FINALLY MAMTA-DIDI IS HERE IN GOA ON A THREE-DAY WHIRLWIND VISIT… at a jam-packed press meet in Panaji she welcomed former badminton champ Leander Paes who has officially joined the AITC. The Goa TMC grows with more defectors from other political parties joining it. Mamata-didi says Goa suffers from political stability and deserves better, give her Trinamool Congress a chance in the upcoming assembly elections in Goa. Goa and West Bengal have a lot in common!
By Our Staff Correspondent
WEST Bengal’s Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee comes across as an absolute charmer! A seasoned and unfazed politician she cheerfully responded to each and every question asked of her and so she had the media eating out of her hands at her first media address at the International Centre Goa on October 29, 2021. It was a jam-packed session for the room was packed with Goan media as well as a large contingent of Bengali media trailing her three-day visit to Goa, to check out how well her newly formed Goa Trinamool Congress is doing with its enrolment of members.
She was delighted to invite the famous sportsperson Leander Pais to join her on the floor, describing him as her “young, sweet brother” as she expressed her pleasure over the fact that such a renowned sportsperson was joining the All-India Trinamool Congress. The now happily retired badminton player from Kolkatta has Goan connections and he in turn was full of praise for Mamata-didi, saying “She is a lady of her word, she may not be a big man as she said earlier but she is real champ!” Others who have officially joined the AITC in Goa are Nafisa Ali and Mrinalini Deshprabhu.
Mamata-didi said Goa is a very beautiful state celebrating its 60th year of Liberation and celebration now, “I am in Goa because of you people.” She said she has been getting grassroots information about Goa and the problems it is facing, telling the media that she sometimes gets good feedback from them too, “and on the basis of that we can act…consider this as an informal meeting and you can ask me anything!” The Trinamool, she said is very much a grassroots party which cares about the common people and that is why she has been meeting Goans from all walks of life like fishermen and taxi-drivers as also from general society. “Goa deserves a navi sakaal! I want to sun to rise, the sun to shine, the people to smile in Goa! Goa should smile.”
Beautiful Goa, she observed, has just been “mismanaged and neglected” and in her opinion “Let Goans rule Goa!” She advised Goans not to eat any ladoo from Delhi and oh yes, “You can tell Delhi that we at the Trinamool also know how to play football!” She also said at the Trinamool, “It’s a collective decision so work with us.” Asked about what she thought about IPAC’s political strategist Prashant being quoted about how nobody could defeat the BJP for the 40 years, she retorted, “You can ask him the question!” As for the accusation that the TMC has come to Goa only to divide the opposition and split votes, she asked how come the same question is not asked to the other political parties in Goa, are they not going to do the same thing, “Our policy is to help everyone, we are transparent.”
About the defacing of TMC posters and flags put up in Goa to welcome she retorted, “If BJP does it its culture is very poor, it is not social. I know Goa is a very cultured, like Bengal. They can show me the black flag if they like, we all fight but we fight democratically…” The TMC also empowers women as they have 41 elected women in Parliament and there are eight to nine women in West Bengal politics, “We have programs and they copy us, but we also act to implement our programs like Lakshmi Bhoodan, education is free, health is free, rations are free, we also do door-to-door delivery for sometimes people are very poor…and we also take care of the deaths.”
In her mixture of Hindi, English and sometimes Bengali Mamata-didi just about won everyone’s heart at her first fire-cracker meeting in Goa. There is little not to like about this her down-to-earth woman manners and remember she had the guts to tell the Tatas that West Bengal’s agricultural fields were not for making their Nano cars? Needless to say wherever Mamata-didi goes there is tight security accompanying her with flocks of wanting to have a word with her, her tightly packed schedule includes visits to the Mahalsa Narayani, Mangueshi and Tapobhoomi temples in Goa.