God faces a tough battle in Goa

God is on test in the Goa Assembly election today SHe has been insinuated into Goa politics because of the Congress ferrying its candidates to a temple a church and a dargah where they took an oath of allegiance to the party It has to be seen whether the fear of god would dissuade Congress winners to be announced on March 10 from defecting to another party Humans turn to god out of faith or desperation It is hard to vouch for the godly inclination of Congress candidates But desperate the party did become in the last five years In 2017 the Congress won 17 out of Goa Assemblyrsquos 40 seats But defections from the Congress enabled the Bharatiya Janata Party to form the government although it had 13 seats The Congress ultimately was reduced to two MLAs Sixtyseven per cent of MLAs switched parties in the last five years The defection of 2017 was judicially challenged But the courtrsquos verdict has yet to be delivered even as three Congress MLAs who had resigned in 2017 were reelected When neither MLAs nor the electorate seem bothered about constitutional morality god is arguably the only protection left against defection Since Goa became a state in 1987 it has had 11 chief ministers with some enjoying that status multiple times But only two of them had a continuous stint of over four years On five occasions chief ministers lasted less than 100 days dethroned because of defections Yet Goarsquos conscience was not assailedQuite shocking for a state that was reclaimed from the sea according to a myth by Parashurama the sixth incarnation of Vishnu who was searching for a lsquopure landrsquo to carry out sacrificial rituals But the malaise of defection has defiled Goa One reason is the small size of its constituencies roughly 2500030000 voters each Fifteen candidates polled less than 10000 votes in 2017mdashand still won Already overcrowded Goarsquos political turf now also has the Trinamool Congress and the Aam Aadmi Party seems a more serious contender in 2022 than 2017 The more the parties in the fray the less likely any of them can secure a majority A hung Assembly would lead to deals being cut It is here the god factor could work Goarsquos politicians even though indifferent to religious and constitutional morality may fear their violation of the oath taken at places of worship could enrage the devout into punishing them Yet while mulling over offers to defect politicians will ask Do Goans care for god more than money There is after all Goarsquos past to contend with In 1964 a law was enacted treating mundkars or tenants as deemed owners of the land they tilled Bhatkars or landlords could not evict mundkars whose tenancy rights were also made inheritable A person purchasing land from a bhatkar inherited the latterrsquos tenants as well In 1975 yet another law decreed that mundkars could not be dispossessed of their dwelling units Mundkars could buy the land and their dwelling houses from bhatkars but they lacked the resources to do so Postliberalisation the demand for land skyrocketed fuelled by tourism mining and wealthy metropolitans wishing to own houses in Goa The 1964 and 1975 laws were impediments to land transactions for developers would also inherit mundkars whom they could not evict One way of meeting the demand for land was to denotify government lands and change their land use It became profitable for politicians to capture state power and assist realtors Another way was to persuade mundkars to sign away their rights in return for handsome payment Academician Parag D Parobo writes ldquoPoliticians profitedhellipby negotiating land sale and sharing the spoils although disproportionately between bhatkar and mundkarrdquo The commodification of land is precisely the reason a handful of families including those of bhatkars dominate Goa In the 2017 election nine political families fielded 16 candidates In todayrsquos election seven families will have 14 candidates with some family members fighting from rival parties The formidable Pratapsingh Rane is in the Congress but his son Vishwajit and daughterinlaw Divya are BJP candidates Michael Lobo a former BJP minister is now fighting on the Congress ticket as is his wife Delilah Churchill Alemao is a TMC candidate as is his daughter Valanka his nephew Yuri has a Congress ticket Regardless of which party comes to power Goarsquos political families will call the shots A hung Assembly will prompt the patriarchs to shift to the party likely to form the next government for they require state power to facilitate land transactions Goans condone their defections because they too stand a chance to gain from lucrative land deals There is also ample wealth to throw around Every constituency has roughly 8000 households A gift of Rs 5000 to each household means an expenditure of Rs 4 crore loose change for political families With nearly half of Goarsquos 35 lakh households holding Below Poverty Line ration cards Rs 5000 is a bonanza for the poor Lucre has always been Luciferrsquos irresistible bait Godrsquos best bet is Goa giving a clear majority to a party SHe would then escape taking the test of efficacyThe writer is a senior journalistSend your feedback to mailbagmiddaycomThe views expressed in this column are the individualrsquos and donrsquot represent those of the paper