'Party with a difference'

After posting the most number of legislators to the Goa Assembly, Congress supporters in the state were confident that someday soon their party would govern the state. Despite the initial shock of BJP playing foul and forming the government with the help of the regional outfit Goa Forward, the supporters refused to relent and recently elected a Congress candidate to fill the spot thrown open by the death of Manohar Parrikar. What did the Congress loyalists get in return? A grave mockery of democracy (“Organised defections debase Indian politics”, July 15, Gulf Today).

With the defection of 10 MLAs to the BJP, the Congress has just five legislators remaining in the fold. As citizens of a democratic country we are given to understand that the voter is sovereign. We the people are the masters and the elected are dubbed ‘government servants’. I would not like to go there but I wish that was true. Because I feel cheated. Opportunistic defectors have made me their slave. The political machinery is today a cash cow for those who are willing to sell the loyalty of their voters to the highest bidder. Though Goa citizenry is well informed and politically discerning, this ongoing political tamasha has more than rattled their sanity.

The idea of BJP as a ‘party with a difference’ has also been ruined by their greed for political dominance. The party is stooping so low and welcoming all and sundry that today it is totally bereft on any ideology worth its salt.  

Ved Rodrigues
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