Goa's world-record politics !

Sandesh Prabhudesai
22 December 2000  

"Ajeeb hai ye Goa-ke log", India's first prime minister Jawaharlal Nehru had said it once, but in a different context. Situations have changed in several dimensions since the tiny tourist state got liberated 14 years after India's independence, but the 'ajeeb' attitude remains static.

The state entered into active Parliamentary politics only in 1963 by electing its first Legislative Assembly of 30 (including two seats of Daman and Diu), as the union territory. But its 'politicking' record in last 37 years has been remarkable, especially in the field of defections, topplings and homecomings.

Political pundits say it happens more often in Goa since it is a small state which makes it easy for a small group of even two or three to split as one third - the requirement of the Anti-Defection Act. But coincidentally, the defection series has begun since Goa was made a state and the Assembly seats were raised to 40 from 1989 polls.

Since then, the present BJP government is the 13th one between three Assemblies which was once kept under suspended animation and once dissolved prematurely to impose the President's rule twice. But the real record has been created this time - in the ongoing ninth Assembly.

With the third chief minister Manohar Parrikar presently facing threat of toppling within two months of coming to power, total 56 legislators (out of 40) are involved in splits and mergers while 19 MLAs are still away from it (at least in the present Assembly).

With several parties and groups splitting ten times (except the BJP), 36 legislators have shamelessly participated in this most unethical act of defections. While the first defection in 1990 had witnessed the speaker splitting from the party, Goa also made a record of the opposition leader (Ravi Naik) splitting. He is the Deputy CM today.

These parties and groups also merged into either Congress or the BJP almost nine times while 20 MLAs also participated in this exercise. While the opposition Congress is presently welcoming 'homecoming of their lost friends', the 10-member BJP has come to power by embracing 10 Congressmen into the so called 'principled' saffron camp.

In fact two parties have simply vanished from the 'elected' House in last 16 months with the whole Goa Rajiv Congress being merged into the Nationalist Congress Party while both elected legislators of the United Goans Democratic Party joining the Congress.

The hero of all these heroes however is Francisco D'Souza (elected on GRC ticket), who has changed parties eight times since June last year. Presently in the ruling BJP, the former minister split twice in two months initially, then split thrice within 15 days in November last year and jumped parties thrice once again two months ago. Don't get flabbergasted ! There are more splits in the offing with new year dawning the new millennium !!!

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