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Dnyanesh Jathar
Dnyanesh Jathar

ASSEMBLY ELECTIONS 2017

Jailhouse rock

26elvisgomes Wooing voters: Elvis Gomes interacts with a voter during his election campaign | Janak Bhat

Former prisons IG leads the AAP charge to capture power in the coastal state

  • “I had realised that I have to work from outside to change this system. So I decided to enter politics” - Elvis Gomes, AAP’s chief minister candidate

On January 15, even as the BJP leadership in Goa was coming to terms with a revolt by two of its senior leaders, who had been denied tickets, the Aam Aadmi Party released its election manifesto. And, AAP chief ministerial candidate Elvis Gomes announced that the party, if elected to power, would provide free water to every household in the state.

Gomes and his AAP colleagues are dreaming big: unseat the BJP and capture power in the coastal state. A tough task, considering that this is the AAP’s first ever electoral appearance in Goa.

Gomes, who is contesting from Cuncolim in South Goa, is a much respected figure in the state thanks to his long and unblemished stint in the administration. Before he took the plunge into politics, Gomes was inspector general of prisons.

“I quit because I was disappointed with the system. I was superseded in seniority; two ministers succeeded in promoting two officials close to them,” Gomes told THE WEEK.

Gomes hits the campaign trail around 9am and goes house-to-house for a heart-to-heart interaction with voters. The assembly constituencies in Goa have just about 25,000 voters each. Having been a bureaucrat, Gomes has a network of contacts and well-wishers in almost every village in his constituency. “Opponents say that the AAP is concentrating more on South Goa because it is Christian dominated. But that is not true. My own constituency has Christians and Hindus in equal numbers. Religion doesn’t matter. What I see everywhere is that the people have realised that the Congress and the BJP are the same. Last time, everyone including Christians believed in [Manohar] Parrikar, so the BJP won. But things didn’t change the way people had hoped,” he says.

Gomes wants to rid Goa of the ‘kal aao’ (come tomorrow) culture, which is deeply entrenched in the system. “People are feeling as if they are second rate citizens in their own state. Delivery of services is paralysed and there are no directions from the top. Governance is missing, and it needs to be brought back immediately,” he says.

When Gomes was superseded, the High Court ruled in his favour. “The court order was a scathing criticism of the government. But I had realised that I have to work from outside to change this system. So I decided to enter politics and agreed to join the AAP after meeting Arvind Kejriwal,” he says.

When he opted for the voluntary retirement scheme and put in his papers, the Parsekar government responded by filing an FIR against him in connection with what the AAP terms as a “false and concocted case”.

Interestingly, this FIR was registered without even a preliminary inquiry. When it became clear that he would be joining the AAP and contesting elections, a summons from Anti-Corruption Bureau landed on his doorstep. “They started inventing charges against me after I put in my papers. How could I have taken decisions in a matter which had already been decided two months before I joined the housing department? I approached the court,” says Gomes.

Senior AAP leaders like Ashutosh feel that Gomes has been targeted and victimised. “There is political vendetta at work. Otherwise, how is it possible that an official who has impeccable track record suddenly finds himself named in an FIR just as he is opting for VRS? Then, when he is named CM candidate, the ACB summons him. Each of the decisions taken by Gomes is now being scrutinised. The whole idea is to crush the AAP. Parrikar and his puppet chief minister Parsekar want to arrest Gomes someway or other,” says Ashutosh.

Gomes’s family was, initially, of the view that he should not enter politics. His wife and mother opposed his decision. “They said that politics is the last refuge of scoundrels. But I told them that I believe I can change things for the better by entering politics. Once they realised that I was firm, they backed my decision,” says the 53-year-old.

Gomes dismisses the claims that the AAP is on a weak wicket in North Goa. “This is all the creation of our opposition. We have selected our candidates purely on merit and are focusing on all segments of Goan society. In constituencies where Christians are in large numbers, we will have to campaign among them. What is wrong with it, aren’t they citizens of this state and country?” says Gomes. He may have a point, as the most recent rallies addressed by him and Arvind Kejriwal were both in North Goa.

Gomes is confident that he will win the election. He also asserts that the AAP will trounce the BJP and Congress. “We will form the government, there is no question of joining hands with anyone to stop the BJP from coming to power. The silent voters who haven’t figured in any of the so called surveys are our strength. They will vote for us. People are fed up. They know everything is tightly controlled and they also know who controls it,” he says.

He narrates how, during his campaign, parents came up to him and told him that their children were well educated and still did not have jobs. “They then tell me to find them jobs. There is joblessness everywhere. The youth are directionless. There is a lack of employment opportunities despite the fact that there is immense potential.”

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Topics : #Goa | #AAP | #elections

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