The toast has been raised as Manohar Parrikar became wasawarded the Indian of Year award in politics by CNN IBN. In the sea of awardsby television networks the CNN award is a notch above for the sheer weight ofits jury, headed by Former Attorney general of India Soli Sorabjee. Parrikaralso beat the Badals of Punjab, Ajay Maken and Jairam Ramesh for the honour.However back home in Goa, the nine month old Chief Minister, has seldom faced abigger crisis and a challenge of governance, as the state is on a court inducedlockdown of mining and his promises of zero tolerance to corruption and givingGoa a just Regional Plan are being called to question by an impatient Goa.
More importantly Manohar Parrikar’s biggest pre and postpoll strength, the minorities, while realizing that Parrikar is still the manto deliver, are asking their first questions. And the questions really centeraround the reasons they voted for Parrikar in the first place. The minoritiesof Salcette “ Goa’s most passionate patriots, who voted for Congress in theirsleep, defied history to back a man who would rid Goa of its most venal disease“ corruption.
Secondly, we near the sixth anniversary of the historic AzadMaidan rally, when Goans left their homes and comfort zones to rally for aRegional Plan, which would provide for just and equitable land use, protectingtraditional farms, orchards and spaces and regulating construction to make itmanageable and sustainable. Those who really spent time with the common man ina true sense heard the true voice of Goa. It was a voice that cried out for anend to corruption and greater control of our lands. It’s a travesty that sixyears later, we got a plan that had the right intentions, but was pockmarkedwith fraudulence, so much so that we don’t have plan at all.
His biggest macro and visible challenge will indeed be toclean mining and restart it for the economy to recover but it’s not really inhis hands, even though he has broken all convention to get down to a streetfight to preserve his right to take executive decisions without judicialinterference. But his far bigger long term challenge will be to address the notso overtly visible but far more critical expectations. Punish the corruptincluding former ministers of the previous Congress government and give Goa anhonest transparent, people driven Regional Plan.
If he manages these two, he can take as much time as hewants to rebuild Goa and will get the support of the state that crowned him.His Singham moment is now.
