The Congress is a party in utter disarray. Its vote share has been plunging over the last few elections. The leaders will not learn a lesson and there seems to be no sincere initiative in taking corrective steps to get their act together. During the Congress regime life was shinning for the leaders and their families. The same is under the BJP rule. When will the world shine for the common man. When will the masses be able to have a feel of the feel good factor?
This chaos within the Congress party is not limited to the Goa unit. The problem is chronic and has plagued the party from Kashmir to Kanyakumari. A close look at the Congress in almost any state reveals the same sorry state of affairs. A party ridden by factionalism, indiscipline, arrogance, with leaders having selfish and vested interests. Across India we have seen that instead of fighting the BJP the Congress has been fighting the Congress itself, something the Congressmen have excelled in. Unless the Congress across India takes immediate steps to remedy the situation the party may soon be totally wiped out from the political landscape of this country. As a first step at the national level there must be immediate and concerted efforts to bring the NCP, National Trinamool Congress and the other break away parties back to the parent party fold. Speak to any secular Goan on the street and he will tell you that the only hope for the Congress is if the present leaders are mercilessly hounded out and replaced by fresh young blood to rejuvenate and give the party a new look and the much needed impetus. This is a suggestion the Congress should seriously consider. Otherwise any cosmetic efforts to prop up Congress will not halt its continuing decline. It may not be possible to scrap all the liability prone senior leaders in one go, so it could be done in two or three phases with the more malignant cancers to the Congress axed in the first round. People like Francisco Sardinha, Pratapsing Rane and Harish Zantye should definitely be the first to be sent out to the pastures. In Goa 13 out of the 16 Congress MLA’s have officially demanded that Mr.Pratapsingh Rane be removed as Congress Legislative Party leader. The Congress High Command has just refused to budge. What democracy can the party brag about. At a Congress brainstorming session at Kesarval recently, I had asked the party central leaders Ashwini Kumar and Murli Bhandare as to how Mr. Pratasingh Rane as Leader of Opposition was enjoying with Chief Minister Manohar Parrikar's blessings the coveted post of Chairman of Kala Academy and Mrs. Rane as Chairman of Bal Bhavan. The Congress leaders in typical Congress style assured the people gathered that they would take a serious look into the matter. Nothing has happened and will ever happen. This issue will only be resolved the day Pratapsingh Rane joins the BJP, the place where his heart and soul really is and officially longs to be. The Congress in Goa lacks an effective organizational wing. The recently appointed Intellectual cell (Vichar vibhag) ably headed by Adv. Uday Bhembre is a step in the right direction. Its various other cells are so very dormant and inactive. One can only presume that all these cells comprise of only white blood corpuscles. The party cannot afford to have part time Congressmen with senior leaders openly flirting around with other parties at odd hours of the day. There is no loyalty by Congressmen to the Congress party. You cannot wake up as a Congressman and go to bed as a BJP. We saw it so blatantly in the just concluded Lok Sabha elections. Some of the Congress MLA’s worked openly against the NCP- Congress alliance candidate, others worked clandestinely against the alliance candidate. Some worked partially for the alliance candidate and shared the other half of the loyalty with the BJP. And there were those few MLA’s who just sat home while the Congress -NCP alliance candidate had to be content with the work of only those few Congress MLA’s who worked whole heartedly. In a way they all wanted to give Dr Wilfred De Sousa a taste of his own medicine. The Congress leaders have plundered and looted Goa. How otherwise could Fransisco Sardinha, Ravi Naik and others become so rich only after joining politics? They have become financially so obese while their party's political base has been sinking and shrinking. In the Congress party the tales of rags to riches are innumerable. When will the Goan voters wise up and put such politicians in the place they deserve to be, in political wilderness for life for having violated the oath they took while being sworn in as Ministers. In the recently held Lok Sabha elections the people of Goa were caught between the devil and the deep sea. The realistic choice on the menu was limited. You had a corrupt and in-shambles Congress party on one side and a corrupt but highly communal BJP as the other choice. The BJP has sown the seeds of communal disharmony. Our people are today polarised. This is a damage, which will be extremely hard if not impossible to undo. The rise of regional parties is because of the problems the state leaders have with the High Command of the national parties. In Goa, the setting up of the Lok Shakti headed by an impeccable leader Datta Naik is a positive happening. Only time will tell whether this will end up as a force to reckon with. It is surprising that inspite of the pathetic state of the party the Congress-NCP alliance will bag a big chunk of the votes in the recently held Lok Sabha elections. Churchill Alemao will win in South Goa not because of his charisma or that of the Congress party but because of the fact that most priests have openly pleaded with the parishioners to vote against the BJP. Once elected though, big built Churchill will have to fall and kiss the feet of all these clergy for having resurrected him from political oblivion. He could use this opportunity to confess and seek forgiveness for all the political sins committed. Churchill would be well advised not to hold grudges against some of the saffron linked priests who worked very actively against him. Churchill anyway till recently was happily playing to Parrikar's tunes and was eagerly leaking to him all the Congress strategies. Parrikar had in a way kept Churchill content by giving Churchill's cash strapped football team a special unprecedented grant of 40 lakhs. In the north it is now very clear that Sripad Naik, though inefficient as MP and Central Minister will take the flight back to Delhi. He will not win by the astronomical figure as predicted by the BJP. Given the BJP's vantage position, infact Sripad 's wafer thin lead would actually amount to a real defeat of the BJP. He will win because of the utter chaos within the Congress- NCP camp till the 11th hour. Dr. Wilfred De Sousa will poll a sizable chunk of votes. This should in no way boost his ego as the votes he has polled are hardly on account of his personal popularity. A lot of people voted for the clock because that was the only best alternative. A big chunk of the negative vote against the BJP and Mr. Manohar Parrikar went in favor of Dr.Wilfred De Sousa. I myself would not have voted for the veteran doctor if there was another better and secular alternative having winniablity chances. Today a Government is not ruling Goa. It is a one-man rule of Mr. Manohar Parrikar. It could have been a very fertile soil for the Opposition to catch on the illegalities being committed by the present regime. IFFI is just an example. Nobody is against the film festival. What is objectionable and not acceptable is that there has been no debate and transparency on such a mega project. We have to get our priorities right. Power supply, water supply and a good healthcare system should have been Mr. Parrikar's focus. I know the Chief Minister holds me in high esteem. He was even gracious to offer me a plumb position as the vice-Chairman of the NRI facilitation centre, an offer I could not resist to decline. I have nothing personal against Mr. Manohar Parrikar. What I do not subscribe is his party's communal agenda, which he as Chief Minister has had to unleash in this otherwise very secular state of ours. On 13th May the votes will be counted and it is certain that the Goan electorate will have opted for Sripad Naik and Churchill Alemao as their representatives to the next Lok Sabha. Members of Parliament have a very important role to play. Their job is not just distributing ambulances and constructing community halls with the MPLAD funds. In the last Lok Sabha Sripad Naik has hardly raised his voice. He would be in a worse dilemma this time if he lands in the Opposition which in all probabilities he will as per the forecast for the NDA. Let us hope Churchill and Sripad will work hand in hand to raise vital Goan issues in Parliament to ensure Goa's progress and prosperity. Both of them have done well for themselves. It is time they now selflessly serve their land and not wait for the next elections, which may be round the corner if we are destined to have a hung Parliament. An unending political hangover and a tall price we pay for being the world's largest democracy. Aires Rodrigues Ribandar ########################################################################## # Send submissions for Goanet to [EMAIL PROTECTED] # # PLEASE remember to stay on-topic (related to Goa), and avoid top-posts # # More details on Goanet at http://joingoanet.shorturl.com/ # # Please keep your discussion/tone polite, to reflect respect to others # ##########################################################################
