PRABHAKAR TIMBLE
100 days is not a span to evaluate the performance of any government. It would be blind worship to give rave reviews by considering mere announcements of programmes and honeymoon period commitments of Ministers including media attention seeking dart to government offices as achievements. Equally, it would be unfair to pin down the government for its failures and shortcomings.

Birth in mystery
From the position of power, the BJP was reduced to 13 in the new Assembly. Yet, BJP cobbled up numbers to form the government. It was clear that the people’s mandate was against the BJP. Yet, the Governor managed the show with total disregard to precedents and conventions and gave the first opportunity to the leader of the political party rejected at the elections, to be sworn as the Chief Minister. The birth of the 2017 Manohar Parrikar government is shrouded in mystery. 2017 will be recorded in Goa’s political and legislative history as the year where the people’s victory was curved to citizens’ defeat in a diminutive fraction of less than 24 hours by the elected legislators. It was too complex for Goans to adapt to the new “Swaach Bharat” politics of the triumvirate of Narendra Modi-Amit Shah-Nitin Gadkari. Goans were shell shocked. They did not celebrate nor grieve. They could not digest the installation of the BJP government as the hallmark of “Goemkarponn” after the electorate gave the thumbs down to the party which is just not perceived but actually pursues an agenda which attempts to obliterate the DNA of Goa.

CMP
The Common Minimum Programme (CMP) could function as an indicator of the future course that the government is likely to adopt. Apart from the projects and programmes enunciated in the state budget, CMP talks about granting of tree status to coconut tree, review of approvals granted by the Investment Promotion Board, a tripartite MoU in respect of Goa’s rivers which stand nationalised, farmer’s markets on highways and amendment to the Agricultural Tenancy Act to revert tenancy cases to Special Mamlatdars instead of Civil Court. It looks that the issue of medium of instruction at the primary stage of education would not find space at the political party level in future. The often repeated promise to shift the casinos out of river Mandovi is once again reiterated in the CMP. At the same time, the alternative location or proposed approach is kept away from the eyes of the general public. CMP sounds of Regional Plan 2030 which means the state will go without the new regional plan for another term of five years. The earlier government also kept RP in cold storage during its five-year term.
It appears that the formulation of a CMP was not at all a priority for Chief Minister Parrikar as what are incorporated in it are a few boisterous agenda points of the Goa Forward Party. It does not seem to be a comprehensive and holistic programme of the government for different sectors and sections as it ought to be. The Chief Minister has provided comfort to the GFP supremo Vijay Sardesai and also a certificate to make the marriage look credible in the eyes of the public. No doubt, the media perceives it as having the stamp of GFP. Some have gone to the extent of calling it surrender to the GFP.

TDP innovation welcome
It goes to the credit of the GFP to bind the BJP and pin all other political parties to ‘Goemkarponn’, though an emotion; it is now put on the highest pedestal. It’s the GFP sloganeering gone viral and the virus has stuck all the political parties. The concept of Transfer of Development Rights (TDR) would be an innovation for land use and real estate development in Goa. Needless to say, land is the scarcest resource in Goa and seriously weakened by the geographical size of the territory. We need to balance conservation and exploitation; environment and development. Owners whom community expects to conserve private forest lands and eco-sensitive areas need to be recognised through compensatory mechanism. A proper and scientific use of TDR could ensure this. On the lines of TDR, an equitable package should be worked out for land-losers to ensure acquisition with consent and a human face.

GFP pervades CMP?
It is said that empty vessel makes more noise. The GFP impact on the CMP appears to be extra loud. I would describe it as not adequately cooked food wrapped in the GFP aluminum foil. Not a single agenda point has a time-frame. Finally, they could land up as ‘work-in-progress’ promises like that of shifting of casinos and the regional plan. The demand of the GFP has been for scrapping of the Investment Promotion Board and not a review of few approvals. This means, nothing in substance. The GFP stipulated that Goa’s rivers should be denationalised and ownership maintained as earlier. The GFP commitment was to halt the conversion of Goa’s rivers into highways for coal transportation on which the CMP is conveniently silent. This is something what has transpired in the Velim Church case wherein the government was expected to withdraw the case. The government has only dropped the attempt to murder charge (Section 307) which even otherwise the Court was not prepared to accept and had sounded to drop on its own. It means, finally the government has done nothing but the image sought to be created is that government has rescued and given justice to the Church and people!

Party politics on top
At the operational level, the signals are clear that the top most priority of this government is politics rather than democratic governance. One expected immediate justice was to the Mandrem College which was denied grants and approval for over three years. The interference of the government is also seen in the recently concluded elections to the Goa Urban Cooperative Bank, where the newly elected Board of Directors was not allowed to take charge. The political opponents are trolled and discredited by using SIT, ACB and other agencies.
The elections to the Panchayats saw the rampant political maneuvering done by the government. It was a field day for ruling party politicians in matters of delimitation of wards and reservation of wards. Though, the Courts do not generally interfere over announcement of election schedule, in the instant case, the High Court intervened and demanded course correction, though in few extreme cases. The style of politics endorsed by the BJP is now creating infamous history at the Panchayat level. We have seen that with the blessings of a Minister in the Parrikar cabinet, a no-confidence motion is moved against a Sarpanch within 24 hours of his election. Such is the arrogance of power which the local self-governing institutions will have to digest in the days to come.
The government has so far failed to answer the issue of bars and liquor shops on the highways. There is no clear stand on the question of coal handling by the MPT. The government does not give confidence that it will protect its power from being encroached by the central government. On the issue of the right-wing fringe elements getting emboldened in Goa and freely trading hatred, the government is quiet. It’s again individual MLAs and Ministers who speak their ‘mann ki baat’!!.
As the government completes 100 days, people still talk that BJP usurped the people’s mandate, though the voices are not as eloquent as before. Definitely, the BJP is precluded from claiming high moral ground. However, there is a section which holds that there is no alternative to Manohar Parrikar and that even if he resorts to evil politics, that is for the final good of the state. There are takers for this “smart” politics of Parrikar but the numbers are dwindling. As the Parrikar government moves ‘forward’ with ‘goemkarponn’, any political force using these catchphrases will be
given a very cautious screening by the Goans.