As Goa moves closer to the 2027 Assembly elections, the Opposition’s energy is almost entirely focused on one question: who will ally with whom, and how will the seats be shared. The Congress is talking to the Revolutionary Goans Party. The Goa Forward Party first joined AAP to form the ‘Goa First’ front, then began signalling openness to a wider Opposition unity that could include the Congress. Meetings are held, conditions are listed, and statements are issued about defeating the BJP. What is largely missing is a clear alternative agenda for the people of Goa.
This is a serious gap. Voters do not go to the polling booth only to decide which combination of parties they prefer. They look for a sense of direction. What will change if the Opposition comes to power? How will the new government handle the problems that affect daily life? On these questions, the Opposition has so far offered more complaints than solutions.
History offers a useful comparison. When Manohar Parrikar built the BJP’s presence in Goa, he did not rely only on organisational strength or alliances. He offered a visible model of governance that many people found credible: relative administrative efficiency, personal accessibility, and a certain seriousness about the state’s future. At the national level, Narendra Modi rose by presenting a clear alternative vision of development, delivery and national aspiration. Both leaders understood that credibility comes from offering people a picture of what the future could look like under their leadership. The current Opposition in Goa has not yet done the same.
Goa has no shortage of pressing issues. Land remains the most emotional and consequential. Questions around the conversion of agricultural and orchard land, the use of planning laws such as Section 39A, and the protection of Goan ownership of land continue to generate deep anxiety. Tourism brings revenue but also problems of overcrowding, environmental stress and uneven benefits for locals. The taxi sector is a constant source of friction, with complaints about high fares, limited competition and the absence of reliable app-based services that work smoothly for both tourists and residents.
Employment, especially for educated young Goans, is another persistent concern. Many feel that good jobs are limited and that the state’s economy does not create enough opportunities for its own youth.
These are not new problems. Yet the Opposition has not presented a coherent set of alternative policies that address them in a practical and believable way. Criticising the government is necessary in a democracy. It is not sufficient. People need to know what the alternative looks like in concrete terms: how land will be protected without freezing legitimate development, how tourism can be managed so that it benefits locals more fairly, how the taxi system can be reformed without destroying livelihoods, and how employment can be expanded in a small state with limited industrial space.
Defections form another important part of the political conversation. Goa has seen repeated waves of legislators switching parties, most dramatically from the Congress to the BJP in 2019 and again in 2022. This has damaged public trust. At the same time, the issue has to be seen in the specific context of Goan politics, which has long been personality-centred. Local networks, individual leaders and constituency-level relationships often matter more than party ideology.
In the 2022 elections, a majority of the prominent defectors were defeated. Voters did show that they are not willing to reward every act of switching. This is a healthy sign. But it also raises a deeper question: should people vote only on the basis of loyalty to a party? Loyalty is important. So is performance, honesty and the ability to deliver on the concerns of the constituency. Reducing politics only to the test of who stayed and who left can itself become narrow.
Behind all of this lies a larger shift in the relationship between voters and their representatives. Politics in Goa, as in many other places, has become increasingly transactional. Short-term benefits, individual favours and immediate material gains often outweigh longer-term questions of policy and direction. In such an environment, setting a clear agenda becomes even more important. When parties offer only alliances and seat-sharing formulas, they reinforce the idea that politics is mainly about who gets power. When they offer a serious alternative vision on land, livelihoods, tourism and employment, they invite people to think about the kind of government and the kind of future they want.
An Opposition that wants to be taken seriously cannot stop at criticising defections or negotiating seat shares. It has to tell the people of Goa what it stands for and how it intends to govern differently. Without that, the political contest remains limited to personalities and arithmetic. With a clear agenda, it becomes a contest over the direction of the state itself. In a place as small and distinctive as Goa, that second kind of contest is the one that matters most.
(Dr Mohit Sukhtankar is Assistant Professor of Political Science, Dhempe College, Miramar, Panaji.)
