THE FUN TIMES ARE BACK However much you may virulently disagree with the BJP, or shamelessly be an apologist for it, there is one quality of the elite BJP commandos that you must admire.
Their much-vaunted Discipline.
Whether this is due to their commando culture or their high-command culture is, of course, a matter of debate.
That said, one can sense that, at least in Goa, there is a clear unraveling of this Discipline.
Look around you.
The evidence is just so glaringly clear.
Govind Gaude and Ramesh Talwadkar are at daggers drawn.
Shahjahan is simply not in control.
His Agra Akademi is now under intense technical scrutiny.
Michael Lobo and Rohan Khaunte are punching blows, as usual, and now that you are caught up on the interminable highway to hell (a.k.a the Mapusa-Porvorim highway), you will have an interminably slow ring-side view of the bout. Fret not!!
The ever-smiling (for absolutely no good reason) Pramod Sawant is busy blaming past PWD ministers, dead or alive, everytime his fancy cavalcade cavorts over the countless potholes and injures his non-existent spine.
And Dhavlikar, Goa’s longest serving PWD minister, is not amused one bit.
And, of course, we are witnessing the mother of all royal battles playing out in the public courts of Sawant and Visrane.
From accusations of hill-cutting to get-me-my-22k jobs or we will have to look for a political alternative to the threat of the Damocles sword falling somewhere, sometime.
Gee, this is just sooo much funnn!!
Despite a thundering, illegally manufactured majority, the BJP in Goa has now degenerated into a full-blown Comedy Central.
No Governance!!
Genuine people’s protests!!
Rampant, in your face corruption!!
Drownings, Driving Demons, Drugs, Daring Dacoities, Dabolim Demise, Digambar Disaster.
The D list is endless.
Most importantly, all these cracks in the medley of mercenaries lording over us, is the palpable loss of the Narrative.
During the Parrikar Era, due to his personal integrity and despite his legendary flip-flops on all issues dear to Goa, he never lost control of the Narrative.
Protected by a loving and obedient media, he always managed to pull off that fast one that Goa was going to be a better place tomorrow.
And people bought into that Narrative.
But these guys have blown it.
They are in control of absolutely nothing.
The only reason this charade continues and survives is because the Top Leadership at the Centre, looks upon benignly and protects the Gang out here. And thus maintains the peace.
And clearly, no one dares move a needle here, just in case Modi-Shah is watching.
Which then brings me to my pertinent question.
Why is the BJP in Goa , seemingly so disjointed, so rowdy, so indisciplined, so lacking in any moral authority (ok this last one is a joke!) that you can sense that something, or someone, is giving way??
Could it be that, post-June 2024, the Delhi Hawk eyes are busy monitoring all the bigger fires in other states and the Goa blip is simply not registering??
Could it be that our political players here (the smartest, vilest tribe that ever existed in our state) sense the possible defeat of the BJP in Haryana and Maharashtra, and are hence quietly adjusting their musical chairs right now??Because no way, like all the King's horses and all the King's men, are they going to be prepared to all fall down.
Or is it that the glorious people’s protests, particularly in the BJP strongholds, is getting too hot to handle for all these veterans?? And when the waters are muddied in Goa, trust every single politician in Goa to go fishing in those troubled waters.
Or is that the Two Marathas from up north have said enough is enough and, in true Kshatriya spirit, decided to pull out their swords, and go to war??
The local BJP be damned.
Either way, this does take one back to the mid-term of the Digambar Congress in 2010’s or thereabouts.
The same ridiculous indisciplline.
The Centre asleep at the wheel.
Churchill vs Mickey and Ravi vs Dhavlikar and God knows who vs God knows who.
Eventually we all know how that regime ended in 2012.
Are we seeing the same level of Arrogance and Hubris setting in again in amchem Goem??
Perhaps!!
If the Modi-Shah stranglehold on Indian politics holds, post the state elections, all these neighing horses and donkeys will tamely go back to their stables.
If not, then all bets are off.
Either way, after a long, long time, people's protests against all the Lord Voldemorts destroying Goa, is prevailing.
More power to them!!
POSTSCRIPT
There have been innumerable post-mortems on the BJP Debacle in June 2024. No
400 Paar.
Every conceivable reason has been assiduously dissected.
I can't say for sure but would be glad if any economist could throw light on this little, perhaps misplaced, theory of mine.
There can be no doubt that one of the most formidable achievements of this BJP government has been to digitise and formalize the Economy.
Everyone is now in the Net or close to being ensnared.
A number of my patients, small businessmen, traders, shopkeepers, (traditional BJP support base) are hopping mad about the taxes they pay and the level of corruption that happens under the BJP watch.
Their logical question is:
Is nation-building only meant for us??
While the fat cats and politicians can engage in daylight grand larceny and nothing happens to them??
I always muse as to when did these patients of mine ever pay income tax in such numbers for this complaint to become a deafening chorus??
The income tax payees of our citizenry has increased just a piffle!!
And then it struck me.
What these small business guys were talking about was GST, not income tax.
I jumped out of my bath-tub, stark naked, but my wife was smarter than Archimedes.
She threw a towel on me and dragged me in, before I hit the streets.
One shopkeeper’s message was telling.
Earlier (as in Congress rule) we used to pay bribes, which to them was a form of tax to every excise inspector, CCP official, whoever, whoever.
And we got on with our lives.
Now, we are sent notices to pay the GST, which we can't escape.
And to top it all, the seedy officials still come thereafter to extort their fee.
Now that's a double whammy which Amrit Kaal has not resolved, only perpetuated.
Could this be one of the reasons that the Modi Magic failed in 2024??
Whatever the speeches and exultations, the Aam Aadmi has still not been rid of retail, state-level corruption.
Did that trump out Ram Mandir, article 370, etc etc.
Food for thought.
The one thing for sure though is that all the commandos in the Goa unit of BJP are fighting like cats and dogs.
And that is a good thing for the overall health of Goa.
Lucky for them, fighting as they are like cats and dogs, there are no Haitian immigrants in Goa.
DR OSCAR REBELLO GOA