GOAN POLITICS - A THEATRE OF THE ABSURD "Goa ke log ajeeb hai" said Jawaharlal Nehru decades ago, when our little state was first brought into the fold of the Indian nation. Did he perhaps find Goans strange because we lacked that innate Indian talent of crafty expertise in the letter of the law while ignoring and subverting its spirit? If so, then recent political events have proved beyond doubt that Goa has happily and fully integrated into mainstream India. Apparently it is India's number one state not only in terms of development or standard of living, but also in deceitful defections, treachery and most of all subversion of cherished institutions.
Three legislators, proven pliant puppets in the hands of the former BJP Chief Minister are the dramatis personae in the first episode of this mega production that might have done IFFI proud. It may be noted that two of them had no compunctions in kicking off the party on whose ticket they were elected, in order to support the frenetic machinations of their friend and patron the erstwhile Chief Minister of Goa, in his no holds barred attempts to stay in the saddle. One of them split from his party, and embraced the BJP government as Tourism Minister. The honeymoon lasted only until the carpet was rudely pulled from under his feet while he was enjoying a sojourn abroad. The second star in this drama, is a character who left his party in the lurch some time ago, and also joined with the saffron brigade, functioning as a powerful Minister holding a number of portfolios. The third player was so convinced that "kesar" was the flavour of the day, that he even quit the Congress recently, to join the saffronites, thus necessitating the holding of re-elections in rustic Poinguinim, where backed by the powerful Minister, he ground the Congress into the dust and emerged victorious. One fine morning, the former Chief Minister suddenly woke up and realized that his bosom pal and ally in good times and bad - the Honourable Minister of Town and Country Planning was in fact a corrupt disgrace to his government and had to be knocked off before he turned Goa into a concrete jungle. The electorate watched in amazement as their Chief Minister loftily rode the moral high ground and abruptly stripped the powerful Minister of his lucrative Town and Country Planning portfolio. Then, all hell broke loose. For the hapless Manohar Parrikar, years of arm twisting and manipulative politics came home to roost as four erstwhile colleagues moved out of his camp to willingly consort and sleep with the enemy. To the power hungry Congress, this was like manna from heaven . All was forgotten and forgiven as former foes joined forces to dethrone the reigning czar. In a skillfully crafted game plan, four legislators withdrew support from the BJP Government and resigned in order to get past the anti defection law, sending the BJP Government spinning into a serious crisis. The second Act of this treacherous tale centers around a former firebrand activist, now converted into a pillar of the same establishment that he took on at great personal cost in his glory days. Apparently, he found his soul mate in Manohar Parrikar, who rewarded his ardent, unconditional and unflinching support with the Ministry of Tourism portfolio. The controversial VCD, the flouting of procedures for IFFI infrastructure and shielding of culprits who ransacked a Mapusa hotel and damaged private property in Panjim were conveniently swept under the carpet as he moved in tandem with his mentor in a delicate dance to keep the Government afloat. This actor, who happened to be in Spain, during the crisis, displayed touching loyalty to his political master. He crept surreptitiously back into Goa, to huddle in conference with his mentor when decency, decorum and courtesy demanded that he first meet with his party, on whose ticket he was elected. But such was his undying devotion, that he even defied his Party Whip to prop up the BJP Government. Now, the scene of action shifts to the august floor of the plush Goa Legislative Assembly, where Goans are treated to the spectacle of high Machiavellian political intrigue. In this game of numbers, the scales are weighted in favour of the Congress and their new found allies. To preempt this advantage, the Speaker arbitrarily orders an independent MLA, formerly supporter of the Government, but now co-conspirator with the Congress, to leave the floor. When he refuses to oblige, the marshals, backed by the police move in to lend support to the Government in its desperate endeavour to cling to power. The saffronites win the day and the vote of confidence, only to be dislodged in the night by the Governor's abrupt dismissal of their Government, followed by the swearing in of a Congress led dispensation. It is a battle of wits as each side looks for technicalities and loopholes in a desperate bid to undermine laws that might deny them the power that they all hanker and crave for. And power, mind you, is the raison d'etre for the very existence of our politicians. It is in the pursuit of power that every institution of the land is used and abused. In this recent episode, a posse of armed policemen were kept to guard the residence in Panjim and office in Cansaulim of the erstwhile Minister of Tourism. The Vasco PI, was commandeered and used to head a contingent of policemen to execute the dirty tricks of their political masters, right in the sanctum sanctorum of the Legislative Assembly. That the police are instruments of terror in the hands of the state is something that we "bareek lok" have long been aware of through sad experience. One bright spot in the theatre of the absurd that was enacted on the floor of the Legislative Assembly on February 2nd, was that the Congress legislators at last experienced a watered down version of the brutal and inhuman face of the police that we ordinary folk have to contend with day after dismal day. Of course our worthy Congress legislators were luckier than the so called aam aadmi they have eulogized and idolized in the Parliamentary elections not so long ago. A fortuitous configuration of circumstances decreed that they were able to obtain instant and rough justice in the shape of the dismissal of the Manohar Parrikar government by the constitutional authority of the state. But whether it is a BJP or a Congress led government in power, the treachery, trickery, manipulation and total disconnect of politics from ethics are factors that remain constant in the powerful and driven motivation to remain in the seat of power. The people of Goa cannot forget that it was Congress legislators, who at some point in time, for personal convenience, aided and abetted the BJP Government in their bid to usurp power through fair means or foul. And all through the period of BJP rule, these opportunistic patron saints of deceit displayed no compunction whatsoever in accepting for their personal gain, any crumbs thrown at them by the ruling dispensation. Yet, it was these very same gentlemen, brazenly exhibiting extreme cases of selective amnesia, who were cavorting on the floor of the Assembly demonstrating high moral indignation at the dirty tricks pulled out of the BJP Government's bag. But admittedly, dirty tricks seem to have been a speciality of the Manohar Parrikar government. A skill that perhaps ensured that his government survived a full 51 months - a long span by Goan standards. Ruling through the democratic process is an arduous and difficult task. That is why perhaps, a long time ago, Manohar Parrikar decided to take the easy way out by silencing the opposition through strategic and skilful arm twisting. While the erstwhile Chief Minister displayed commendable alacrity in opening files related to misdeeds of Congressmen, not surprisingly, he did not exhibit the same evenhandedness in applying the law to his compatriots who functioned as a law unto themselves, going on the rampage ransacking hotels and damaging private and public property. Once he succeeded in blurring the lines between the ruling party and the opposition, pushing through his agenda became a piece of cake. Today as the people of Goa, are still reeling from the recent political catacylsm, there are many questions still left unanswered. Are we then to believe that politics is just a matter of permutations, combinations and numbers? Is ideology an outdated concept? Are opportunistic and cynical political alliances all that we have to look forward to in the future? Is the politics of coalition an unworkable concept within the framework of the law? Even though the power equations and the alliances have undergone a shift, there is little reason for optimism. For even in political life, there still some norms of decency that must be observed. But as recent events have proved, each and every one of our political representatives, has sunk to new and unthinkable levels of depravity. If elected members of the Legislative Assembly so brazenly flaunt their total lack of respect for the law and the institutions of the land, then it's a sad commentary on the future of democracy in this state and perhaps this country. Diana Pinto
