‘How Different Are Goa’s Politics?’

Abstract

This article explores how Goa’s politics have evolved in conjunction with national politics. It finds that there has been an evolution from communal regional party government dominated by the Maharashtrawadi Gomantak Party (MGP) to the supremacy of two national parties—the Indian National Congress (INC) and Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP)—that now dominate the politics of the state, while the situation in New Delhi has moved from national party supremacy to the rise of regional parties at the expense of national institutions. In that sense Goa’s politics continue to be at variance from the national pattern. However, its pattern of unstable coalitions and pervasive defections resembles the national pattern.