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MGP LIMBO-4
By Valmiki Faleiro
The Dilkush-Daya rebel duo was now ready to fly the MGP coop. The party’s lone
MP,
Amrut Kansar joined in, providing the rebellion a boost. The budget session was
at hand
and Tai could be ousted by defeating any budgetary demand. In a house of 30,
she had
15 + 2 Daman and Diu Independents, including the rebels. If the rebels voted
‘Nay,’ it
would be a tie, but Government could survive on the Speaker’s casting vote.
That is precisely how Tai survived April 16, 1979. Speaker Narayan Fugro (Diu)
exercised his casting vote thrice to save the government -- an unparalleled
feat in India’s
parliamentary history. On April 18, he repeated that five times! A ‘People’s
Democratic
Front’ of 35 NGOs demanded Tai’s resignation. She declined to oblige.
Babu, Dr. Willy, Govind Panvelkar and Vishnu Anant Naik zeroed in on the
Speaker and
Tai’s Law Minister, Shankar Laad (Dabolim.) Earlier, Madhav Bir, the Janata
Party (JP)
legislature leader, obtained Prime Minister Morarji Dessai’s ‘go ahead’ for the
ouster. On
April 20, Fugro and Laad revolted. The four D’s -- Diu, Dabolim, Dilkush and
Daya --
together spelled doom of the MGP.
The day of the next budget vote -- Monday, April 23, 1979 -- was Tai’s day of
reckoning.
She had clearly lost the numbers. Earlier that day, the four MGP breakaways, 10
Cong
and 3 JP MLAs met the Lt. Governor. Col. Pratap Singh Gill was never pleased
with
Tai’s arm-twisting tactics. He made a report to the President and telephoned HM
Patel,
the Union Home Minister.
Fear and uncertainty stalked Panjim that afternoon. Security was shored up.
Like on
August 20, 1970, concentric police rings were thrown around the Secretariat.
Every
visitor was frisked. I recall going early to the Assembly with my senior
colleague,
Gurudas Singbal. We were frisked with metal detectors.
Upstairs in the Assembly lobby, IGP Parkash Singh and SP Prabhakar Sinari
called me
aside to enquire what lay in store. I confessed I was at sea on the strategy of
either side.
Soon, the heroes of the day, Dilkush and Daya, trooped in. Tapping me, Daya
said,
"Tuka zai ashil’lem tashen zalem mure?"
The session began sharp at 2.30 pm. By my side, on the front bench of the Press
gallery
was Marathi Gomantak’s then news editor. The Visitors gallery was packed with
Cong-U
supporters. The Paris-returned twin brother of Francisco Sardinha was among
those in
the VIP gallery. Everyone rose as Speaker Fugro entered.
Then hell broke loose. MGP MLAs were all over the place, in a deafening din.
They
physically prevented the Speaker from taking the chair. The ornate chair itself
was flung
off the podium. It broke. Doubtfuls like Sadashiv Marathe were thrust in the
forefront ...
he sat cross-legged on the Speaker’s table. Others went to work in the well of
the house,
tearing papers, tossing mikes. In the crowded Press Gallery, I felt the
experienced
‘Gomantak’ News Editor’s knees knock against mine.
The Speaker, whose word is law in the House precincts, directed the IGP to
evict the
berserk MGP MLAs. About a dozen riot cops rushed up the podium. As they grappled
with her MLAs, Tai rose and, tightening the knot of her sari, went up the steps
of the
podium and pulled a constable by his belt. As the two tumbled down, a Gandhi
bust fell
off its pedestal. Gandhi was smashed to smithereens. Symbolically, perhaps. It
was a
canard that Tai deliberately broke the statue.
Brawny opposition MLAs, led by Dilkush, inched towards the MGP MLAs -- and
almost
walked into Tai’s trap, of staging a constitutional breakdown, leading to
dissolution of the
house, thus preventing the rebels from assuming power. Mercifully, elders like
Dr. Jack
de Sequeira, Madhav Bir, Babu Naik and Pratapsingh Rane managed to restrain
them.
The Lt. Governor made a report to the Centre. Instructions were anytime
expected to
dismiss the Tai ministry and swear-in the rebel group. Tai rushed to Delhi. She
handed
her ‘resignation’ to President Sanjiva Reddy. She met ministers. She must have
exuded
her charms. Morarjibhai’s cabinet shockingly dismissed the Assembly instead.
Erasmo
Sequeira’s "Civil Disobedience Movement" had little effect.
After eight months of central rule, elections were held Jan 3, 1980. With fresh
faces and
a sensible election strategy, Cong-U leaders Dr. Willy and Babu provided people
a clear
option. 69.51% Goans spoke their minds. Tai was routed. Her party won a dismal
seven;
the Cong-U bagged 20 plus 3 supporting independents in the 30-member house.
Most of
Tai’s seniors, including her, were despatched home. And the MGP into limbo.
Goa’s two major regional players in post-1961 politics, the UGP and MGP,
yielded to
national parties. A new chapter was about to be scripted. (Concludes.) ENDS)
The Valmiki Faleiro weekly column at:
http://www.goanet.org/index.php?name=News&file=article&sid=330
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The above article appeared in the July 1, 2007 edition of the Herald, Goa
