Mamata Banerjee's Maiden Visit To Goa Fails To Create Much Impact, Efforts To Forge Opposition Unity Fall Flat

If Trinamool chief Mamata Banerjee does an honest postmortem of her just-concluded three-day visit to Goa, she will be left disappointed by the fact that her much-hyped political foray to India’s favourite seaside destination was much ado about nothing.

Not only did she fail to rope in any major political figure into her fledgling party unit in Goa, the visit itself failed to generate any enthusiasm among Goencars. And among the political class, her strenuous calls for opposition unity made alongside the contrarian assertion that her party would contest all 40 Assembly seats on its own not only sounded hollow, but also triggered suspicion about her motives.

Her trenchant criticism of the Congress, and her largely unsuccessful bids to wean away senior Congress leaders--save for former chief minister Luizinho Faleiro who joined her party in end September--showed her up as a carpetbagger with the sole intention of grabbing political space in the tiny state.

Many parts of Goa, especially Panaji, were plastered with banners and hoardings displaying a smiling Mamata Banerjee ahead of her visit. She landed at the Dabolim airport early Thursday evening to chants of Jai Shree Ram and BJP supporters waving black flags, thus fouling her mood.

The only occasion when the Bengal chief minister could grab eyeballs was when she inducted former tennis player Leander Paes and former actor Nafisa Ali into her party. But that was short-lived and no significance was attached to those inductions by Goa’s polity.

Paes, though well-known, is not even considered a political lightweight and his ability to garner votes is doubtful. Ali, who acted in some Hindi films with Dharmendra, Shashi Kapoor and Amitabh Bachchan, is a political itinerant who has failed to make her mark in politics.

Ali contested the 2004 Lok Sabha elections from Dakshin Kolkata constituency as a Congress candidate against Mamata Banerjee and bagged only 7.8 per cent of the votes polled (Mamata won and the CPI-M nominee was the runner-up).

The ‘Femina Miss India’ (1976) title holder joined the Samajwadi Party in 2009 and contested the Lok Sabha elections that year from Lucknow. But she came fourth, and returned to the Congress after that. She had publicly pledged at that time to spend the rest of her life in the Congress, but has now junked that solemn promise.

Mamata’s visit to Goa was preceded by another failed politician--Jorson Fernandes--joining the Trinamool. Fernandes was the president of the United Goans Democratic Party (UGDP), which was once a major party in the state but had fared very poorly in the last few elections and had even forfeited its recognition (by the Election Commission of India) as a regional party.

The Trinamool chief’s public engagements in Goa were stage-managed and scripted, and lacked any show of spontaneity. Language was a major hurdle as the Bengal chief minister is not fluent in either English or Hindi.

After her arrival on Thursday evening, she held a series of meetings with close aide Derek O’Brien and others, including Luizinho Faleiro. The 70-year-old Faleiro, a two-time chief minister of the state who is serving his seventh term as a legislator, is also well past his prime.

The Congress (in which he spent his entire political career) was planning to nominate a fresh face from Navelim, Faleiro’s constituency which he has been representing since 1979. According to Congress insiders, Faleiro is facing acute anti-incumbency in Navelim and the party’s assessment was that he would have lost from that seat had he contested again in the elections early next year.

Friday (October 29) morning saw Mamata Banerjee meeting a motley group of people who have been inducted into her party in the last couple of months. Some were political greenhorns, and a lot many were little-known politicians or functionaries from other parties, primarily the Congress.

At this meeting held at the International Center Goa (ICG), she articulated her simplistic and vague vision for Goa. “The Trinamool will unite the people of Goa and bring about a lot of development. If my party comes to power, it will launch a number of social welfare schemes, provide employment and bring in new investments,” she told her partymen.

Banerjee also touched upon her pet social welfare schemes in Bengal and said they would be replicated in Goa also. She promised to make Goa a prime investment destination.

But the Goencars who joined her party were left largely unimpressed since she failed to elaborate on her gameplan and vision for Goa. “All parties will be promising jobs, development and sops. What will make our promises stand out. We were expecting specifics, but were disappointed,” Govind Rane, a panchayat leader from Pomburpa-Olaulim, told Swarajya from Goa. Rane left the Congress to join the Trinamool in mid-October.

A couple of others who did not want to be named expressed similar sentiments. “She (Mamata Banerjee) was not very impressive and though she spoke for quite some time, she said very little. There were hardly any concrete take-aways for us from her address,” said a functionary from Valpoi.

Banerjee then visited fish sellers at Betim market in North Goa, ostensibly to “understand the problems faced by Goa’s fisherfolk” (in Faleiro’s words). But it turned out to be a perfunctory visit (watch this video) where she exchanged greetings with a few fish sellers, asked the price of some fish and discovered similarities between some varieties of fish in Goa and Bengal!

Next on her itinerary was a visit to Mahalsa Narayani Mandir at Mardol and Shree Datta Padmanabh Peeth. She was back at the ICG later that afternoon to meet with civil society members.

She repeated her litany of charges against the BJP and singled out Prime Minister Modi and Home Minister Amit Shah who she accused of ‘dadagiri’ (bullying), destroying the country’s federal structure and practising communal politics.

She also took on the Congress for being “weak and indecisive” and blamed it for making BJP and Modi “powerful”. She said the Congress does not have the strength and intention of fighting the BJP and so she wanted regional parties to join hands to take on Modi.

Mamata Banerjee’s speeches and statements were acerbic and angry. “Our politicians do not use harsh and angry words against each other and even while criticising, they maintain a level of decency. The Bengal chief minister’s angry political speeches shocked us and we found it very distasteful,” said a prominent physician who was present at ICG.

“We expected her to speak of policies and programmes, her plans for Goa and where she wants to see the state in five years. She left us disappointed and her speeches were only political and full of rhetoric,” said the physician who did not want to be named.

Mamata also met politicians from other parties. Maharashtrawadi Gomantak Party (MGP) chief Pandurang Dhavalikar and his brother Ramakrishna Dhavalikar (who is also the MLA from Madkai) met Banerjee. She also met Porvorim Independent MLA Rohan Khaunte and lone Nationalist Congress Party (NCP) MLA (from Benaulim) Churchill Alemao.

Khaunte told reporters after the meeting that it was a courtesy call made at the request of Mamata’s hired political strategist Prashant Kishore. “I went to understand her vision for Goa,” he said.

But according to his close aides, Mamata Banerjee requested him to join the Trinamool. He flatly refused. Khaunte told his aides he wasn’t very impressed with the Bengal chief minister. “She lacks vision and wants power just for the sake of power,” Khaunte reportedly told a close confidante.

The Dhavalikars were also left disappointed after their meeting with Banerjee. This was evident from their assertion after the meeting that “there is no chance of an alliance with the Trinamool”. They added for good measure that they agreed to pay the “courtesy call” on the Bengal chief minister after repeated pleas by Prashant Kishore and some other senior Trinamool leaders. “We will meet Rahul Gandhi also,” they said.

Ramkrishna Dhavalikar repeated the ‘no alliance with Trinamool’ stand Sunday when he said that the MGP will get into a pre-poll alliance with any party that leaves 12 seats for the party. Dhavalikar said MGP has already started campaigning in these 12 seats.

But with Mamata Banerjee asserting that the Trinamool will contest all 40 seats, the possibility of an alliance between the two parties can be ruled out. There is no way Banerjee will agree to part with 12 seats for the sake of an alliance. At best, say Trinamool insiders, she may agree to spare only four to five seats to an ally.

Goa Forward Party (GFP) chief Vijai Sardesai alluded to this assertion by Mamata Banerjee when he said Sunday that any party that thinks it can take on the BJP alone is “living in a fool’s paradise”. Sardesai, along with his party MLAs Jayesh Salgaonkar and Vinod Paliencar, his party’s working president Kiran Kandolkar and general secretary Durgadas Kamat had met Mamata Banerjee.

It is learnt that the Trinamool had suggested to Sardesai to merge his party with the provincial party from Bengal (the Trinamool). Sardesai took great offence to this suggestion.

Similar suggestions made by Mamata Banerjee to the United Goans Democratic Party and another small regional outfit were rejected outright.

What’s more, she alienated many with her harsh criticism of the Congress and the BJP and her angry and acerbic speeches and statements. “She came across as very abrasive, which is a striking contrast to the amiable nature of Goencars. She failed to understand and appreciate the ethos of Goa,” said a retired bureaucrat who was present in one of her interactions at ICG.

In effect, Mamata Banerjee failed to strike much of a chord among Goencars and, according to some who met her, came across as a rank outsider and power-hungry politician. And she served to reinforce her credentials as an abrasive, intolerant and opportunistic politician.

Many also wondered how she would be able to develop Goa when she has a very poor track record of developing Bengal.

Goa Chief Minister Pramod Sawant drove home this point Saturday, the day Banerjee flew out of that coastal state. “Goa does not need an outsider to usher in a new dawn,” he said in reference to Trinamool’s ‘Goenchi Navi Sakal’ (Goa’s new dawn) slogan. “We don’t need an outsider to protect Goa’s culture,” he added.

Bharatiya Janata Yuva Morcha (BJYM) chief Tejasvi Surya who landed in Goa on the heels of Mamata’s visit there tore into the Trinamool chief. “TMC stands for terrorism, mafia and corruption. What can Banerjee, who is infamous for misrule of Bengal, offer to Goa? What will someone who has created so much unrest, terrorism and poverty in Bengal give to Goa?” he asked.

The Lok Sabha MP from Bangalore South warned: “The Trinamool will bring its violent nature of politics and its terrorism-driven and violence-driven political model to Goa. It will make Goa a violent state. If there is no peace in Goa, there will be no tourism. Tourism and terrorism cannot exist together”.

Tejasvi Surya articulated what is now on many Goencars’ minds. They doubt Mamata’s motives, are sceptical of her grand but vague promises about developing Goa and making it a prosperous state, and are wary of her brand of violent and hate-filled politics.

The Trinamool chief, thus achieved little in her Goa foray. She came across as an outsider with little understanding of Goa’s culture and psyche and as a power-hungry politician who offers only vague promises. Her poor track record of governance in Bengal also preceded her to Goa, and served to make the visit an unsuccessful one.