MARGAO: As Portuguese Prime Minister António Costa pulled off a stunning victory in Sunday’s general election, winning a third consecutive term, there was a big round of cheers from his father’s State Goa.
Many who had been following the elections closely were delighted to learn that Costa’s Socialist Party secured an absolute majority in Portugal’s parliament.
His cousin in Margao, Anna Kaarina Costa, commended PM Costa’s historic achievement. “We are absolutely thrilled to hear that António has won the snap elections, that too with a clear majority. We are so proud of him. We wish Babush all the very best,” said Anna Kaarina on Monday. Many sent Anna Kaarina and PM Costa’s other relatives’ congratulatory messages as well.
Costa had visited his ancestral house located on Abade Faria road in Margao in January 2017 where he spent a few hours catching up and sharing a meal with his family members, who were overjoyed to meet him at home. To them, Costa is fondly known as ‘Babush’.
Friends and neighbours were also excited about the news. “I was genuinely surprised at the result after Costa’s hard-left former Communist and Left Bloc allies joined the right in striking down his minority government’s budget. For many, who endorse his political views, this will be a massive show of strength. I think that this is what the country needed, at this moment of uncertainty,” said Fernando Monte da Silva, writer, whose ancestral house is also located on the Abade Faria Road.
Elsewhere in Raia,
Margarida Tavora, the
proprietor of Nostalgia restaurant, was also impressed. Tavora had met Costa, at a dinner function organised during his 2017 visit where select Goans had been invited, and a photograph of the two of them has been framed and put up at her restaurant.
“This is a proud moment for Goa given the Goan roots of Portugal’s Prime Minister António Costa. He won with a thumping majority despite the opposition against him and his victory augurs well for India and Portugal’s relations. On a lighter note, while we have a PM in Portugal, we don’t have one noteworthy Goemkar in today’s time, who can emulate what Costa is doing for his country, in Goa,” said Tavora.
Other Goans too shared their tributes to PM Costa. “Calling a snap election was a very gutsy call by PM António Costa, but one that paid rich dividends to his Socialists party, which now enjoys a strengthened mandate. I now pray that this good fortune is also enjoyed by the citizens of Portugal through the administration of this now renewed government, starting with the judicious use of the European pandemic recovery fund. Best wishes to PM António Costa, the Socialists, and the people of Portugal as they steadily become a force to reckon with within the European Union,” said Omar de Loiola Pereira, musical director from Benaulim.
