Mamata in Goa: Ambitions Unlimited: Dark Implications

[Sukla Sen]

All said and done, she's out-and-out a "Bengali" leader.

In the last state poll, one of her main campaign points - against the BJP, was fight against "outsiders".

On top of that, she can hardly speak any decent Hindi or, for that matter, English.

(It's quite another matter that even her Bengali is not too educated.)

Of course, she's a very effective communicator to the subaltern Bengali masses.

For so many, she's the "Didi" - the (dear and revered) elder sister.

And, in West Bengal, as of now, it's she who stands in between the state and the marauding BJP like a ballast.

No doubt about that.

But, that's hardly good enough to be considered a "national" leader.

Nor she has any political vision worth the name or any commitment to any set of "values" other than self-promotion.

Of course, she's a streetfighter.

PK - her professional poll strategist, has his limitations - definitely no magician.

She may be all too obsessed with her dream of getting into the chair of the Indian Prime Minister.

But, is definitely not as naive to believe that she can emerge a serious "national" player before the coming parliamentary poll.

The desperate drive to expand her footprints is, however, meant to somehow strengthen her claim to that coveted seat in case of a hung parliament - post the poll.

If that mad rush works in favour of the BJP - as it most likely will, and opens the path to a grave disaster, so be it!

Very much like Modi, she's not risk-averse and has little qualms.

In the process, she's nationally emerging only as an utterly dangerous disruptionist force - from the standpoint of building an effective resistance to the incumbent evil regime.

That's precisely why those aligned with the BJP are persistently drumming to project her as the "national" alternative, as much as they can.

That needs be boldly underlined.

<<Abhishek Banerjee has said that they will jump into the fray in as many states as possible where the BJP is in power. The party intends to put pressure on the BJP in the run-up to the 2024 Lok Sabha polls where it wants to play a major role in shaping the Opposition alliance. The TMC national general secretary has said that it is only Mamata Banerjee who can take on Prime Minister Narendra Modi. "People of the country are now saying desh ka neta kaisa ho..... Mamata Banerjee jaisa ho," said Abhishek Banerjee during a public meeting recently.>>

(Excerpted from: <https://indianexpress.com/article/explained/mamata-banerjee-goa-election-campaign-tmc-7595453/>.)

<<Ahead of Goa Assembly elections, West Bengal Chief Minister and Trinamool Congress (TMC) chief Mamata Banerjee addressed party leaders in Panaji on October 29 and said “I am just like your sister, I didn't come here to capture your power. It touches my heart if we can help people when they face trouble. You will do your job, we will just help you in the process.” “Bengal is a very strong state. We want to see that Goa is a strong state for the future. We want to see a new dawn of Goa. Somebody's questioning 'Mamata ji is in Bengal, how will she do it in Goa?' Why not? I'm Indian, I can go anywhere. You can go anywhere,” said West Bengal CM. “I believe in secularism. I believe in unity. I believe India is our motherland. If Bengal is my motherland, then Goa is also my motherland,” she added.

(Excerpted from: <https://m.economictimes.com/news/politics-and-nation/bengal-is-my-motherland-so-is-goa-tmc-chief-mamata-banerjee-in-panaji/amp_videoshow/87365675.cms>.)

Here's the video clip of her interactions with the civil society, in Panaji, this evening: <https://youtu.be/BJmcLPpGfX0>.