Can Goa Congress walkathon cover the miles in pre-poll outreach?

The 27-day-long padayatra, packed with top leaders, is a mass-connect effort to pole-vault to power after three successive terms in Opposition in the stateThe Congress is stirring up the election scene in Goa by taking a leaf out of Rahul Gandhi’s ‘Bharat Jodo Yatra’ and launching a statewide padayatra to reach out to the masses. The Goa Pradesh Congress Committee (GPCC) launched the 27-day-long ‘Goy Rakhon Yatra’ (Goa Protection Yatra) on September 22, promising to protect Goa’s “land, identity, environment and future” from political or commercial interests. The yatra will culminate on October 18.Yuri Alemao, leader of the Opposition in the legislative assembly, is the convenor of the yatra, which is witnessing participation from senior Congress leaders such as AICC (All India Congress Committee) general secretary K.C. Venugopal. Senior party leaders, including national president Mallikarjun Kharge, leader of the Opposition in the Lok Sabha Rahul Gandhi, Priyanka Gandhi Vadra, Sachin Pilot and Congress chief ministers, are also expected to join it.“This is a movement by the people of Goa for Goa. We are fighting land grabbing, hill cutting, corruption, fraud, unemployment and the sale of (bribery in) government jobs. Goa cannot be allowed to become the property of a handful of vested interests,” Alemao said. The Congress has promised to scrap the controversial Section 39(A) of the Goa Town and Country Planning Act, which allows conversion of land for commercial purposes, immediately after coming to power. Alemao has also said a tourism policy focused on sustainability rather than uncontrolled exploitation would be enacted.Assembly elections will be due in early 2027 and the Congress, which has been on the Opposition benches for three successive terms, is hoping to pole-vault to the treasury side. The party has been reeling from repeated breaches in its legislative strength. The latest assault came in September 2022 when eight of the 11 Congress MLAs joined the BJP.This inability to keep its flock together is seen as working against the interests of the party despite growing anti-incumbency against the BJP and unrest over issues such as the perceived dilution of the Goan cultural identity. The Congress yatra is reminiscent of the ‘Jana Sampark Yatra’ organised in early 2012 by Manohar Parrikar, then leader of Opposition in the Goa legislative assembly. The fortnight-long yatra had galvanised the BJP cadre as well as voters against the Digambar Kamat-led Congress government, which lost power in the elections held a few months later.Manikrao Thakre, AICC Goa in-charge and a former Maharashtra minister, said the walkathon will cover all 40 assembly segments. “The march focuses on Goa’s cultural and environmental heritage, the deteriorating law and order situation and land grabbing under this (BJP) regime,” said Thakre, who is a former president of the Maharashtra Pradesh Congress Committee. Sunil Kawthankar, working president of GPCC, said the yatra, which began from state capital Panaji, would first cover North Goa and enter South Goa on October 4. “This is a historic yatra. It is for the first time [in recent years] that such an outreach has been launched in Goa,” he said. Every evening, after the day’s yatra ends, a Congress ‘maand’, or traditional gathering, is held to showcase cultural events and speeches by party leaders. On Gandhi Jayanti (October 2), the Congress will hold a programme at Sanquelim, the assembly constituency of chief minister Dr Pramod Sawant.The padayatra will culminate at Cuncolim, which is Alemao’s constituency. Behind this choice is that the seat hosts the ‘Chieftans’ Memorial,’ which was erected in honour of 16 local chieftains killed by the Portuguese in the July 1583 revolt. The Hindu chieftains of Cuncolim had risen against the Jesuit priests and their local collaborators over alleged attempts to convert locals. The Portuguese authorities retaliated by calling the chieftains for talks, and then arresting and executing them. Activists, volunteer groups, NGOs and leaders of the Revolutionary Goans Party (RGP), a nativist outfit of local youth that has sealed its alliance with the Congress, have been invited to attend the march. Villagers from Karapur-Sarvan, who have protested against a proposed large-scale housing project by a powerful Mumbai-based real-estate developer, as well as those opposing the double-tracking of railway lines for transporting coal, have also been asked to join in. RGP leaders have held talks with the Congress. There are apprehensions that the Congress’s efforts to build a grand armada of Opposition parties to take on the ruling BJP may have come unstuck as the Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) and Goa Forward Party (GFP) have formed a third front. Their ‘Goa First’ alliance is expected to fracture the Opposition vote even as the BJP fights an uphill battle for an unprecedented fourth term in power in the state.AAP has two MLAs, Venzy Viegas (Benaulim) and Cruz Silva (Velim), while the GFP’s sole MLA is its president Vijai Sardesai (Fatorda). The front is expected to dent the Congress in the crucial Salcette taluka in South Goa, which accounts for eight of the 40 assembly segments and about 36 per cent of the Roman Catholic and 10 per cent of the Muslim populations. There are murmurs that some Congress office-bearers may join a new party named ‘Goa Congress.’ This entity, due to its similar-sounding name, may create confusion among Congress voters, concede politicians and analysts. Former GPCC president Amit Patkar is said to be upset after being replaced with incumbent Girish Chodankar, and has kept away from party meetings, raising questions about his future moves. At the same time, recent statements by Sardesai have indicated that the GFP has kept the doors open for a larger alliance comprising the Congress.Subscribe to India Today Magazine- Ends