Goa is a land of susegad hearts but volcanic political undercurrents. Behind the coconut trees, church bells, and shoreline smiles lies a political ecosystem that has always been vulnerable to one chronic disease: the dominance of a handful of political families. It is a problem that has infected Goan politics since the first MLA discovered that being a “people’s representative” was less about people and more about cementing family legacies. And if the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) does not correct its trajectory now, it risks making the same historic mistake that crushed the credibility of its rivals – allowing Goa’s political future to become a private estate managed by a few dynasties.
Let’s be clear: power in Goa has never been about ideology. It has been about inheritance. Congress perfected the model – MLAs who treated constituencies like ancestral property, switching parties like Sunday outfits, and feeding a system that thrived on loyalty to surnames rather than loyalty to Goa. BJP, when it began its rise in Goa, promised to break this cycle. The party positioned itself as the alternative – merit over dynasty, ideology over convenience, accountability over entitlement.
But Goa has a way of bending even the strongest political promises. And that is where the BJP risks slipping into the same trap that devoured the credibility of its opposition.
Let’s accept an uncomfortable truth: Goa’s politics has thrived on instability. The BJP knows it, Congress knows it, regional parties breathe because of it, and opportunists profit from it. Every government here is stitched like a patchwork quilt – fragile, colourful, and always at risk of tearing at the weakest thread.
In such an environment, political families become “useful”. They come with readymade grassroots machinery, inherited vote banks, brand recognition, and the ability to swing constituencies with one declaration at a family dinner. The BJP, often pushed into situations where stability is more precious than purity, ended up accommodating these familial power centres.
But compulsion should never become habit. Compromise should never become doctrine. And accommodating political dynasties should never become the foundation of governance – especially when your brand claims to be the antidote to dynastic politics.
The biggest danger for the BJP in Goa is not losing elections. It is losing moral authority.
The moment a party that preaches anti-dynasty politics begins distributing tickets, positions, and power based on familial influence, it becomes indistinguishable from the same Congress ecosystem it fought to replace. BJP’s rise in Goa was built on the shoulders of hard-working karyakartas – booth-level workers who believed that someday their loyalty and labour would open doors to leadership.
But if those doors are reserved for children, spouses, or cousins of existing power centres, what message does the party send? That loyalty matters only when your surname is printed in bold letters on political billboards?
The BJP’s core strength in Goa – like anywhere else — is its cadre. A cadre that feels replaced by the entitlement class begins to quietly disengage. And a disengaged cadre is the beginning of an electoral downfall.
Goa’s electorate today is far more aware, far more demanding, and far more impatient than a decade ago. Social media activism, independent news platforms, regional digital voices, and communities tired of political inefficiency have reshaped public expectations. Goans today don’t vote for families – they vote for issues, for performance, for accountability.
They are watching corruption in land deals.
They are watching encroachments and illegal constructions.
They are watching the silence over drug networks.
And they are especially watching how parties reward or punish political behaviour.
The BJP cannot afford to misread the pulse. Goa is no longer the Goa of 2002 or even 2012. A voter who has tasted strong governance at the Centre will not accept weak governance at home. The acceptance of dynasties in politics is not a cultural inevitability – it is a political laziness. And Goans have no tolerance left for lazy politics.
When political families become too powerful, parties become hostage to them. They become indispensable during elections. They become immune to criticism. They become bigger than the organisation itself. Goa has seen this before – families that jump between parties like musical chairs because they know every major party needs them.
If the BJP allows this cycle to continue, it will one day face the same humiliation Congress faces today – candidates who abandon ship whenever the winds shift, leaders who treat party ideology like a menu at a beach shack, and MLAs who believe loyalty is optional but entitlement is mandatory.
A party cannot call itself strong when it depends on a few surnames. True strength comes from nurturing new leaders – not preserving old dynasties.
The BJP in Goa is at a crossroads. It can choose the easy path – continue partnering with political dynasties, hoping to secure short-term electoral victories. Or it can choose the harder but healthier path — strengthen grassroots talent, empower new voices, and build a political future where leadership is earned, not inherited.
If the BJP does not invest in new Goan leaders now, it will spend the next decade negotiating with families who believe Goa belongs to them – not the Goan people.
The future of Goan politics cannot be mortgaged to a handful of families. Not by Congress, not by regional parties, and definitely not by the BJP – a party that built its national brand on dismantling dynasty politics.
Goa deserves leaders, not landlords.
It deserves representatives, not heirs.
It deserves governance, not genealogy.
If the BJP fails to understand this, it will repeat the same mistake that destroyed the credibility of every party before it – surrendering Goa’s political destiny to a select few surnames.
And in the final analysis, the biggest mistake is not losing an election.
The biggest mistake is losing the trust of the Goan people.
If the BJP is not careful, history will remember this era not for its governance – but for how it handed the keys of Goa back to the very dynasties it once promised to defeat.
