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regular-article-logo Friday, 26 April 2024

TMC is national party, stands for 'temple, mosque, church', Mamata Banerjee says in Goa

The party supremo deflects question on her being in race for Prime Minister's post in 2024

Our Bureau, PTI Panaji Published 29.10.21, 09:23 PM
West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee in Goa.

West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee in Goa. PTI Photo

Trinamool Congress supremo Mamata Banerjee, on a visit to Goa where polls are due next year, on Friday said her party is national and "can go anywhere", and its initials -- TMC -- also stand for "temple, mosque and church."

The BJP calls her "anti-Hindu", but it has no right to issue a "character certificate", the West Bengal chief minister said.

Asked whether she was eyeing the prime minister's post in 2024, she evaded reply.

The West Bengal chief minister, who arrived in the BJP-ruled Goa on Thursday evening on a three-day visit, said the TMC did not intend to divide votes in the coastal state, and if it came to power, Goa will not be run from Delhi.

On Friday, she met local party leaders and also interacted with members of the fishing community at Malim Jetty near here.

Tennis player Leander Paes, actor Nafisa Ali and entrepreneur Mrinalini Deshprabhu joined the TMC in her presence.

Addressing local TMC leaders at another event, Banerjee said, "When I come to Goa, they deface my posters. You (BJP) will be blacklisted by the people from the country.

"You deface us, show black flags, refuse to grant permission (to hold event) because you know that TMC will die but will never compromise," she further said.

If the TMC won power in Goa, it will not pursue an agenda of revenge but work for the state, she said.

Listing various welfare schemes implemented by her government in West Bengal, she said her party can do it in a smaller state like Goa too.

"I will be happy to do it. I am not going to be the chief minister of Goa, but I will see to it that there is a policy, mechanism and no corruption in the government," Banerjee added.

The TMC is a national party and "it can go anywhere," she asserted.

"We will work for Goa in a resolute way. It is not that we want to divide votes. You have given opportunity to all (other) parties, now give opportunity to the TMC," Banerjee said.

"BJP calls me anti-Hindu, but they are no one to give me character certificate. They should first decide their own character certificate," she said.

The TMC doesn't divide people on the basis of religion but "we unite people," and the party's initials "stand for temple, mosque and church," Banerjee added.

Recalling her stint as a Union minister in the past, the TMC chief said she has travelled across the country. "I know India very well," she said.

The West Bengal Chief Minister on Friday deflected questions about whether she will be in the race for the prime minister's post in the next general elections.

"If I tell you everything right now what I will tell later?" she told reporters while responding to a question if she is running for the country's top post in 2024.

Speculation is rife that after her party Trinamool Congress's resounding victory in the West Bengal Assembly polls earlier this year, Banerjee eyes to take up a larger role in national politics prior to the 2024 Lok Sabha elections.

When asked whether the motive behind her party TMC contesting the upcoming Goa polls was part of larger plan of the next Lok Sabha elections, Banerjee said, "We will contest the elections in 2024."

"We are transparent. We don't play hide and seek. We are a transparent party," she asserted.

When another journalist asked the same question, Banerjee said in a lighter vein, "Why don't you contest the election for PM's post. You are media, you can also contest."

TMC's poll strategist for Goa elections, Prashant Kishor, had recently said the BJP will remain at the centre of Indian politics for the next several decades and the party will not go anywhere irrespective of whether it wins or loses.

When asked about his statement, Banerjee said that instead of asking her about it, the reporters should raise the query with Kishor.

"Maybe, he means to say that if we don't do it properly, BJP is going to stay," she said.

Founded in 1998, the TMC, which currently rules West Bengal, has announced that it will contest all 40 seats in Goa in the upcoming polls.

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