MAPUSA
With barely four months left for the Assembly elections, Congress is seeking to use its ‘Goy Rakhonn Yatra’ to rebuild its organisation and reconnect with voters across Goa.
In Bardez, however, the larger question is whether the mobilisation around the yatra can translate into an electoral challenge to the BJP’s established dominance.
The yatra has brought Congress onto the streets across Bardez, putting local issues and the government’s record under the spotlight while providing a platform for leaders and sections of society that had drifted away from active politics to re-emerge.
There are signs of renewed political activity, but whether this represents a broader shift in voter sentiment remains uncertain.
Bardez, with seven Assembly constituencies, is a crucial test for Congress. The BJP had established a strong hold over the taluka before the 2022 elections. Congress, however, broke that dominance by winning four seats.
That gain did not last.
Three of the four Congress MLAs subsequently crossed over to the BJP, leaving the party with only one MLA in a taluka where it had briefly emerged as the principal challenger to the ruling party.
The yatra therefore comes as Congress attempts not merely to campaign against the BJP but to rebuild political credibility after losing much of the advantage it secured in 2022.
A visible revival but uneven across Bardez
The response to the yatra has varied considerably from constituency to constituency.
In Calangute, mobilisation has been more noticeable, with people joining the march and even some leaders associated with the ruling BJP camp participating. Congress leaders have repeatedly attacked the defection of the eight MLAs, seeking to turn the issue into a larger question of political betrayal.
But the picture is far from uniform.
In Porvorim, the yatra has been relatively subdued, raising questions among some residents about Congress’ political positioning in the constituency. The absence of a more aggressive local campaign has also fuelled speculation over whether the party intends to mount a serious challenge to MLA Rohan Khaunte.
The participation of former Union minister Ramakant Khalap, former Deputy Chief Minister Dayanand Narvekar, former MLA Tomazinho Cardozo and former Calangute MLA Agnel Fernandes has added another dimension to the exercise.
Their participation suggests that Congress is succeeding, at least to some extent, in bringing back political veterans who had moved away from active campaigning.
Can mobilisation become organisation?
The yatra has given Congress an opportunity to directly engage voters on issues ranging from tourism and the taxi sector to unemployment, coal, land grabbing and crime.
The bigger challenge is converting that engagement into a sustained organisation capable of carrying the campaign into individual booths and neighbourhoods.
Together For Mapusa president Mahesh Rane believes Congress may struggle to gain significant traction because the party has come to the people too late.
“Congress should have first tried to connect with people and listen to people. There are people who have a lot of problems but they fear to come in the open,” Rane said.
According to him, the party remained largely inactive for much of the last four years and concentrated on press conferences during the past six months.
The contrasting view comes from Calangute, where former Calangute Constituency Forum chief Premanand Diukar believes the yatra has made an impact.
“We never expected such a big crowd in Calangute. It shows people want a change. There is a wave building against the ruling side,” Diukar said.
The significance of the Calangute response lies less in the size of any individual gathering and more in the composition of those participating. The presence of former Congress leaders, political veterans and individuals previously associated with the ruling side indicates that the yatra is creating some political space for an anti-incumbency narrative.
But it would be premature to call that a wave.
Leadership remains Congress’ Achilles heel
Political analyst Trajano D’Mello offers a more sceptical reading of the exercise.
He argues that the Congress yatra lacks the statewide pull of Rahul Gandhi’s Bharat Jodo Yatra and that the party does not currently have a leader capable of attracting voters across Goa. “There is no one leader in Congress who can attract people across the State,” D’Mello said.
This may be the more fundamental challenge facing Congress.
The party can bring together veterans, former elected representatives and local activists, but it still needs a recognisable political face and a clear statewide narrative capable of cutting across individual constituencies.
Bardez could provide the first real test
The real measure of the Goy Rakhonn Yatra will be whether Congress can rebuild the four-seat position it achieved in Bardez in 2022, or at least emerge as a serious challenger in constituencies where the BJP and its allies currently hold the advantage.
With only around four months remaining, Congress has little time to turn the momentum generated by the yatra into permanent campaign machinery.
For now, the yatra appears to have reopened political space for Congress in parts of Bardez, but there is insufficient evidence to suggest that the BJP’s dominance has been seriously shaken. The yatra has started a conversation in Bardez. The bigger question is whether Congress can turn that conversation into votes.
