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ELECTIONS '96

Vajpayee beats Sonia in crowd turnout, but will Goans vote BJP?

Sandesh Prabhudesai in Panaji

Do you know who the star campaigner in Goa is? It's Atal Bihari Vajpayee, the BJP's prime minister-in-waiting. And what has so far been the fate of BJP candidates in this tiny state? They lose their deposits.

That is not all. The real flop rally Goa witnessed in the run-up to the election was the one addressed by -- surprise, surprise -- Sonia Gandhi, the Congress's star campaigner, and that too when she had just begun her public appearances. It was her fourth after Sriperembudur, Bangalore and Hyderabad, and was held on January 17.

The 'last hope of the Congress' was greeted by only 4,000 Goans, who have been electing the party to power for last two decades. Even for Sonia, ironically, it was the first Congress-ruled state she was addressing.

Prime Minister I K Gujral was no different. In the home constituency of Union Law Minister Ramakant Khalap, he had to address around 4,500 people, a day before Vajpayee came here on Wednesday.

But Vajpayee broke all records this time, attracting around 8,000 people. The most impressive election rally never crosses a figure of 10,000, in a tiny tourist state of 1.2 million people of which 70 per cent are literate.

But, interestingly, the numbers are no indication for any good political analysis here. On the contrary, Goans have always defeated the crowd-pulling parties.

Even in the post-Emergency election, thousands of people came to hear the Janata Party leaders, including Vajpayee, George Fernandes, N G Goray, Mrinal Gore, Raj Narain and so on... But its candidates lost their deposits.

Sonia, the hot sensation of the country even a month ago, received hardly any response to any appeal she made here at the rally. At least Gujral was lucky, he got a positive response from most of the gathering, when he appealed to raise their hands in Khalap's favour.

But for Vajpayee, it was spontaneous and enthusiastic applause for each and every comment. They literally cheered and gave a standing ovation when he arrived at the Campal Grounds. It also included non-BJP listeners.

They were waiting from 10 am to 1 pm in the hot sun for Vajpayee to arrive. But hardly any non-Khalap supporter turned up to listen to Gujral, although he arrived late in the evening, after office hours.

History has proved that such rallies make a little impact, but still the candidates always try and get outside leaders to address their meetings. The BJP had actually pulled a crowd of 10,000 for rallies addressed by Uma Bharti and Sadhvi Rithambara in 1996.

Still, Goa was visited this time by Sushma Swaraj, Nitin Gadkari, M G K Menon, Madhu Chavan and Prakash Jawdekar of the BJP, Jammu and Kashmir Chief Minister Farooq Abdullah and Minister of State for External Affairs Kamala Sinha to support Khalap, and Rajesh Pilot for the Congress.

Without such fanfare, Goans elected Khalap and Churchill Alemao, both regional party leaders, rejecting the national parties in 1996.

Alemao, however, is the only candidate who continues to follow the same strategy. He has invited two famous Bombay-based Goan singers at his meetings at the fag end of the campaign, not to give speeches but to perform.

Due to such strange behaviour, Jawaharlal Nehru had once commented : "ajeeb hai yeh Goa-ke log" (Goans are strange people).

Goans appear to be in no mood to insult Nehru, by changing this impression. But local politicians still claim that such rallies do change votes in their favour.

Elections '98

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