Four anti-bandhara protesters from Sanvordem–Mirabag were detained on Friday, March 6, the very first day of the Assembly’s budget session. Their crime? Holding placards and raising slogans. Democracy, apparently, works best when it is quiet.
Villagers from the same area were also denied permission to stage a sit-in at Lohia Maidan that very day. After all, peaceful protests are terribly inconvenient when the government is busy presenting a “people-friendly” budget.
Meanwhile, the police—now functioning with remarkable efficiency as the unofficial security wing of the ruling politicians—have summoned hundreds of protesters who demanded the repeal of Section 39A of the Town and Country Planning Act. Their offence was equally grave: raising slogans against Vishwajit Rane outside his Miramar residence.
Across Goa, discontent is no longer simmering—it is boiling. Vasco continues to witness agitations against coal transportation. Velsao and Cansaulim residents remain locked in protests over double tracking. Tivim and St. Andre are up in arms against mega housing projects. Curchorem is tense over the proposed coal handling jetty. Old Goa has seen protests against construction creeping into heritage zones.
The list is long. In fact, it is growing faster than the so-called “development” these projects promise.
Thousands of villagers—women, men, even children—are leaving their homes and daily work to join these agitations. For them, this is about survival, land, and identity. For the government, however, it is simply “development”.
Ironically, history shows that when people persist, the government eventually blinks.
The BJP government led by Chief Minister Pramod Sawant was forced to abandon the proposed Unity Mall in Chimbel after public opposition. TCP approvals under Section 39A had to be kept in abeyance in Palem-Siridao following protests.
Back in 2019, the proposed IIT campus at Shel-Melauli collapsed under the weight of massive public resistance to land acquisition. The plan was quietly shelved after sustained agitation.
Similarly, the draft zoning plan in Pernem ran into a wall of public anger when people realised that large stretches of green cover might conveniently transform into concrete jungles. Once again, resistance forced the government to rethink.
Which brings us to the uncomfortable question: will these protests actually translate into votes against the BJP? Or will voters, once again, suffer from Goa’s well-documented case of political amnesia?
With just a year left for the general elections, the familiar ritual is about to begin. Soon the carrots will appear—welfare schemes, subsidies, incentives, and generous promises packaged as governance.
The budget presented on March 6 already gives us a preview.
Fifty thousand senior citizens will receive free pneumococcal vaccines. After “Mhaji Ghar”, the government now promises “Mhaji Flat”. There’s a “Nari Shakti” scheme for women. Anganwadi workers will see their wages increased. Rs. 30 crore is earmarked for empowerment of the disabled. Scheduled Tribes are promised incentives and benefits. Tribal sportsmen will receive cash rewards. Even journalists have reason to smile with their pensions raised from Rs.10,000 to Rs.15,000.
And this, of course, is only the tip of the iceberg.
As elections approach, the BJP’s strategists will likely unveil more “instant relief” schemes—the kind designed to make voters forget yesterday’s protests and tomorrow’s consequences. We have seen similar political generosity elsewhere, such as in Bihar, where cash incentives were rolled out for women voters.
And, as always, the ever-mysterious management of electoral rolls will quietly play its role in the background.
Which is why the real challenge lies with the people of Goa.
If voters truly wish to protect their hills, fields, rivers, ponds, and mangroves—if they wish to preserve their culture, traditions, ecology, and the Goan way of life—then they must see through the glitter of last-minute schemes and inducements.
Or even worse, will it be religion that decides the voting pattern? Or will it be a vote for Hindutva, the Hindu nation narrative?
Because in the end, the real question is simple: will Goans vote to save their land, or will they once again settle for the next well-packaged promise?
Or even worse, will it be religion that decides the voting pattern? Or will it be a vote for Hindutva, Hindu nation narrative?
Because the choice is simple.
Vote for the future of Goa.
Or vote for the next freebie.
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