PANAJI, SEPTEMBER 28, 2026: Reacting sharply to political analyst Vishal Pai Cacode’s comments targeting the Congress and the ongoing Gõy Rakhonn Yatra, Goa Pradesh Congress Committee Media Department Chairman Amarnath Panjikar questioned what he described as Cacode’s selective focus on the Congress and asked whether the same standards of scrutiny were being applied to every political party in Goa.
“Political analysts are expected to analyse the functioning, policies and conduct of all political parties. If Congress is to be questioned, let it be questioned. We have no objection to criticism. But when criticism appears overwhelmingly directed at Congress, people are entitled to ask: Why only Congress? What is the agenda behind this selective political commentary?” said Panjikar.
Referring to Cacode being described as a “Congress ideologue”, Panjikar said the contradiction was difficult to ignore.
“If someone projects himself as a Congress ideologue but apparently finds nothing worth acknowledging in Congress and repeatedly discovers only reasons to attack it, then the description itself deserves scrutiny. Has the Congress ideologue now become a catalogue of BJP talking points? That is a question his own public commentary invites,” Panjikar said.
He added that the Gõy Rakhonn Yatra was a political programme through which Congress was taking its message to people across Goa and raising issues it considers important to the State.
“Mr. Cacode is perfectly entitled to criticise the Congress and the Yatra. But intellectual independence also demands consistency. Apply the same microscope to the BJP government, to other political parties and alliances, and to every political force seeking the confidence of Goans. Selective outrage cannot be passed off as balanced political analysis,” Panjikar stated.
Responding specifically to the allegation linking the Yatra with the difficulties faced by patients at South Goa District Hospital, Panjikar said, “If there are shortcomings at a government hospital, the relevant facts and administrative responsibility should be established. Turning the suffering of patients into an allegation against a political Yatra, without establishing that connection, does not by itself answer questions about the functioning of the public healthcare system.”
“Congress does not demand immunity from criticism. Question us, challenge us and scrutinise us—but use the same yardstick for everyone. Political analysis earns credibility through consistency, evidence and independence, not through a seemingly permanent fixation on one political party,” Panjikar said.
“Goans can distinguish between independent criticism and selective political commentary. A political analyst must analyse politics in its entirety; otherwise, the public is justified in questioning whose narrative that commentary ultimately serves,” concluded Amarnath Panjikar.
