Panaji, The Trinamool Congress will have a chief ministerial face ready when the party goes to the polls in Goa in early 2022, the West Bengal-based party's Goa in-charge Mahua Moitra said on Wednesday.

 

The Trinamool Lok Sabha MP also did not rule out the party fielding a woman as its chief ministerial candidate for the coastal state, adding that despite its forward looking aura, Goa is still stuck in patriarchal norms where women are not to be found in decision-making positions, especially in the legislature.

"By the time the elections come around, we will have a chief ministerial face. We will go to the polls, saying this is our Chief Minister," Moitra told a press conference here.

When asked about the possibility of a woman being fielded as the party's CM face for Goa, Moitra said: "But of course, if we find the right candidate."

She also said that gender should not play a role in such decisions.

"The Trinamool does not think of a CM as a woman or a man. This is something I think even the media and you should question. When you look at a man, do you say 'excuse me Sir, how do you feel as a man Chief Minister'. Then why are you asking a woman? People ask me, 'how are you a woman politician'. I say 'I am a politician'. Do you ask a man, 'are you a man politician'," Moitra said.

"So I think that even that line of questioning (is wrong)... a CM is a CM. The fact that he or she is a man or a woman is irrelevant and we have to get out of this line of patriarchal thinking. Mamata Banerjee is Mamata Banerjee, it does not matter that she is a woman. She is Mamata. I am Mahua Moitra... I am not a woman MP, I am an MP," she said.

Moitra also lamented the lack of women in the state legislature in Goa, adding that the perception of Goa as a forward-looking state where women are emancipated and the actual status of women in Goa are quite different.

"Growing up, Goa to me has always come across as a very forward and liberal (place). You see women everywhere, and think it is a very empowered state as far as women go, but the statistics bely that. If you see, Goa has had very few women legislators," she said.

The 40-member state Assembly has only two women MLAs.

"It strikes me as very odd that a state like Goa is still stuck in these kinds of patriarchal norms. I think it is very important that the perception and reality of women in Goa match, and we get more women on the decision making table," the Trinamool MP said.