The ‘local versus outsider’ debate is not just an election issue in Goa; there has been simmering discontent over it. It resurfaces in different ways during election campaigns, especially when established parties use the ‘outsider card’ against newer parties like the Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) and the Trinamool Congress (TMC) when the latter try to gain a foothold in the State.
Insider versus outsider
The Lokniti-CSDS survey found that the opinion of Goans only seems to be intensifying on the anti-outsider rhetoric. The survey asked Goa’s voters how serious a threat an outsider poses to Goa’s culture. More than three-fifths said it is a very serious or somewhat serious issue. This is a notable jump from 2017, when around half the voters felt the same (Table 1).
About half the voters fully supported the idea that only Goans should be allowed to buy land in Goa. Support for this idea increased from 2017, when four in 10 fully supported the idea. Moreover, a large chunk was also against the idea of giving ownership rights of housing units to outsiders who have lived in Goa for decades (Table 2).
Local Goans and migrant Goans held opposite views on what rights should be given to outsiders. Over a majority of the migrants said that they should have the right to buy land as well as seek ownership rights to the housing units they live in, but the locals supported these rights less.
The anti-outsider sentiment did not go in favour of any particular party. This was not much of a voting issue and no single party was either blamed for it or benefited from it.
Though the sentiment may not have emerged as a crucial voting issue, it was used by the major parties to attack the newer parties and also to claim the loyalties of the native voters.
Aastha and Vibha Attri are researchers at Lokniti-CSDS, Delhi
