Goa is a peaceful state. The people of Goa have lived harmoniously together for decades respecting caste and creeds.
However, let us also be honest that Goa, since its liberation, is not alien to minor conflicts based on religion, caste, language, or territorial supremacy. It has had a fair share of conflict but no conflict destroyed the social fabric of and in the state. And in most of the conflicts, some conscientious people of Goa irrespective of caste and creed have risen to be peacemakers and unite for the good of the people and the state.
I say with much pain that Goa is the new target for communal conflagration, after Manipur. Goa will not be a Manipur because the trigger to the conflict in Manipur was a dormant decades-old ethnic difference that got activated to hide the true intent of the conflict – control of the narcotics trade estimated to be Rs 70,000 crores – and that led to brutal violence. Some of the videos and pictures I have seen from both the Meitei and Kuki communities disturbed me because they showed me the horrific nature of a demonically motivated mob.
Goa too has some old communal wounds that go centuries back caused by social faultlines at that time in our history and mostly because of the wicked intentions of the foreign rule that governed Goa. It is this old dark past in history, its repercussions and brutality then, and its religious impact on the social fabric of Goa before and after the Portuguese rule, that is going to be scratched again to the point that it bleeds.
The people playing with this fire in Goa are not Goans in the true sense of territorial lineage but by domicile in Goa; because if they were they would know that Goa needs reconciliation to an age-old wound and not conflicts to establish right or wrong. Some of them are people who never wanted Goa to have a separate identity of its own and wanted to merge Goa with Maharashtra. Some even wanted to obliterate Konkani from Goa and opt for Marathi as the main language of Goa. Some clearly wanted to foster a North-South divide in Goa.
There is no doubt in the minds of most the people in Goa whether Hindus, Christians, or Muslims that Goans had a tumultuous and horrific past under Portuguese rule. We were victims of colonization. In fact, some of us Goans continue to carry the hangover of being Portuguese. But the Portuguese left decades ago, we cannot keep scratching the wounds of the past. Reopening old wounds to play a blame game will only fester communal hatred in the state. You cannot blame the current generation for the mistakes of the past and neither can the current generation repeat the mistakes of the past in order to prove caste, creed, or territorial supremacy.
The notion of erasing Portuguese history mooted by some is impractical because you cannot erase history, you must learn from it. History mirrors the fault lines of the past and allows you to make an informed decision in the present so that your future is secured and safe. Despite that fact, we also cannot continue to carry a colonial hangover.
We are not a Portuguese territory, we are India and we Goans are Indians. Goa and India may not be perfect but it is our Mother and we need to respect it. Those who do not want to accept their Indianess are free to live out their Portuguese affinity in Portugal. Since 1961, Goans have had the option to opt for Portuguese citizenship by relinquishing their Indian citizenship.
It is also important for those who want to erase Portuguese history in Goa to aide-memoire that some of the hangovers of colonial rule are efforts to hold or participate in Lusofonia games or adulation over Goan-origin Portuguese citizens reaching to heights of politics in Portugal or the United Kingdom like the current Prime Minister of Portugal Antonio Luis de Costa. The Lusifonia games like the Commonwealth games are a grim reminder of the colonies controlled by the colonizers. It is a shame that we continue to be a part of these colonial games.
Goa government stands to reconstruct temples destroyed during the Portuguese rule. It must be done because many families had to flee from Goa with their deities on account of the atrocities committed by the Portuguese. It is time we bring our deities back home. it has not only religious importance but also cultural importance. We must never forget our cultural roots. It is a good step and it must be supported by the people of Goa, including the Christian and Muslim communities. Goa had an identity before the Portuguese rule. But in the same vein, the Goa government must endeavor to renovate churches left to ruins during the Portuguese rule, after conducting a study. These churches have immense religious significance and can also be promoted as a good tourism destination. It is something that even Union Minister for Tourism G Kishan Reddy ideated when on a visit to the state in 2022.
In my conversations with influential people across religious and caste communities in Goa on societal faultlines, everyone is ever ready to blame another for the situation of the past and in the present but they fail to answer the question of what were the faultlines that were exploited by the colonizers in Goa in the first place. If you do not address the faultlines of the past, you are behaving like a man or a woman sitting on a rocking chair; you are moving no doubt, but you are not getting anywhere. I suppose people, just want to rock the chair.
Over the last couple of months, there has been a set of people attempting to stoke communal disharmony among the people of Goa based on caste and creed. It is a slow poison being injected into the social fabric and in the minds of the people. Religious and caste-driven communities are slowly being divided and the extent of the impact of the slow poisoning will be witnessed in Goa shortly. There will be a rise in mob behavior in Goa. And it will intensify over communal issues which will be stoked by influencers from religious and caste communities thinking their idea of the truth is the truth, just like in Manipur, where Meiteis will blame the Kukis, Kukis will blame the Meiteis but they will not see the real game being played – a vicious game of communal divide.
The act of Fr Bolmax Periera from the altar of the Church, during mass, advising Hindus to not treat Chhatrapati Shivaji as God and that he should be respected as a national hero was downright absurd. He deliberately strayed into a sensitive area that he should not have strayed into in the first place. It was wrong because he spoke it from an altar, dressed in a cassock, and spoke during the solemn celebrations of Holy Mass. Imagine if a Hindu religious leader from Goa, also speaking from a religious sanctum advises Christians to not believe in the saints of the Catholic faith, especially St Francis Xavier or Mother Theresa would the Christian community remain mute spectators to such unwarranted advice? I don’t think so! Fr Bolmax was wrong and had no business to hurt the sensitivities of those people who accord respect and worship Chhatrapati Shivaji as God. That is their right to believe or not to believe.
As an Indian Christian from Goa, I have immense respect for Chhatrapati Shivaji Maharaj. I do not see him as God and neither do I advise people who see him as a God. It is their choice and their belief. My personal opinion is more than putting statues of Chhatrapati Shivaji across Goa, we need to open schools dedicated to this great and inspirational leader. We must teach our children about his life, his political and war strategies, and his love for Bharat. His is a story of great valor and leadership, we must inspire our people to live for Bharat like he did. He is an inspiration to billions of Indians.
Goa is also witnessing several claimants to being upholders of Christian and Hindu faiths trying to drive a wedge in religious communities and also caste communities. Santosh Singh Rajput of Karni Sena having its roots in Rajasthan is the new entrant into the Goa scene of a claimant to protecting the rights of the Hindus. The intent is clear to create communal strife. He must be arrested and thrown in jail. More importantly, such thrash must be thrown out of Goa and kept out; just like we have kept Pramod Muthalik out of Goa.
Then there are the Velingkars – father and son – Subash and Shailendra who believe that their freedom of speech gives them the right to infringe on the beliefs of other faiths in particular the Christian faith. Subash Velingkar’s statements against St Francis Xavier popularly known as ‘Goencho Sahib’ were widely condemned by the Christian community. He instead opined that the sixth incarnation of Lord Vishnu – Parshuram – is the Goencho Sahib and he has been the true protector of Goa. Again whether you believe that St Francis Xavier is ‘Goencho Sahib’ or Lord Parshuram is ‘Goencho Sahib’ it is a matter of faith. Unlike, the antics of Karni Sena, Subash Velingkar is not a hired mouthpiece of communal conflict, he is a man driven by his own ideologies that could lead to communal conflagration.
Then of course there are Dominic and Joan Christian pastors, known for the conversion drives demonising Hindu beliefs. In fact, when they were arrested by the Goa Police, Goa Chief Minister Dr Sawant told media that: Dominic used to lure poor people for conversion. The government will take strict action. We will not allow religious conversion in Goa. We will act on complaints, whenever we receive them. We respect all religions, whether Hindu, Muslim or Catholic. In due course, many such claimants to being protectors of the faiths of the people of Goa will emerge and it will intensify in the run-up to the Lok Sabha elections.
There is a pattern emerging in these conflicts. The pattern is to show the world that India is unsafe for minorities. More importantly, the Hindus are unleashing atrocities on the Muslims and Christians. There are fanatics and radicals in all religions and no one is a saint. The horrors of the Manipur conflict have been exploited viciously in Goa across all social media platforms. The intent to spread communal divide portraying the Manipur violence as a religious conflict was frantically attempted and it has even succeeded in creating resentment in the religious communities in Goa.
The sad truth however is that politicians and people keen on geopolitical outcomes will continue to use our faultlines to polarise not only Goa but other states in India too. Goans must be alert and not allow Goa to disintegrate into an abysmal pit of religious and caste conflicts. We need to nip communal elements in the bud.
