PANAJI
Jennifer Monserrate (56) who passed away on Sunday had a political journey marked by a steady rise from grassroots panchayat politics to the top tier of Goa’s legislature and even the State cabinet.
The only woman minister the Bharatiya Janata Party ever had in Goa, she first entered public life in 2004, winning a seat in the Taleigao panchayat. A year later, she was elected to the Zilla Panchayat and went on to serve as chairperson of the North Goa district panchayat until 2007. That year, she contested the Assembly election from Santa Cruz on a UGDP ticket but lost.
Undeterred, she returned to panchayat politics in 2008 and became sarpanch of Taleigao. In 2012, she secured her first Assembly victory from Taleigao on a Congress ticket. She retained the seat in 2017 again on a Congress ticket and during this term was part of the 10-MLA group which crossed over to the BJP.
In 2022, she again won her third term as Taleigao MLA, this time on a BJP ticket, making it three successive wins.
Her most prominent role came in 2019, when she was elevated as cabinet minister with her husband Atanasio (Babush) Monserrate stepping aside after they both were part of the group of 10 Congress MLAs who defected to the BJP.
She was inducted into Chief Minister Pramod Sawant’s Cabinet following the defection and held the crucial Revenue portfolio until 2022. The department was central to governance during the Covid-19 pandemic, managing restrictions and administrative challenges.
Jennifer’s induction in the cabinet then, was also historic in a sense: she became the only woman minister in six BJP governments formed in Goa since 2000.
Her presence in the Cabinet was seen as a rare instance of female representation in State governance.
Former chief minister the late Shashikala Kakodkar during the MGP's reign and Nirmala Sawant and Victoria Fernandes during the Congress era, are the only three other women to rise to a cabinet rank in Goa.
Jennifer's political inning spanned over two decades, beginning at the grassroots in Taleigao panchayat before rising to the State Cabinet and marked by resilience that bagged three consecutive Assembly wins. She will go down in history as the first and only thus far, woman minister in six BJP governments formed in Goa since 2000.
