In the late 80s a young IIT-trained businessman dived headlong into Goa’s political bloodstream already infected by defections, instability and a rogue DNA, which was being rapidly brewing disenchantment among the population of a still young State.
More than a quarter century later, after having exited State politics and sworn-in as a Minister in Narendra Modi Cabinet, the three-time Chief Minister Manohar Parrikar may now wonder during a moment of leisure, about how really he has altered Goa’s politics. If there is one thing, Parrikar, the biggest politician the State has given birth to yet, it is one motto: “Everything is possible”.
Parrikar, his successor as CM laxmikant Parsekar, Union Minister of State for Tourism and Culture Shripad Naik and Speaker Rajendra Arlekar is a quartet of BJP politicians who during the expanse of their careers have taken the party from virtually scratch in the 1980s to the pinnacle of power in 2012. While the others functioned as proactive and determined limbs, Parrikar provided the grey matter and vision which has taken party to where it has reached today in Goa.
Committed to the Rashtriya Swayamseval Sangh and an avid pracharak Parrikar had his run-in with the political system as an IIT-B student, when Indira Gandhi imposed the Emergency in India. So as far as political choice is concerned, it was already made by the time he returned to Goa.
His political debut started on a poor note when he lost the 1991 lok Sabha polls poorly, when he contested the North Goa lok Sabha seat.Three years later he contested and won the Panaji assembly seat in 1994 and by the time Goa’s second legislative assembly wound up he was already making strides, being appointed as Opposition leader.
In 1999, he became the first Panaji MlA to regain the seat and after a brief spell in the Opposition, using tactical acumen pulled the rug under the Congress government and hopped on to the treasury benches to support a Francisco Sardinha-led Congress-splinter group form power.
In October, 2000 Parrikar toppled Sardinha and cobbled together first coalition government in Goa where a BJP-man was chief minister: Himself.Sensing an opportunity to win an election and get BJP elected as a single largest party, possibly its own government, he recommended dissolution of the state assembly and sought elections again in 2002, but the party fell way short of the majority mark and had to break the Opposition to make up the numbers. Parrikar was elected chief minister for the second time in 2002.
Three years later however, after the collapse of the National Democratic Alliance at the Centre, Parrikar’s government was reduced to a minority and after legislative wrangling for months Parrikar moved back into the familiar role of Opposition leader.
In 2007, the BJP led by him was convincingly defeated by the Congress, after which he donned the Opposition leader role for five straight years, unrelentlessly embarrassing, chiding, rebuking and exposing the corrupt Congress-led coalition government.It is this role which Goans cherish the most, especially the manner in which he brought out scam after scam, scandal after scandal whether it was mining, casino or real estate sector.
Parrikar in 2012 was swept into power, due to an unprecedented anti-incumbency wave as well as, earnest campaigning by the BJP’s prime face, Manohar Parrikar and his social engineering where he gave tickets to nearly one-third Catholic candidates, many of whom were roped into the party overnight.
The party won an unpredented 21 seats on its own and formed government with Parrikar again at the helm.However, it is as chief minister for the third time, that Parrikar’s role has been panned most by his critics accusing him of pandering to the casino, mining and real estate lobbies. Many of the policy-related promises made by the BJP in its 2012 election manifestos are yet to be fulfilled. Parrikar’s image too has taken a beating in the recent past for his controversial comments as well as his attempts to shelter cabinet colleagues accused of malgovernance and corruption.
His new stint as a cabinet minister, possibly with a defence minister, should give him an opportunity to redeem himself and live up to the potential the 58-year-old has always promised.