By Vishwesh Karapurkar
As Goa heads into Zilla Panchayat elections, voters are once again being treated not as thinking citizens but as an audience to be managed. The ruling party, the opposition and the self proclaimed alternatives are all peddling selective truths, loud accusations and convenient amnesia. Lies are not limited to one side. They cut across party lines, ideologies and campaign platforms.
What makes this deception particularly troubling is that Zilla Panchayat elections are being fought like Assembly or parliamentary contests. National and state leaders descend on villages, tempers are raised and grand promises are made, even though ZP members simply do not have the authority to deliver most of what is being promised. Voters are being misled about what these institutions can realistically do.
A Zilla Panchayat member does not control mining policy, industrial approvals, tourism planning or large infrastructure projects. They do not decide land conversions or control the state’s finances. Their role is limited but not insignificant. Rural roads, drainage, sanitation, minor irrigation, maintenance of schools and health facilities, and the implementation of government schemes fall within their purview. They are meant to be a bridge between villages and the state administration, not miracle workers. Yet campaign speeches suggest that electing a particular party will magically eliminate corruption, unemployment and governance failures overnight.
Every party contesting these elections is complicit in this dishonesty.
The BJP, which has governed Goa for over a decade, speaks as though it has only now discovered the state’s problems. Rural infrastructure remains uneven, waste management continues to be a mess and basic services are far from reliable. After years in power, blaming others is not an argument. It is an admission of failure to take responsibility.
Congress, meanwhile, behaves as if voter memory is short and selective. It speaks about protecting Goans and local interests but avoids confronting its own record of internal squabbles, weak leadership and missed opportunities when it held power. Credibility cannot be rebuilt by pretending the past never happened.
Goa Forward Party emerged as a voice of regional assertion and resistance to Delhi driven politics. Yet its leaders now sermonise on corruption and governance without honestly addressing their own political compromises and shifting alignments. Principles lose meaning when they are applied selectively.
The newer entrants offer little comfort. The Aam Aadmi Party arrives with lectures on corruption, even as its government in Delhi was voted out amid serious allegations and public dissatisfaction. Preaching morality without introspection convinces few. The Revolutionary Goans Party claims to represent Goan identity but often replaces policy clarity with confrontation and theatrics. Breaking alliances before they are even formed and then blaming others reflects opportunism, not political maturity.
There is also an uncomfortable truth that deserves equal attention. Some voters will accept cash, gifts or favours and vote for the highest bidder. Political dishonesty survives because electoral dishonesty enables it. When votes are sold, accountability collapses and governance suffers.
Zilla Panchayat elections are about local governance, not grandstanding. Roads, drains, sanitation, schools and the delivery of basic services matter more than slogans and celebrity campaigners. Until parties stop lying about power and performance, and voters stop rewarding those lies, rural Goa will continue to pay the price.
