This was Banerjee’s second visit to the coastal state since the TMC announced that it would be contesting all 40 seats in the upcoming Goa legislative assembly polls likely in February.
Panaji: West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee on Monday said that they have formed alliance with other parties against BJP in Goa. If Congress wants to join they can join the alliance. “This is the alternative,” Banerjee said.
She says that even if a road gets waterlogged, in West Bengal, the BJP dispatches central investigation agencies to her home state but when Goan leaders raise issues of corruption, no agency can be seen in sight. “Why will they come, they are all BJP people. And the Congress shares a great relationship with them,” Banerjee said.
She then said, “I don’t want to speak against the Congress. If the Congress thinks that it wants to work to defeat the BJP, we have no objection. We have formed an alliance in Goa with the MGP (Maharashtrawadi Gomantak Party) and today we have taken the NCP (Nationalist Congress Party) and four-five parties together, an alliance has been formed. This is the alternative. If you want to join, join us. No problem. Just because you don’t do it (fight the BJP together) does not mean no one else will. This is not right.”
“Today our Chairperson @MamataOfficial held a meeting with all @AITC4Goa leaders & workers in the International Centre, Goa.
During the meeting several prominent faces from Goa joined our Goa TMC family with the aim of working towards a better and prosperous future for Goa. pic.twitter.com/oekcDEPst0.”
— All India Trinamool Congress (@AITCofficial) December 13, 2021
Banerjee was addressing a crowd gathered in south Goa’s Benaulim at the induction of sitting MLA Churchill Alemao into the TMC. Alemao submitted a letter to the Speaker of the legislative assembly on Monday seeking to merge the NCP’s legislative party with the TMC. With this, the TMC got its first sitting MLA in the Goa legislative assembly. Alemao’s daughter Valanka also joined the TMC and is hopeful of being its candidate from Navelim, the constituency earlier represented by Luizinho Faleiro, who quit the Congress and joined the TMC in September. He recently became a Rajya Sabha MP from the TMC.
Earlier on Monday, while addressing Goa TMC leaders and workers at the International Centre in Dona Paula, Banerjee made a veiled reference to the Congress and explained that the TMC had entered Goa’s politics to take the BJP head on. “If some other party could do it, we wouldn’t have come. We see that they say something before the election, they do something on Facebook and Twitter. They don’t do anything else. They don’t fight the BJP. BJP’s TRP rises because of this. That’s why I thought, if you don’t do it, we don’t do it, this cannot happen. If you can contest elections in West Bengal, then why can’t we come to Goa? We don’t tell anyone not to come. You want to come, come, let’s work together, we have no issues but we will fight. We will not listen to you and have half-understandings with BJP. If we fight, we give our 100 per cent,” Banerjee said.
Banerjee further said in Benaulim, “Even I was with the Congress before. I left the Congress because the CPM would repeatedly attack me. There is no place on my body that was not hurt… I am like a living corpse. But I saw that the Congress had an understanding with the CPM. I will never do that… That’s why I formed the TMC.”
“In India, some political parties think they have a zamindari. They don’t do anything and they don’t let us do anything either,” Banerjee said.
Taking the TMC slogan of ‘Khela Hobe’ coined during the West Bengal legislative assembly polls ahead, Banerjee coined the slogan ‘Khel Jalto’ in Konkani for the party’s campaign in Goa. She also lobbed footballs among the audience, enlivening the large crowd bearing TMC flags in Benaulim’s Dando ground.
This was Banerjee’s second visit to the coastal state since the TMC announced that it would be contesting all 40 seats in the upcoming Goa legislative assembly polls likely in February.
Banerjee said that the BJP was a “Feku party” that circulated videos from Bangladesh and claimed violence in West Bengal. “There was never any violence. They show a clip from Rajasthan and claim this is from Bengal,” Banerjee said. She said that she was determined not to let the BJP win and added that the party needs to be defeated not only in Goa but also in other states set to go to polls.
“They have zero tolerance and zero governance,” she said. She also said that she was born to Hindu parents but was never taught to dislike people from other religions. “Listen well BJP, a Hindu is the one who has a big heart and has humanity,” Banerjee said.
She referred to Goa as a “sweet, cute and intelligent state”. Banerjee said that she was aware about the issues of Goa but they would be taken up by TMC’s Goan leaders and not her. “We will not come here to control Goa, we will not come to control the chief minister. You have so many leaders. What more do you need?” she told party workers in Dona Paula.
She also used more Konkani words like ‘mogacha yeukar (warm welcome)’ while addressing the crowd in Benaulim. Extending her wishes ahead of Christmas, she also mentioned the “affectionate” relationship she enjoyed with Mother Teresa.
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