Kannada Mahasangh in Goa unexpectedly declared their intentions of fielding candidates for ensuing panchayat elections. This declaration received plenty of criticism and brickbats. There was a massive uproar about 'non-native' inhabitants attempting to conquer the corridors of power. The general population was not comfortable. Everyone conceded that the Mahasangh was within its constitutional liberty and one can do nothing legally to stall their intentions. However, a considerable chunk of the community did not want them to contest. Why?
This, presumably, is a tribulation with every small state. The aboriginal population is limited (in the case of Goa it is merely a 15 lakhs population and 10 lakh voters) and it feels intimidated by the intractable influx from the other states. Demographic imbalances start surfacing in every sphere of daily life and suddenly a statement like that of Kannada Mahasangh flares the controversy.
Following a fierce reaction from a cross-section of the society, the Mahasangh has chosen to shelve their plan to contest under the banner of Kannada Mahasangh. They do want to contest the elections but as Goans, they say now. They want to do away with the region-specific tag and demonstrate that their emigrated population has smoothly assimilated with the culture and ethos of Goa.
A new political party got registered just a couple of months before Goa's assembly election last February - Revolutionary Goans. It began as a mass movement a couple of years before the election espousing the cause of nativism. Their public meetings were drawing huge crowds. The gatherings revolved around one central figure - Manoj Parab - one of the founding members of the organisation and the face of the movement. In his rabble-rousing style, Manoj appealed to the 'sons and daughters of the soil' to retake the political, economic, and social hegemony of Goans.
There were three distinct components of this pitch that made the public meetings eyesore for every political party in the land. The party attracted an enormous chunk of youngsters aged between 18 to 30. The throngs grew bigger with every new meeting purely by word of mouth and their mascot Manoj Parab started attaining a status of a cult leader.
Now, the Revolutionary Goans Party has one MLA in the Goa assembly. They are the third-largest political party in the state, now with approximately a 10% vote share. They have arrived in the annals of the power structure.
The party carried out a tremendous exercise before the election of identifying dubious voters (mostly migrants) in the electoral roll, conveying these specific cases before the election commission, and getting the names withdrawn from the roll. They succeeded in deleting more than 30,000 voters with bogus addresses, dual voting cards, or questionable credentials. This exercise stunned most of the established politicians.
In a small state like ours, where each constituency has roughly 30,000 voters, conventional politicians assemble vote banks using the migrant population. Irrespective of their domicile status considerable individuals are enrolled as voters. Those temporarily residing in the state are bestowed with water, electricity, and other essential connections registered in their name. Many politicians have created slums or mohallas in their respective constituencies with hundreds of such voters. These vote banks determine who wins an election in close contests. Revolutionary Goans precisely pounded this base of many established satraps under the guise of weeding out dubious migrant voters. Getting 30,000 doubtful voters nullified is the statistical equivalent of getting an entire voting roll of a constituency in Goa wiped off. Manoj Parab asserts that by the time he concludes close to 150,000 voters would be out of the fray. He fundamentally believes his relentless work is sanitising the state's electoral landscape.
Kannada Mahasangh's political endeavours have emerged on this backdrop. There are several public representatives in Goa from the panchayat level upwards who are not 'original' Goans. But they never contested with identity tags.
Demographic imbalances are bound to happen in the times we live in. But these imbalances should not upend the social, cultural, and interpersonal fabric of any state. When an aboriginal population starts feeling like a minority in its land and gets politically endangered by sheer overwhelming numbers, the reactions are usually drastic and severe.
If a large population settles from one state settles in another state in a geographically concentrated area, it is of paramount importance that the relocated populace imbibes the values and ethos of the land. Original cultural practices and traditions of the migrated population should be carried forward, rather, such festivals and celebrations should become calendar events of the land where they are settling. Assimilation of civilisations can enrich the socio-cultural common sense of the land. However, at no stage, the original essence of the native civilisation should get diluted, wiped out, or threatened. Possibilities like these can only lead to conflicts and unrest.
Kannada Mahasangh or any such group should embrace a very straightforward approach. If you want to contest an election, at any level, do not hop into the fray with identity tags or your caste, creed, or region. Any native population will view these tags with complete suspicion and absolute disdain. It is always in the interest of society that no elections are fought based on such sectarian divides. Every candidate ought to have the same goal - progress.
So, contest an election if you desire to. Go to the people. Seek their blessings. Present your agenda. Seek votes. Win by popular mandate and get elected.
During this election campaign, considering his hardliner agenda, everyone wondered whether Manoj Parab will end with Raj Thackeray's model of a political party or Arvind Kejriwal's model of electoral success. Interestingly, Revolutionary Goans have landed up in the middle. They won only one seat but emerged as the third-largest party in terms of the popular vote - a very potent combination.
(Pramod Acharya is a senior journalist and columnist and the Editor of Prudent Media, Goa. He tweets at @PramodGoa)
