Sandesh Prabhudesai
18 March 2002
Eyeing on the forthcoming Assembly polls
in the state probably by May end, the ruling Bharatiya Janata
Party here has managed to shift its national executive meeting
from Pune to Goa, from 12 to 14 April.
"We will definitely benefit from it", quipped
chief minister Manohar Parrikar, as the meet would follow
a public rally which will be addressed by all the central
leaders including prime minister Atal Bihari Vajpayee.
Rather than managing dates of several leaders
for electioneering, the BJP here is quite happy that most
of these important leaders will be readily available to
address election rallies in different parts of the state.
They also plan to hold one huge rally in Panaji, where the
national executive will meet.
This is the third national meet the BJP
is holding in Goa while this will be yet another important
event for the Sangh Parivar in last three years,
following the second national executive meet held here
in April 1999.
Soon after this meet, the Sangh Parivar
had begun Dharm Jagaran Yatra from Goa on 20
October, to hit the national capital on the eve of visit
by Pope John Paul II to India. Followed by this was the
two-day meet of the Kendirya Margadarshak Mandal
of the Vishwa Hindu Parishad, held in October 2000, to plan
out date of the Ram temple construction in Ayodhya.
May it be considered merely a coincidence
that the BJP's national executive is meeting once again
in the tiny state of western coast when the BJP-led coalition
government at the centre is facing wrath of its NDA allies
due to the same Ayodhya issue, the action plan for which
was chalked out here by the VHP.
Incidentally, the BJP's national leaders
had met in Goa last time when AIADMK leader Jayalalitha
had moved towards withdrawing support to the NDA government.
The situation is equally crucial today once again, due to
tough stand adopted by Vajpayee's allies on the new Ayodhya
episode.
In fact the Sangh Parivar appears
to be building Goa as a strategic point for
its Hindutva movement, posing the state as Konkan Kashi
- Kashi of the West, in an attempt to counter the state-sponsored
propaganda that the tourist state is the Rome of the East.
Response to the religion-related concept
of the Sangh Parivar is still not visible, but the
BJP has emerged as a powerful political entity in Goa, in
spite of making a debut with four legislators only in 1994.
The saffrons increased its number to 10 in '99 polls and
even formed its own government by admitting neo-saffron
Congressmen by engineering defection.
The saffron party has today gone for sudden
dissolution within 32 months, putting themselves to public
test. Parrikar claims that they will be elected back to
power, following successful panchayat elections. It is to
be seen whether shifting of the BJP national meet here will
help them bring their plans true.
