‘Sad that Messi faced so much disrespect’: Leander Paes slams TMC, questions Bengal’s sports infrastructure

Paes also spoke about his identity, saying he feels hurt when people question whether he is Bengali. “My name is not Sourav Ganguly, but I am Bengali and Indian. When someone questions my Bengali identity, it hurts me. Politics is a new game…I will play it with class, dignity, passion, and patriotism. I will not speak ill of anyone. My mother is Bengali, my father was a Portuguese Christian. He passed away seven months ago, but we all belong to this country,” he said.

Speaking about his life in Kolkata, Paes said he was born in the city. “My journey in tennis and sports began at a club in Kolkata. I studied at La Martiniere School. In the Kolkata Maidan, I learned sports. The feeling in my heart to play for the country, I learned from here,” he said.

‘Only 2 stadiums here’

Highlighting a need for sports infrastructure, Paes said, “In Kolkata, sports have huge potential. The city has a rich history in sports. When I was born, my dream was to play for the country. The effort I put in in 40 years—be it 20 Grand Slams or to motivate kids—I struggled for 40 years,” he said.

“There are only two stadiums here: Eden Gardens and Salt Lake Stadium. For children who play other sports, what has Bengal given them? Bengal has no stadium for Davis Cup, no indoor stadium. In summer or monsoon, children cannot play for 6-7 months. Norman Pritchard [the first athlete overall to win two medals in one Olympics for India] was born here in 1900. Only four Olympic medals have come from Kolkata in over 100 years. The infrastructure has not improved,” Paes pointed out.

The tennis legend said that after joining the BJP, he met Prime Minister Narendra Modi, who spoke to him as a “son of Bengal”. “I told him I do not want Bengal to become an old-age home. I want to bring life to Bengal’s youth, not let them be brain-dead or forced to move to another state. Sports, sports education, industry, infrastructure, and ancillary businesses—I want to spread Bengal’s name across the world. The Prime Minister listened to me,” Paes said, adding that PM Modi gave him “seven visions” focused on sports and youth development.

“He has given a boy from Bengal the opportunity to serve the nation. We will move forward with this and aim to make the country a superpower. By 2036, the country will achieve something different,” he added.

On March 31, just weeks before the West Bengal Assembly elections, Paes joined the BJP in the presence of Union ministers Kiren Rijiju and Sukanta Majumdar at the party headquarters in New Delhi.

His switch to the BJP came after a five-year association with the TMC, which began in October 2021. At the time, Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee had described him as a “younger brother”. He campaigned for the party during the Goa elections in 2022 but did not contest. Later, he was left out of the party’s 69-member Goa state committee announced in January 2022.

Assembly elections will be held in two phases in West Bengal, on April 23 and April 29. The results will be announced on May 4.