Prime Minister Narendra Modi has promised Goa that he will make it the number one state in India, if the BJP are voted in with a majority. That is a bold statement, but one that only the prime minister of the country can make. His speech in Panaji was not very long, but it seemed to pack a punch, with Modi making a lot of promises, claims and a few strong statements.
He would be right in stating that the visa-on-arrival option will bring in more tourists to Goa, and that infrastructure like the Zuari bridge will add to Goa’s potential to draw more tourists. He praised the government’s stability over the past 25 months, which should certainly please Laxmikant Parsekar, especially after the video of Modi ignoring him at a past event went viral.
But here is where Narendra Modi may not entirely be correct. He claimed that this stable government needs to be voted back into power, in order to continue their work, asked for a majority in the assembly in order to be stable, but then went on to claim that the government was unstable in the past, referring directly to the game of musical chairs that ministers played with the CM’s position from 1990 to 2000. That decade was certainly one of Goa’s darkest eras, in terms of politics. But post that, the governments were relatively stable. The Parrikar government from in the first half of the next decade was quite stable, up until defections rocked the boat. The anti-defection bill laid the foundation for more stability in the future. When the Congress came into power in 2005, they were quite stable until their loss to the BJP in 2012.
The BJP needs a majority in this election. They no more have the luxury of joining hands with the MGP, as the Dhavalikars are intent on having much more power than they had in the past. The BJP has an agenda clash with the GSM and the Shiv Sena, on MOI and other issues as well. In fact, judging by the recent manifesto released by the GSM-SS combine, the entire prospect of boosting tourism in Goa will go out the window should there be a coalition with them. As for the independents and smaller parties, only time will tell.
What Narendra Modi intends, which is why he has been asking for a majority government, is to have complete control over the state, with no reason to pander to any whims and fancies of partners. With the BJP at the centre and in power in Goa, there are bigger chances of getting things done quicker and with less hassle.
But there is still the matter of boosting tourism and other industries in Goa. Hopefully, Modi will have a solution to that.
