On Saturday, a ‘Hindu’ sammelan in Panjim called to denounce alleged insults to the Hindu religion by certain individuals threatened to spiral out of control after the gathering turned agitated and attempted to storm the Police Headquarters in a bid to press for their demands. The situation later calmed down after the crowd dissipated, but nonetheless served as a reminder of exactly how vulnerable Goa’s famed communal harmony has now become, especially when elements from outside the state seek to propagate falsehoods without adequate knowledge of Goa’s history, religious intermingling and most importantly, on how various communities are an inseparable part of Goa’s cultural fabric.
A brief perusal of some of the speeches made at the sammelan at Azad Maidan on Saturday is enough to convince anyone with even a little knowledge of Goa’s history that they are flamboyant claims that can be easily debunked. For example, one of the claims made by a speaker at the sammelan was that the excavation of Old Goa will reveal the remains of temples that were allegedly demolished by the Portuguese. However, anyone with even a cursory knowledge of Goan history will know that until the Portuguese captured it, Old Goa was held by Adil Shah of the Bijapur Sultanate. If anything, the excavation of Old Goa will reveal evidence of what the city was like under Adil Shah’s rule.
It is highly unlikely that the churches of Old Goa were built upon the ruins of temples, unless, of course, the speakers at yesterday’s sammelan are willing to accept that Adil Shah of Bijapur was a big patron of temples. However, speeches that threaten to further agitate Goa’s peaceful coexistence between communities are allowed, even without a censure from the Goa government, reveals a failure of the state administration and its intelligence agencies.
The Goa government needs to be keeping active tabs on elements that come to the State with the intention of causing trouble, division and spreading falsehoods with the deliberate intention of provoking not just the sentiments of the minority community but of the people of the state. It appears that most of the speakers at the sammelan and subsequent protest weren’t from Goa.
What we’ve seen over the years is that troublemakers have been readily let off the hook. For example, when one Santosh Rajput attempted to install a statue at the ruins of the Old Sancoale church, the Goa Police treated him with kid gloves, allowing him to go scot free. Today, the same Rajput is a complainant in a case filed against Warren Alemao, alleging that his comments hurt followers of the Hindu religion.
The Goa government needs to treat such cases with an iron hand. Allowed to run loose, such elements will only be emboldened to repeatedly threaten Goa’s religious and cultural fabric, knowing very well that those at the helm are secretly backing them. Accountability needs to begin from the top, and it must start with the Chief Minister recognising and valuing Goa’s history of communal harmony and mutual respect for religions and unique cultural heritage. If ministers in government themselves are secretly gleeful at what’s unfolding on Goa’s streets, then it's the people themselves who will have to take up the cudgels for their beloved State.
