Share this page!

Enter URL or ID to Unroll

You can paste full URL like: https://x.com/threadreaderapp/status/1644127596119195649
or just the ID like: 1644127596119195649

How to get URL link on X (Twitter) App

  1. On the Twitter thread, click on or icon on the bottom
  2. Click again on or Share Via icon
  3. Click on Copy Link to Tweet
  4. Paste it above and click "Unroll Thread"!
  5. More info at Twitter Help
Smita Profile picture
Smita
@smitagnair
I write, I report. Independent Journalist. write me at smitagnair@gmail.com or pachamanga@protonmail.com
Feb 13, 2022 • 18 tweets • 5 min read
1. The concluding thread, a day before the polls, is on the populist promises made by parties in the fray for 2022 Goa state assembly.

The final question: Are the promises economically sustainable? 2. In the run-up to 2022 elections, Goans have been promised everything:from free LPG and subsidised fuel, to home loans at interest rate as low as 2%, to free housing, jobs for all and resumption of mining.
Feb 11, 2022 • 26 tweets • 6 min read
1. In my sixth thread on the Goa elections, let’s reflect on defections and their effect on the political landscape of Goa. 

You can read previous threads here: 2. The 40-member Goa assembly today has 24 members, and only 11 of them are still in the party from which they won the 2017 election. 

It’s the first time in the history of Goa’s politics that Congress is entering an election with only two sitting MLAs.
Feb 8, 2022 • 28 tweets • 6 min read
1. Now, thread five on #GoaElections2022.

This time, we will discuss the BJP. 

The famous ‘Ship of Theseus’ thought experiment imagines a ship whose parts have all been replaced over the years, one at a time. Does it then remain
the same ship? 2. With a majority of its candidates ‘imported’ from other parties — one or ten at a time — can we ask the same about the Goa BJP?

BJP entered the 40-member Goa Assembly for the first time in 1994 —after two failed attempts— with 4 MLAs including Manohar Parrikar.
Feb 8, 2022 • 40 tweets • 9 min read
1.Can past elections and a plebiscite throw light on the way #Goa will vote in  #GoaElections2022? A #thread.

You can read my earlier three threads on Goa election here:

Thread 1:

Thread 2:

Thread 3: 2. Goa’s regional rival parties United Goans (UG) and Maharashtrawadi Gomantak Party (MGP) were formed around Goa’s first polls in 1963. Are the political faultlines of that time mirrored in the way the electorate votes for Congress or BJP today?
Feb 5, 2022 • 24 tweets • 6 min read
1.Two threads down, let’s now talk of Goa’s youngest regional party,  #RevolutionaryGoans (RG), a group that has effectively funnelled the anxieties of the youth — in a state with dwindling job opportunities — to create an “enemy" out of the outsider. 2.While it’s too early to gauge the journey RG and its 40 candidates will take post #GoaElections2022, the damage its nativism poll plank can do to the vote-share of competing parties cannot be ignored. 

Let’s look at the political vacuum in which RG’s journeys began.
Feb 4, 2022 • 76 tweets • 14 min read
1. A news thread on #GoaElections2022 based on my interviews and reporting.

Now that we have talked about the political parties in the House — let’s look at the the challengers: Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) and Trinamool Congress (TMC). 2. Trinamool Congress (TMC) and Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) have been projecting themselves as the challengers to the old political guard — fighting to grab the Goan voter’s attention with mammoth banners across the Goan landscape.
Feb 2, 2022 • 66 tweets • 10 min read
REPORTING in Goa through an assembly term beginning 2017 helped me report and understand the state and its people.

This pandemic Goa became the nation’s post-card with everyone flying or driving down — to escape the isolation. Everything is wonderful here: the people, paddy fields, the lunch thali, local neighbour who shares mankurad mangoes, the afternoon siesta and the late night gossip in a bar on the banks of river Mandovi.