GOA, India India’s undisputed tourist hotspot, and the tiniest country in the world’s largest democracy, will vote Monday to elect the new government. This government will be working towards restoring an economic system that has been devastated by the pandemic, and protecting the environment from an unbridled real-estate boom.
More than 1.1million voters in western Goa will decide who among the 319 contestants can save their ecologically fragile coastline, which is struggling to cope uncontrolled tourism.
It is one of five Indian states that voted in phases in February, March and April. This is a test for Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s Hindu nationalist Bhartiya Janata Party in advance of general elections in 2024. Results will be announced on March 10.
“The locals are unable to afford an apartment, a home or a plot land in Goa because the real property prices have been driven sky-high by those who want a piece of paradise,” said Atish Fernandes who runs the Joseph Bar in capital Panjim.
Although the state’s population is less than 2,000,000, it was home to more than 8,000,000 tourists in 2019. This was before the pandemic that closed down restaurants and left thousands without jobs. Many died last year from frequent interruptions in oxygen supplies at Goa Medical College COVID-19.
Although the tourism and travel industry is the lifeline of Goa’s economy, it is slowly recovering, not all jobs are back.
Goa has become a popular second home destination for India’s middle class. This has fueled frenetic construction activity. Fernandes explained that land rights are a major issue in Goa because the new wealth is mostly generated from the sale or development of ancestral lands and brokerage to meet growing demand.
Modi presented his vision of a Golden Goa, a place where tourism and infrastructure will bring prosperity to the people at a rally in Goa’s heart on Thursday. The Aam Aadmi Party, based in Delhi, and the opposition Congress both promise sustainable development, jobs, and a corrupt-free government. Meanwhile, the Trinamool Congress from West Bengal has plans to provide generous welfare programs for the unemployed.
Two of the most prominent regional parties joined in the fray to explore national ambitions.
For Goa’s fishermen and farmers, it is a way of life that has been in harmony for centuries with its lush green environment.
The state has seen intense political turmoil in the last few months. Popular candidates such as former chief ministers switched sides to secure nominations. Sometimes, loyalties were shifted between parties with opposing ideologies.
According to the report of the Association of Democratic Reforms (a non-governmental organization working for electoral reforms), Goa has set a new record. 24 members of the 40-member state assembly switched parties in the past five years.
The Congress party made its nominees pledge loyalty to ensure they don’t party-hop after the polls.
Vivek Menezes, a writer for Outlook Weekly magazine, stated that “Here, within just a few weeks each party has disgraced themselves by making a mockery their own stated platforms, and ideals.”
Goa’s turbulent politics is a microcosm India’s chaotic political landscape. There, a diverse mix religious and caste identities influence the elections.
Modi’s Hindu-first politics has alienated Muslims and other minorities, but the BJP has won two national elections. Its grip on power has been eroded by rising unemployment and a prolonged farmers’ protest that lasted a full year on the outskirts New Delhi.
Only 25% of Goa’s population is Christian, a region often depicted by Bollywood as a Westernized Enclave that attracts foreign tourists to party on its sandy beaches and views dominated by its historic Catholic churches. More than 66% are Hindus in Goa.
Despite controversial statements regarding rebuilding Hindu temples damaged by the Portuguese, the Hindu majoritarian agenda for the BJP had to accommodate the minority Christian community as it sought to win elections.
In Goa, 12 Catholic candidates were fielded by the BJP. The Congress party nominated 17.
The narrow streets of Panjim’s Fontainhas are lined with Portuguese-style homes, bars, and other buildings. Fontainhas, a UNESCO World Heritage Site, is steeped with the colonial history and Portuguese territory of Goa from 1961 to 1961.
The Joseph Bar, nestled between Fontainhas’s ancient buildings, is where many regret the inevitable changes that a free market brings, particularly in an economy where every third person works in tourism.
Fernandes said that the local stakeholders and voters are always looking back at what has happened and what they have gained. “If you ask a Goan what he wants, it is a life he lived 15-20 years ago.”
