Aam Admi Party in Goa seems to be ‘khichdi’ party - By Nisser Dias

Nisser Dias

One of the co-ordinators of Aam Admi Party is of the opinion that their ‘Goa Dialogue’ is a bluff. Hats off to this well known man, he had the guts to say it. He went on to add, “if the villagers suggest an issue out of the box then it can be added in the manifesto”. This can be interpreted as that the masses are bothered only with the same issue like MoI, official language, Mopa, Mobile towers, Coconut tree or grass, disposal of garbage, casinos, nationalisation of rivers, Port at Betul, the list can go and on. And AAP does not have the slightest of idea what stand it should take on these issues. Their one point agenda is to come to power riding on the popularity wave.

Just like a well respected personality tried to sully the waters and confuse the minds of villagers over the MoI issue during the Goa Dialogue at Benaulim by saying, “the needs of the people in Salcete might not be the same in Ponda or Bicholim”. He should know that issues are not decided or adopted at taluka levels. It should be decided upon what the majority population wants if our democracy stands by the principles of ‘government - Of the people, For the people and By the people.

He was trying to find an escapist route as AAP leaders have not no clue on what stand they should take, simply because if they state they are for mother tongue as MoI their support base will erode immediately all over the State and if they take a stand to adopt English, again they will come under attack from language protagonists. Hence AAP wants to fool people by being a fence sitter or rather safer to say they leaders themselves are divided on the issue which is called ideology paralysis.

The very fact that AAP does not want people of Goa to know what their decisions will be if they come to power is a form of corruption because they are hoodwinking the Goans.

Secondly the list of candidates released so far is a clear indication of ‘khichdi’. Candidates in south Goa are opposing airport at Mopa, but their candidate for Mandrem constituency is a supporter of airport at Mopa. Their candidate from Ponda taluka is a strong supporter of MGP ideology which means he supports Marathi for being made the official language of Goa which means he supports Hindu right wing organization Sanathan Saustha who have a permanent camp here in Goa.

One of the senior co-ordinators of Benaulim constituency is a strong proponent of Devnagri script for Konkani and a strong critic of Roman script. We are yet to know the minds of the candidates named in Salcete like Benaulim and Velim.

These examples are just the tip of the iceberg. The working or machination of functioning of AAP is strange or rather opaque though they might glorify the term transparency.

Thirdly without any shadow of doubt in my mind AAP candidates if elected in Goa will be on a short leash of businessmen like the builders, hoteliers, doctors, brokers and real estate agents who under the garb of bringing a systemic change in administrations and governance  want to yield power indirectly. Basically they will want their successful candidates to just lend their shoulder to rest the gun but the trigger will be in the hands of these convenors and co-ordinators. And if the bullet that is fired by convenors and co-ordinators ricochets, the MLA will be the fall-guy.

We have seen the functioning of AAP Supremo or rather its dictator Arvind Kejriwal and that of the Prime Minister Narendra Modi. It is a one-man-show. But since Goa is far away from Delhi the co-ordinators and financiers in Goa will be the real drivers and successful candidates will only be the ‘Yes men’. Convenors, co-ordinators and especially financiers could have easily bagged the tickets. Some convenors and co-ordinators have thrown their hats in the ring but the financiers do not test the waters simply because their lucrative businesses (builders) will get affected if they fail to get the people’s mandate hence they don’t want to take the risk but undoubtedly they want to indirectly wield power through manipulation and deceit.

At the moment the individuals whose names have been declared as candidates are already indebted to their respective constituency co-ordinators as the candidates feel that their co-ordinators have rooted for them which might be or might not be the fact. But one cannot deny that co-ordinators have also acted as observers and they have monitored which individual was attracting more voters.

Another observation is that after the second round of names were declared there have been a lull in the AAP campaigning. It is either that the constituency co-ordinators and volunteers have felt that once the candidates are declared it is their job to carry on their campaign. To some extent it could be true but the co-ordinators or the party after declaring candidates enters a second stage and that is to keep its members together who must have surely be aggrieved for not bagging the party candidature. Basically it means keeping ‘dissent’ at bay and create an atmosphere of working for the success of the party.

So this brings us to the question that is on everybody’s mind, ‘how is AAP different from other political parties’? At the moment it feels that AAP sympathisers and supporters will vote for their candidates but the successful candidates or MLAs will be answerable to the party convenors and constituency co-ordinators instead of the people.

Jai Hind!!!