The latest Enforcement Directorate raids on the office and residence of Pratik Jain, co-founder of the Indian Political Action Committee, have reopened an uncomfortable question that refuses to go away. Why does Goa keep surfacing in India’s biggest political money trails?
According to investigators, the searches are linked to an alleged routing of proceeds of crime connected to the coal scam. ED sources claim that nearly ₹20 crore was moved out of Kolkata through a web of domestic and international hawala channels and funnelled to an event management firm for political activities during the Goa elections. WhatsApp chats recovered during the probe reportedly identify a hawala operator said to be linked to the coal syndicate. These chats are being cited as a key basis for the searches.
These are allegations and will be tested in court. But the pattern they point to is by now familiar. Goa appears again, not as a picturesque tourist state, but as a recurring destination for unaccounted political money.
Before this, the Enforcement Directorate had alleged that around ₹100 crore from the Delhi liquor policy scam was diverted to fund the Aam Aadmi Party’s campaign in Goa. The party has denied wrongdoing and challenged the agency’s claims. Now, in a separate case, the Trinamool Congress finds itself indirectly linked to a Goa election trail through the alleged coal scam proceeds.
Different parties. Different cases. Different accused. The same state.
This coincidence demands scrutiny beyond the narrow confines of individual investigations.
Goa has increasingly become the preferred testing ground for national political ambitions. It is small, manageable, media-friendly, and symbolically important. A win in Goa offers outsized political returns. It signals national expansion, organisational strength, and ideological reach. Losing there is less damaging than losing a large heartland state. That makes Goa an attractive laboratory for experimentation, including the deployment of money and power.
Election campaigns are expensive everywhere, but in Goa, the spending intensity is amplified. A compact geography means saturation campaigns. High tourist inflow allows cash to blend easily with legitimate hospitality and event expenses. The presence of a large informal economy, from shacks to nightlife, creates natural cover for cash movement. Shell firms, event managers, and advertising agencies become convenient conduits. None of this proves criminality on its own, but it explains why Goa is structurally vulnerable.
The deeper problem is not just Goa. It is the normalization of election financing through opaque and illegal channels. When alleged proceeds of crime, whether from liquor policies or coal syndicates, are said to end up in election campaigns, democracy itself becomes collateral damage. Elections stop being contests of ideas and start resembling auctions.
What is equally troubling is the selective moral outrage. Parties cry vendetta when agencies knock, but remain silent when rivals are targeted. The public is left to choose between competing narratives of corruption and conspiracy. The truth, as usual, is buried under political noise.
Enforcement agencies, too, have questions to answer. Raids timed close to elections or political realignments raise doubts about intent, even when cases have merit. Transparent prosecutions must follow investigations that rely heavily on digital chats and statements. Otherwise, allegations become headlines, not convictions.
Goa’s repeated appearance in these scandals should push the Election Commission to rethink how campaigns are monitored in smaller states. Spending limits exist on paper but are routinely flouted. Cash seizures are episodic and symbolic. Real-time scrutiny of event firms, advertising contracts, and political consultancies is minimal.
Ultimately, Goa is not cursed. It is convenient. It is where ambition meets opportunity, and where weak enforcement meets high stakes. Until political parties agree to clean funding, and institutions enforce it without fear or favour, Goa will continue to feature in charge sheets and press briefings.
The real scandal is not that money allegedly flows to Goa. It is that this has become predictable. And in a democracy, predictability of corruption is the surest sign of institutional failure.
