West Bengal chief minister Mamata Banerjee has obviously given the jitters to the Congress party through her three-day foray into Goa, the tiny western state abutting the Arabian Sea and famous for its high-profile tourism drive. Proof of this was the sudden visit of Congress leader Rahul Gandhi to Goa coinciding with Banerjee’s tour, apparently to reassure his party workers that the Congress would keep its spirits up. The state is set for the assembly polls in February and Banerjee is testing the political waters with the help of election strategist Prashant Kishor. Politics is sinking to a level wherein ideology no longer matters; what matter are evolving strategies through PR firms and pumping in slush money to “buy voters.”
Yet, ground-level reading is that Banerjee, seeking to turn her regional outfit into a national party in order to eventually lead the nation, might not make much of an impact there. She is counting principally on two factors, namely the low morale of the Congress party workers and the ‘minority’ strength in Goa in the form of Christians. She argues that the Congress can no longer neutralize Modi or BJP – meaning she was the best alternative to the Hindutva forces. Still, she has not forgotten to add that she’s Hindu and a Brahmin – the sizable segments of which too are part of Goa’s electorate. She has got a “prize catch” in the form of a former AICC general secretary, Luizinho Faleiro, and he has been made her party’s national vice president. She also got former tennis player Leander Paes to the Trinamool Congress fold. For effect, she also told small crowds that both Bengal and Goa shared much between them; “a love for fish and football.”
In politics, one cannot rule out any eventuality. More so as the age of ideology is past and money power matters most. Banerjee might be able to buy up disenchanted old guards in the Congress like Faleiro not only in Goa but elsewhere too, including the North-East. Question is whether the wider India would warm up to her or give her a place over and above the well-entrenched Congress. If breaking up the Congress is her idea, this too is quite unlikely. The party still has a strong pan-India presence and credible leadership. With those like MK Stalin around with a sizable number of MPs, and he firmly backing the Congress, it will not be an easy task for Banerjee to achieve her PM ambition in the normal course. On the positive side, she has grit and determination.
