Now it is "Goa wants Mamata", then it was "Goa wants Kejriwal". For TMC and AAP, Goans seem to be starry-eyed kids watching with morbid fascination the arrival of Hawai chappal-ed Didi or muffler-man Kejriwal that will stomp or sweep away a decade long BJP-misrule of Goa. Strangely enough, both AAP since its arrival in 2016 and TMC in its second coming to a couple of weeks back have nothing to showcase locally but their powerful leaders ruling their home states thousands of kilometres away. Something that reminds of the infamous Salazar who refused to let go of Goa even though it was liberated by India.

Former Portuguese Prime Minister, Dictator António de Oliveira Salazar was feared much by Goa despite ruling in distant Portugal. His high-handed rule of the tiny state is often referred to by old-timers especially when they compare it with attacks on protests and opposition in contemporary times. A cartoon showing Mamata’s feet stamping MoSha and CM Sawant appearing on a Twitter handle promoting TMC in Goa were seen in bad taste. For the peace-loving Goans, this dose of violent expression was fascinating in Bengal, not Goa. Goa doesn’t believe in violent democratic practices even though leaders hijack their mandate and migrate to other parties. The tweet was quickly pulled down.

But then Prashant Kishore’s I-PAC will have to use more than data, statistics and the success story of Mamata far-far away to convince Goans to vote for them. Despite Mamata’s and poor cousin Kejriwal’s larger than life mugshot dotting Goan landscape all across, the people aren’t convinced because neither of them will be their CM and none of their party’s local units has charismatic faces locally to replicate their successes. 

AAP, a former I-PAC client has been there and done that what TMC is doing right now. AAP had to parachute its cadres from Delhi while TMC send its MPs and leaders from Bengal to show their strength in Goa. Both struggling to answer Goans that Mamata and Kejriwal are fine, who is their likewise leader in Goa? Or are they out here to divide secular votes to give BJP another term?