against their eight MLAs who defected and joined the BJP. Technically speaking, since the eight Congress MLAs represent 2/3rds of the Congress legislative assembly they are not liable to be disqualified.
However, the Congress claims that they have not resigned from the primary membership of the Congress party. In any case the Congress party has not accepted their resignations. After the defection of the eight Congress MLAs the party has been left with just a small handful of loyal MLAs. The most vocal of them is Leader of the Opposition Yuri Alemao and Aldona MLA Carlos Alvares Ferreira. The voice of the Congress has been strengthened by the south Goa MP Venzy Veigas.
HIGH TIME
THE time has come for the Congress MLAs and all the minority community MLAs even within the BJP to decide whether they should stay with the saffron brigade. With the Church strongly opposing the BJP at the Centre and State, minority community MLAs may find it difficult to get elected in the 2026 assembly election in the state of Goa.
Even MLAs who have been depending on their Muslim vote banks like Margao MLA Digambar Kamat may find the going difficult. There is a strong possibility that the minority Catholic community and the Muslim community may come together on the eve of the next assembly election.
The BJP established itself in Goa due to the charismatic leadership or the late Manohar Parrikar. It is Manohar Parrikar who brought the BJP to power by overthrowing the Francisco Saldinha government. It is Manohar Parrikar who sustained the BJP by securing the support of the Catholic minority community. Unfortunately, during the decade of the Narendra Modi government, the BJP has antagonized the minority communities.
Every time there is an election the BJP attempts to polarize the people along communal lines. It is not a coincidence that lynching and attacks on the minority community increased on the eve of the Haryana and Maharashtra assembly elections.
What is interesting is that even the hardcore Hindutva RSS has realized that hate politics is counter-productive. It comes as a pleasant surprise that RSS chief Mohan Bhagwat has declared that the RSS which has completed 100 years believes in goodwill towards all communities irrespective of their religious belief, caste and diet patterns. Earlier Mohan Bhagwat had lashed out against lynching in the name of cow protection. We hope that the BJP in Goa and at the Centre will respect the tradition of communal harmony in Goa.