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------------------------------------------------------------------ Manohar Parrikar is his own worst enemy ------------------------------------------------------------------ Arrogance corrupts the mind. And absolute arrogance destroys it completely. As Monohar Parrikar battles to save his government by hanging on to numbers, he has lost the moral right to rule Goa nay further. It is another matter that a proposed ragtag, hurriedly assembled coalition of vested petty interests, will do less for Goa and more for themselves. But one could look at that a little later.
Democracy is a game of numbers. If Parrikar or any Chief Minister rules by numbers, he has to perish by it. But there's a story behind the numbers. A fall from 24 to 17 or 18 is much more than a numerical slip. It is a slide of a man who is his worst enemy.
It is a price, Parrikar has had to pay for highhandedness and a dictatorial style of functioning. A man's popularity is known more during his times of crisis than his times of joy. In his hour of crisis, not a single minister held his hand. Most went about their own work and it was business as usual. The power minister Digamber Kamat attended a function in Margao. Other ministers went about their work. In a time like this, one would have expected the BJP legislature party to meet, take stock of the situation, pledge solidarity and at the very least issue a joint statement.
One reason for this is that Parrikar continues to run his government as his own fiefdom. Consensus is at an all time low. The decision to sack DGP Amod Kanth, the move to introduce a septic and communally charged VCD on Goa's freedom struggle in schools and other such decisions smacked of high handedness.
This stretched to unimaginable levels. He has started targeting the press for every line and every work that is critical of him and his government. When he threw a lavish party on the Aldona bridge during IFFI, he wished away the basic issue of holding such a party and focused on the price per plate of food. Getting into petty issues to divert attention from a larger one, has been his hallmark. But gagging the press (or attempts to) will stand out as his calling card. Government advertisements were blocked when a papers editorial line was unpalatable. Bureaucrats in the information department behaved rudely with papers that had a backbone.
There's more. When a reporter of an English daily rose to challenge him for his constant criticism of the press, the Chief Minister got into a heated argument and it was expected that all would be forgotten. A few days later, the reporter goat a transfer order to a far away Canacona with no reasons explained. It is widely believed that pressure was applied on the management by the Chief Minister to teach the young reporter a lesson. This speaks volumes of how the press in Goa has been suppressed.
Even his move to strip the Town and Country Planning portfolio from Babush was marked by political exigencies and not out of a genuine felt need to clean his stables. By calling Babush Monserrate a "goonda", Parrikar has exposed himself. What was he doing with the same "goonda" for close to three years. If Babush is a goonda, then Parrikar has been a keeper of a goonda. Surely, Babush has not changed from saint to sinner in the 48 hours that he has parted company from Parrikar.
Clearly a man who has flouted basic norms of decency, fair play and humanity, to even his own party people, had to see this condition coming. But Parrikar hardly realized that a day would come when his own people would struggle to get out of his bondage.
His government is on the verge of bowing out not because the congress managed to break his party, but because, his own party MLAs and allies chose to leave him. Parrikar needs to take a reality check and look at the cracks in his own house rather than blame the congress.
There is however a supreme irony to this. Of the politicians who have aspirations of ruling Goa, he still has the basic credentials. He is relatively young, has a degree of education and intelligence and can run the administration well. If all this can be chanellised through the sieve of fair play and democracy, Parrikar could still turn out to be one of the best Chief ministers Goa has ever had. But sadly, he is his own worst enemy. ----------------------------------------------------------- Editorial in Gomantak Times 31/01/05 page 6 -----------------------------------------------------------
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