By Rajan Narayan

It is the fear of being hounded and persecuted for their sins of omission and commission that has forced Babush Monserrate and Vishwajit Rane to join the Congress party in such haste.

NO, I am not talking about the deodorant which makes women swoon. Though probably Mickky Pacheco, with his felicity for attracting young nubile women and even abetting their suicide, possibly uses the much advertised deodorant. But we are talking about the Axe effect in terms of the vigour with which the police and the political establishment in Goa is pursuing the case of abetment to suicide which, on the unfortunate death of Nadia Torrado, has been elevated to culpable homicide amounting to murder, which carries a sentence of up to ten years rigorous imprisonment. Mickky may or may not be guilty of culpable homicide, though all the evidence definitely suggests that he abetted the suicide of Nadia. But what is significant is not the suicide of Nadia itself but the fact that probably for the first time in the history of Congress governments in Goa, a case is being pursued so vigorously by the Goa police. The only parallel to the prosecution which borders on persecution are the cases filed by Manohar Parrikar when he was chief minister against Somnath Zuwarkar, Mauvin Godinho and Dayanand Narvekar.

BABUSH ENTRY

WE have no doubt in our mind that it is the zeal that the Goa Police and the Home Minister have displayed in pursuing the case of abetment to suicide and the framing of culpable homicide not amounting to murder against Mickky that was a major factor in Babush Monserrate and Vishwajit Rane begging, pleading and crawling before the Congress High Command and the Congress Low Command to be admitted to the Congress. The cases pending against Babush Monserrate are, if anything, far more serious than the cases pending against Mickky Pacheco. Babush stands charge-sheeted of nothing short of insurrection against the state by leading an attack against the Panaji police station because the police were allegedly favouring his rivals’ goons. Babush also has a case pending against him for instigating the brutal beating up of Goa Pradesh Youth Congress workers, who went to his residence to protest against his opposition to the Dona Paula IT Habitat at the instigation of Dayanand Narvekar.

After he got elected to the Legislative Assembly in October 2000, Babush Monserrate, who had contested the election on the UGDP ticket, defected from the UGDP and joined the BJP. And the BJP very obligingly A-finalled or closed the several cases pending against him, ranging from intimidation to extortion. He was further rewarded with the Town and Country Planning portfolio and allegedly made huge amounts of money by permitting land sharks to decide the contours of the now discarded Regional Plan 2011. When the BJP government was on the verge of collapse following the defection of the then BJP stalwart Digamber Kamat, Babush Monserrate also switched to the Congress. But at the very last moment before the last general elections, aggrieved that the Congress High Command refused to give a ticket to his wife Jennifer to contest the assembly elections on the Congress ticket, he defected back to the UGDP and contested and won the election on the UGDP ticket.

Babush has now presumably realised that there is little or no chance of toppling the Digamber Kamat government, which he attempted to do several times during the first three years of the tenure of the current Legislative Assembly and Digamber Kamat’s reign as chief minister. Babush is also seeing what happens to even coalition partners who fall foul of Home Minister Ravi Naik. If Mickky Pacheco had not sought to discredit Ravi Naik by loudly proclaiming that Goa had become the rape capital of the country, it is unlikely that the police would have pursued the Nadia case so vehemently. Ravi Naik is obviously taking revenge for Mickky conspiring with the rest of the members of the group of seven to have him dislodged from the Home ministry.

OPPORTUNITY

BOTH the Congress High Command and the Congress Low Command have been looking for opportunities to break the persistent threat from the group of seven, which had grown to a group of eleven if one took into account disgruntled Congressmen. At various stages, Digamber Kamat even attempted to induce some BJP MLAs to join the Congress to secure some protection against the conspiracies hatched by the group of seven. The beginning of the end of the group of seven was when Vishwajit Rane, realising that the High Command was not inclined to make Papa Pratapsingh Raoji Rane the chief minister, decided to distance himself from Babush and company. The only hurdle to the complete annihilation of the petulant and contentious group of seven was the NCP trio of Jose Philip D’Souza, Mickky Pacheco and Nilkanth Halarnkar, who had combined with the rest of the dissidents like Babush Monserrate, the Dhavlikar brothers and Pandurang Madkaikar to launch repeated attempts to topple the Digamber Kamat government.

The Congress High Command and the Low Command got their opportunity when Nadia succeeded in her suicide attempts and all of Mickky’s efforts to save her life did not succeed. Digamber Kamat seized the opportunity when NCP President Sharad Pawar, not wanting yet another scandal on his plate which was already full of scandals related to the conduct of the IPL, directed Mickky to quit from the Digamber kamat cabinet. With Mickky no longer enjoying the protection of Sharad Pawar, he became the softest of soft targets. The fact that a revengeful Ravi Naik, who in the past has not been very supportive of Digamber Kamat’s attempts at cutting down to size the group of seven, took immediate action against Mickky Pacheco made the CM even happier. Because he knew that the prosecution and the persecution of Mickky Pacheco would send a message to the group of seven, each of who is involved in some scam or the other, that life is much safer for them within the Congress party rather than outside it. The likes of Babush Monserrate, and possibly even Vishwajit Rane and Madkaikar not to mention the Dhavlikar brothers, who could be implicated in the Margao bomb blast realise that if they persist in their acts of rebellion, they will meet the same fate as Mickky Pacheco.

By crawling their way back into the Congress, Babush and Vishwajit have bought themselves immunity from prosecution or at least persecution in the most serious case pending against him, which is the attack on the Panaji police station. And with Babush in the Congress, there is no risk of Francis Silveira, Agnelo Fernandes, Pandurang Madkaikar and Babush’s other comrades rebelling against either the coalition government or against Digamber Kamat. This may also be a signal for the MGP Legislative Party, comprising of Sudin Dhavlikar and Deepak Dhavlikar, to also merge the legislative wing of the MGP with the Congress, which would give Sudin Dhavlikar protection against any possibility of the National Investigation Agency implicating him or even the Sanatan Sanstha, with which he is closely associated in the Margao blast case. Jose Philip D’Souza can always be kept in line with a threat of filing cases against him in the civil supplies and ration card scams. In any case, the nuisance value of Jose Philip D’Souza has sharply reduced with Mickky in the political wilderness and Nilkant Halarnkar finally getting his fish and loaf of office. So the effect of Babush and Vishwajit joining the Congress is the demise of the group of seven and, hopefully, some stability in the coalition government in the state.

The Congress party position stands strengthened. The Congress Party stands strengthened and virtually immune to being toppled with the entry of Babush and Vishwajit. Vishwajit, who is an independent, resigned his seat and will have to get himself re-elected within six months of his being sworn in for the second times as cabinet minister. This is because consequent to amendments to the Anti Defection Act, independents who join any political party are liable to disqualification. With Papa as speaker of the Legislative Assembly, in any case, Baba Vishwajit Rane will be able to continue merrily to drain the exchequer now that he is part of the Congress, which has become synonymous with corruption in Goa. However, though the Congress is safe one cannot really rule out a revolt against the leadership of Digamber Kamat. The fact that Governor S S Sidhu used very harsh words at the installation ceremony of the Travel and Tourism Association of Goa (TTAG) against Digamber Kamat in his presence would seem to suggest that even the Centre is disillusioned with the leadership, or rather the lack of leadership, by Digamber Kamat.

GARBAGE ISSUE

At the TTAG meeting, the Governor expressed concern and distress over the fact that the garbage issue in Goa figured prominently in the discussions of the world tourism council. The Governor repeatedly stressed the need to take action on the several projects and schemes that had been announced which implied censure against Digamber Kamat, who announces all types of fantastic schemes without showing any inclination to implement them. Digamber Kamat now has no excuse for not implementing unpopular schemes like the acceptance, in their original form, of the implementation of the recommendations of the Task Force on the Regional Plan 2021 and cracking down on illegal mining in the state. Implement, implement, implement, the Governor exhorted to Digamber Kamat.

The acceptance of Babush into the Congress is not necessarily good for the image of the Congress. Babush can do even more damage from within than from outside the ruling party, as was dramatised when he was in charge of the Town and Country Planning Department during Parrikar and Rane’s tenure as chief minister. The Congress High Command’s willingness to permit Babush Monserrate to rejoin the Congress party is not likely to go well with the supporters of the Congress themselves. The Congress is already a sanctuary for some of the most corrupt politicians in the state, ranging from Churchill Alemao to Pandurang Madkaikar. The reputation of the Congress for being an opportunistic organisation which has no morals and will accept even the most villainous and degenerate MLAs into its fold will be exploited by the BJP.

The Congress has now become a shelter or a huge umbrella for all the rogues, rascals, thieves and criminals in politics in Goa. With Digamber Kamat’s policy of letting his ministers do what they want to, the loot and plunder will increase with the induction of Babush into the party. The forces of evil within the Congress party have got strengthened at the expense of genuine Congressmen. Not that there are many genuine Congressmen in the party or the cabinet. The only member of the Congress party who had never defected before the last general elections was Jitendra Deshprabhu who was defeated. Virtually every member of the present Congress led by Subhash Shirodkar, with the exception of Subhash Shirodkar, has defected from other parties or defected to other parties to topple the Congress government at some stage or the other. Chief Minister Digamber Kamat is a defector from the BJP. Home Minister Ravi Naik is a defector from the MGP. PWD Minister Churchill Alemao has changed parties as often as we change our clothes. Babush is not the first but only the latest scoundrel that the Congress has embarrassed in its determination to hold on to the reins of government. Never mind what it does to the image of the party as a university of scoundrels.