Party's strategy on fighting coal is only to score some political brownie points
Eight months since the formation of yet another BJP-led government, Congress continues to suffer from the ‘ruling party syndrome'. To Goa's misfortune, it wears the crown of the principle opposition party very reluctantly only when pushed into a corner and its strongest offence has been nothing but its defence.The current strategy adopted by Congress appears to be one aimed merely at scoring some political brownie points and gaining temporary mileage. The half-hearted attempts are not aimed at seeking permanent resolution to the issue which stands to harm the environment and health of thousands of people.
Congress' abject failure to come into its own can barely be attributed to the lack of chinks in the ruling disposition's armour. The ongoing stir against coal pollution in Vasco and surrounding areas is a classic example of this.
While Curtorim Congress MLA Aleixo Reginaldo Lourenco has been waging a battle as the lone warrior on this front, the Congress party organisation has barely offered any ground support to his war cry. On the other hand, even when Reginaldo raised the issue in the Legislative Assembly, he received support not from the members of the Congress Legislative Party (CLP) but from the three BJP MLAs, whose constituencies are affected by the growing menace.
Armed with official documents, Reginaldo recently locked horns with Parrikar disputing the off-hand claims made by the CM. However, these official documents surfaced discreetly from within the CLP only when direct allegations of introducing coal handling at Mormugao Port Trust were leveled against it by BJP.
Only after fingers were pointed at it did the CLP make public a bunch of official communications which show that it was in fact the BJP which paved the road for coal handling activities into MPT.
These communications include a letter written in 2001 by then Union Shipping Minister Arun Jaitley to Parrikar requesting him not to insist on obtaining of a No Objection certificate from the state government in case the MPT is privatized or corporatized. They also include an order of the South Goa Collector dated July 9, 2001 by which land measuring 16,297.95 hectares was transferred to MPT at the cost of Rs 7.96 crore. As the former BJP state government granted Jaitley's request and refrained from seeking the NOC, the land was transferred to MPT with sweeping powers.
CLP also dug out a letter dated November 9, 2009 written by then Congress CM Digambar Kamat to MoEF Jairam Ramesh voicing strong concern about the "adverse impact on ecology, environment and tourism of Goa by proposed developments of MPT". Kamat had opposed the expansion plans as ‘myopic vision of the MPT' and it was feared that the resulting pollution and fine dust would cause health issues to the resident population.
Despite being in possession of clinching evidence against the ruling party, Congress has done nothing more than lending moral and verbal support to a local people's opposition.
At times, piggybacking on spontaneous grassroot movement goes a long way. But an issue as crucial as this would require any political party, especially one which is losing ground, to roll its sleeves up and build momentum on the ground.
