Goa polls: Shiv Sena hopes to make inroads in coastal state with 'sons of soil' agenda

As the Shiv Sena makes yet another attempt to make inroads in Goa its pitch for the sons of the soil issue features prominently in its agenda for the assembly polls with the demand of 80 per cent of jobs in the private sector for GoansThe party has fielded 10 candidates for the 40member Goa legislative assembly voting for which will take place on February 14The Sena is contesting the polls in the coastal state in alliance with the Nationalist Congress Party NCP which has fielded 13 candidates But there is no presence of the alliance partner on ground with the Sena cadre on campaign posters or even on scarfsBoth the parties share power in Maharashtra along with the Congress as part of the Maha Vikas Aghadi MVA government led by Sena president Uddhav ThackerayTalking to PTI Shiv Sena secretary Adesh Bandekar who was in Goa to canvass for the party candidates said Our agenda will be to bat for the sons of the soil as was done by our party chief late Balasaheb Thackeray in Maharashtra You can clearly see that the sons of the soil agenda is not being implemented hereJitesh Kamat partys Goa unit chief and candidate for Mapusa constituency said We want justice for the sons of the soil Our resolve is that 80 per cent of the private sector jobs should be for GoansThe Sena had earlier fielded 11 candidates in this election but its candidate from the Panaji seat withdrew nomination in favour of Utpal Parrikar son of late chief minister Manohar Parrikar who is in the fray as an independent after being denied ticket by the BJPThe Shiv Sena was formed in 1966 to safeguard the interests of the sons of the soil the Marathi manoos It vehemently took the cause of the Marathi manoos in Belgaum town in Karnataka and batted for inclusion of Marathi speaking areas into MaharashtraThe Sena spread its wings in other parts of the state with the Konkan region especially the south Konkan becoming its strongholdIn adjoining Goa there is a sizeable presence of Marathispeaking people However the Sena could never make a foray into itAccording to the Election Commission of Indias data in 1989 the Shiv Sena contested six seats in Goa of which deposit was forfeited in five It garnered only 664 per cent votes in these six seats This has been the best ever performance of the Sena so farIn 1994 the Sena contested only two seats and lost its deposit in both In 1999 the party fought 14 seats and lost deposit in all the seats and bagged a mere 274 per cent votesIn 2002 the Sena fielded 15 candidates and lost deposit in all while in 2007 it contested on seven seats and deposit was forfeited in all sevenIn 2012 the party fielded three candidates and lost deposit in all the seats In 2017 fielded three candidates and deposit was forfeited in all threeAnant Bagaitkar a Delhibased journalist who has observed the Sena for the last three decades said although Goa has had a sizeable Marathi population the Sena never found resonanceThe Marathispeaking population of Goa was also protective about their culture They accepted Marathi language but they were very particular that their distinct identity remains he saidIn addition to that there was little effort in building a strong organisation like the party did in Maharashtra he addedKamat said the Sena gave space to Maharashtrawadi Gomantak Party MGP a regional party as it shared the same plankSandesh Prabhudesai Goabased researcherjournalist and author of Ajeeb Goa Gajab Politics said in the first elections held in 1963 the MGP was founded with the aim of merging Goa into MaharashtraTo everyones surprise the party came to power by winning a majority of seats The antimerger camp led by the United Goans Party was pushed to the Opposition benches Prabhudesai saidLater in 1967 an opinion poll was conducted to decide the issue He said 16 constituencies voted against the merger and 12 in favour However in the Assembly polls held within a month the people overwhelmingly voted in favour of the promerger MGPPeople of Goa have vehemently protected the Goan identity Shiv Sena is an organisation of bhoomi putras of Maharashtra Why will people of Goa vote for an organisation that espouses the cause of bhoomi putras of Maharashtra What does the Goans have to do with it he saidHe said in the 1990s when Hindutva and Ram Janmabhoomi was shaping the politics in many states the same did not work even for the BJP In the 1980s and 90s the Shiv Sena had adopted the Hindutva plankIn its more than fivedecades history it has had little success outside MaharashtraOn the birth anniversary of Sena founder Bal Thackeray his son and Maharashtra CM Uddhav Thackeray said the party will try to expand its footprint outside Maharashtra and aim for a national roleIn 2021 the Sena got its first MP from outside Maharashtra Kalaben Delkar wife of seventime MP of Diu Daman Dadra and Nagar Haveli Mohan Delkar who died by suicide in 2020 won the bypoll as a Sena candidateBut Kamat said the party is determined to improve its prospects this timeThe party has sent a team of nearly 150 Yuva Sena activists to the state to help the candidatesParty MPs especially from the Konkan belt Sanjay Raut Vinayak Raut Arvind Sawant and Mumbai mayor Kishori Pednekar have come to the state for canvassingEven the BJP had to struggle to be what it is today We are making a fresh start now Kamat added when asked about his partys prospectsThis story has been sourced from a third party syndicated feed agencies Midday accepts no responsibility or liability for its dependability trustworthiness reliability and data of the text Midday managementmiddaycom reserves the sole right to alter delete or remove without notice the content in its absolute discretion for any reason whatsoever