Communal cauldron: Goa isn't doing enough to hold things in check
By Frederick Noronha fn@goa-india.org
Goa Today, Dec 2008
Goa can't but feel the heat. Communal conflict from other parts of India has left scars and created distrust of a new kind. This has brought in its impact from Orissa and coastal Karnataka, not far from home. Earlier, similar trends were witnessed in Gujarat's tribal areas.
Christians, who form a "major minority" in Goa, have shown signs of worry over the anti-Christian violence reported from these areas. Hindus, on the other hand, who have had a complex but often peaceful relationship of coexisting with Christians here, appear somewhat defensive about an issue which they have little control over.
Meanwhile, with elections round the corner, tempers have been getting heated in Goa itself. The series of attacks on temples, still unexplained at the time of writing, has made the mood in the majority Hindu community restive and neglected.
"The Congress government can't even protect the 'moortis' (statues) just outside Panjim, and they were damaged yesterday. Corruption has also spiralled," said a barber in the city. "I'm not saying the BJP wasn't tainted by corruption. But they at least delivered results. And Panjim was better maintained when they were in power."
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Debates over secularism and communalism have turned into means of scoring points. Both the Congress and the BJP resort to this.
For instance, the BJP, whose wider network and affiliated fronts played a role in stoking up temperatures in 2006 riots at Curchorem-Sanvordem, went on to blame the Congress for allowing such violence to hit Goa during the latter's rule.
Congress' spokesperson Jitendra Deshprabhu, on the other hand, blamed the BJP for itself being behind the recent temple desecrations. This came inspite of the fact that the Congress government so far failed to nab any suspects.
Goa chief minister Digambar Kamat offered a Rs 100,000 reward for information leading to the trail of the miscreants. Kamat also asked citizens in Goa not to allow Goa to see a repeat of what already happening in Karnataka and Orissa. Citizens too have attempted some initiatives, but it is clear that these are certainly not sufficient.
Goa home minister Ravi Naik likewise critiqued the BJP, in another statement, saying its temple politics was meant to dividing people. While such political games go on, the State pays a big price for its lethargy with the communal virus spreading.
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Over time, the polarisation is simply getting worse.
Misunderstandings mark relationships between Goa's three main communities. If the 20th century in Goa was spent in caste battles -Brahmins versus Chardos among the Catholics, and Bahujans versus the 'upper' castes among the Hindus -now the focus is going to building suspicion among different religious groups.
Hindu-Muslim mistrust appears to be growing. Catholics and Hindus have a bone to pick in some places. "To construe superficial conviviality and cosmetic bonhomie as deep rooted communal harmony is just fooling ourselves," argues Ave Cleto Afonso, a retired philosophy prof formerly with the Dhempe College. Afonso recently translated the 1923 book 'The Hindus of Goa and the Portuguese Republic'.
Likewise, the growing immigrant Muslim population of Goa has become the target of campaigns both on communal or regional grounds, with Catholics also showing some signs of buying 'anti-outsider' arguments too here.
One concern that has to still be sufficiently address is that communal lobbies could have infiltrated key government departments. Sometimes, too, the media coverage of certain issues is shocking. Sections of the vernacular press in particular are known to have taken a rather shrill position on communalism.
There are other irritants within the population. Catholics, a majority in the state till a little less than a century ago, today feel swamped. Their numbers declined due to their outmigration, in-migration, and lower birth rates. Since the 1960s, their shrinking access to political power has had its impact.
On the other hand, the average Hindu isn't able to access trends like out-migration, which creates easy earning opportunities for many Catholics. Increasingly, both communities are also seen to compete in each other's territory -government service was once a domain which Catholics dominated, while enterprise was where the Hindu had strengths. New and unexpected elements enter the equations. Both communities, for instance, are showing signs of disliking Muslim vendor competition that has grown in the markets.
Due to accidents of the past, Goans can have very differing ideas of their history and their culture. Minority communalism doesn't get addressed as much as it should. Goans, of all religions, also tend to have fewer campaigners over secularism; most are easily polarised over lines of religion, compared to the situation elsewhere in India.
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Goa is not immune to concerns that dominate the wider national agenda. Recent attacks on some churches and found their echo here too.
Sites like the Thane-based hindujagruti.org -which describes its goal as a "mission is to serve (the) Hindu Dharma and Nation" -has pages on its sites devoted to news that highlights the negatives of Christianity and Islam. Some of this touches on Goa too.
For instance, it quotes the RSS-linked Karnataka chief minister saying "Christian organisations (are) flaring up social tension". It likewise highlights the arrest of "two Christians" for the swamiji's murder in Orissa, and the controversy over a translated Bible in the Jharkhand assembly. Likewise, it says, "Christian nuns claim false rape in India to defame Hinduism". Some of its other reports point to a Christian-Hindu feud over a Lahore temple, and a charge that 'Once a Hindu converts, his loyalties shift'.
In the recent anti-Christian campaigns, some involved have faulted Christian conversion policies as provoking conflict. While certain sects are indeed on an aggressive evangelical drive, conversions are a non-issue for a number of mainstream denominations, including the Catholics.
In Goa, in fact, the Catholics themselves feel the pressures coming from up when other, smaller, fringe Christian groups seek to lure over Catholic adherents, not unsuccessfully. So if conversion was the issue, there's no explanation why Catholic religious places and personnel should be targeted.
But issues apart, the jostling for space is visible. Sometimes not just metaphorically.
News reports from Margao (Herald, Oct 3, 2008) pointed out that only a wall separates the existing masjid and the newly-built Durga Mata temple at the Goa Housing Board plot in Rumdamol. Recently, Muslims held Id prayers there, while local Hindu leaders fixed their religious ceremony to install a religious figure of Durga at around the same time, giving the authorities some tense moments.
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For the average citizen, most would obviously wish to simply live in peace. But that's not how it always works out.
There are a number of reasons one could attribute to the growth of communal politics in Goa too. One clearly is the role played by politicians and the press. The first is search of easy votes, and the latter going out for circulations.
But there are also other reasons. The global shift to the Right in politics, visible since the 1980s, is making its impact felt here too. Identity-politics is a good substitute -and divisionary tactic -to avoid taking on more tougher, real-world, concrete issues.
Likewise, the ascendence of conservative leaders at the helm of many religions -from Popes, to politicians claiming to speak in the name of Hinduism, and militants claiming the Muslim space -only complicates the issue. Growing Christian Evangelicalism, and the ascendence of the Christian Right till Obama's recent election in the distant US has influenced the debate on Goan shores too.
Spilling over into the Panjim Azad Maidan, this sometimes shows up in the form of noisy prayer meetings. This is a questionable policy at best which sees the municipality grant permission for the use of this public space to just about anyone who pays their price.
Even the stray religious conversion that happens here is reason enough for the sections of the local vernacular media to blow-up the issue. A case of a family from Parra, sometime back, opting to change their religion lead to columns of newsprint being devoted to this issue.
On the other hand, Christian arrogance is visible when it comes to dealing with other religions. In part, this comes from a monotheistic faith, with concepts like "false gods" being part of its doctrine; but this makes for an incongruous situation in the early 21st century. More so in times when one has to accept that nobody has a monopoly over the truth.
Likewise, different political parties too have tried their hand at playing the communal game. While the saffron BJP has been often blamed, the Congress itself hasn't been above majoritarian politics (or minority versions of the game, in some parts of the country). Its role in the anti-Sikh riots, attempting to lure Christian votes in the North-East or Salcete, and unlocking the Ayodhya controversy with Rajiv Gandhi's shilyanyas is only too well known.
In Goa, for their part, a number of political parties have played their own sectarian, if not communal, role. Both the MGP (which dominated Goan politics in the 1960s and 1970s) and the BJP have played their part. So have some politicians within the Congress, and the Goa Congress was decidedly a party aiming to build a decidedly Catholic support-base. In the 1960s, the UGP-MGP divide was also based on such a logic.
Arms of the State also play a role.
Young lawyer Jason Keith Fernandes wrote about an exhibition held at the Kala Academy in Panjim, which he termed "invitation to hate". This 2007 event aimed "to 'educate' the average Hindu about the violence by Muslims on the Hindus of Kashmir and Bangladesh." It came up via the French Catholic-born Francois Gautier, now a staunch supporter of the "Hindu nationalist movement".
When in power, the Rane Congress government spoke of stopping the "sprouting of illegal constructions and encroachments in public property". It did so even as a debate raged on the need for a law to tackle "communalism" in the state. Given the manner in which some politicians and sections of the media have been going after Muslim places of worship on grounds of being illegal, the implications of such an official stand would be clear to anyone who takes a second look.
When in power, the Congress's role has sometimes itself been questionable.
Take the case of Tariq Ahmed Battlo, arrested amidst much of an outcry and media sensationalism at Margao, and alleged to be a Tehrik-ul-Mukahidin militant. On July 10, 2008, he was given the benefit of the doubt, and set free.
Strangely, just around the time of the Sanvordem-Curchorem riots, Goa's Congress Rane-led government had publicly announced his arrest (probably even before the police formally arrested him, or staged his arrest), along with charges that RDX too had been seized from him at Margao.
During the discussion on the Goa 2006-07 budget, then CM Rane also announced plans for a law to prevent communal disturbance. Nothing of that kind has happened yet. And communal incidents keep getting stoked, while an impotent State -or one which chooses to be -looks on helplessly.
Suddenly, unusual issues crop up. As noted above, the concern of "illegal constructions" was made central to the debate of communalism in Goa some time ago.
Religious shrines have been sprouting all around, but it is only "illegal" Muslim shrines that get targeted. Even before the 2006 anti-Muslim violence at Curchorem, a campaign was created over this issue.
Media reports highlight a number of such issue. For instance, the December 2005 attempt to burn a mosque at Mardol; the October 2005 desecration of a mosque at the Mapusa housing board; the villagers demand for the demolition of a masjid project under construction in Curti, on October 15-16, 2005.
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"Communal danger (is) knocking on Goa's doors," argues journalist Vidyadhar Gadgil, also a campaigner against communalism and its spread. But others have critiqued secularism campaigners for highlighting the ills of 'majority communalism' often, while ignoring the problem of its 'minority' counterpart.
Gadgil himself warns that communal elements are likely to want the tempo "built up and sustained" even as elections approach. Argues he: "Citizens of Goa, irrespective of faith and community, have been outraged by the violence against the Christian community, and have united to condemn the violence."
Gadgil contends that the blame needs to be placed where it belongs. Critiquing the impact of the Hindutva ideology, he believes, cannot be neglected if one is not to attempt "a frantic and desperate (and doomed) attempt to be non-partisan."
But others see the issue differently.
Dr Anand Virgincar of Margao, now based in the UK, has another take on this. Joining a discussion on the maverick GoenchimXapotam mailing-list in cyberspace recently, he contended that "there is no malice, let alone hatred, between the vast majority of Goan Catholics and Hindus". Virgincar added that "the vast majority of BJP/MGP voters in Goa -and there were 276,000 odd at the last elections -are not communal." Besides, he posited, the current BJP leadership in Goa is "probably the least interested in fomenting strife between communities -as compared to both BJP and non-BJP leaders across the country. The recent Orissa violence is a case in point. Ex-CM Manohar Parrikar "not only condemned the violence but made a clear statement that there is no Christian missionary activity encouraging religious conversions in Goa," argued Virgincar.
But he argued "anti-Hindutva protestors (are) making anti-Hindu statements ... in their over-enthusiasm". "While faults with the Hindu religion are displayed in all their glory -often concealed as criticism of Hindutva -any wrongs within the Catholic faith are swept under the carpet," he argued. Bigots were left arguing such issues in the online world, he said.
"Any moderate Hindu or a BJP or Manohar Parrikar supporter, reading such hateful propaganda, would be a potential recruit for their cause -and their dream of collecting an entire generation of militant Goan Hindus," argued Virgincar, who uses the cyber-identity of 'Mahatma Sachin'.
But even if individuals are well-meaning, the reality of communal ideologies needs to be taken into account.
For instance, R.S.Golwalkar, head of the RSS for nearly 30 years, perceives the 'Golden Age' India as a "full-fledged nation of Hindus", with other communities living here being either guests like Jews and Parsis, or "invaders" like Muslims and Christians.
Different other quarters define the issue differently too.
For its part, the Konkani Bhasha Mandal, a body promoting the language, recently said any attempt to amend the Official Language Act of Goa "would only foment trouble in the Goan society and divide the people on communal lines."
But others like the pro-Romi Konkani ex-Speaker Tomazinho Cardozo argue contrarily. Cardozo commented recently: "Traditionally Goans, Hindus as well as Christian, loved and still love their own religions and at the same time they respected and still respect the religious feelings of each other. This is the foundation of communal harmony and peace among Goans."
Solutions that are offered similarly differ.
South Goa collector G P Naik spoke in terms of a three-tier peace committee "for managing conflict situations arising in South Goa district." Margao itself was the seat of communal tensions on June 27, 2008.
As an editorial in the Herald newspaper commented: "The communal violence that engulfed Margao is an extremely ominous indicator of the times to come. Is Goa's commercial capital now going to be rocked by communal violence every time a Hindu and a Muslim have a fight, for whatever reason? The last two times that the town has seen communal tension, the events have been frighteningly similar."
On September 16, 2008, Goans answered a call by the Council for Social Justice and Peace -and braved some rain -to attend a rally opposed to communal violence. People from different areas of Goa joined the meet to condemn the incidents of violence against Christians in Orissa and Karnataka.
CICH, a local campaign group called The Citizens' Initiatives for Communal Harmony (CICH), argued that the desecrations were "all taking place in one belt in South Goa and seemed designed to deliberately polarise communities." CICH is represented by social campaigner Ramesh Gauns and lawyer Albertina Almeida. This group has also questioned the logic of "projecting Muslims as repositories of violence".
Citizens have taken up other initiatives too.
After the March 2006, anti-Muslim riots in Curchorem-Sanvordem, Goa's secular lobby was quick to study the issue. Some who didn't agree with the findings of the report raked up a controversy over it in cyberspace. Yet, its study did put out a whole lot of useful and surprising information about the way communalism is being built in Goa, often without even being noticed.
This notwithstanding, on June 12, 2008, the Additional Sessions Court of Margao acquitted 23 persons who were charge-sheeted for the arson and assault during the March 2006 communal riots in the Curchorem-Sanvordem twin towns. Addl Sessions Judge Dilip Gaikwad gave them the benefit of doubt.
Earlier this year, a body calling itself the Akhil Goa Mandir Suraksha Samiti, headed by the 'Dharmajagran Pramukh' Rajendra 'Raju' Velingkar, son of RSS leader Subhash Velingkar, lead the call for a protest strike in Goa over the mysterious attacks on temples.
But this is one side of the story.
There are still positive examples. At the village and town level, there are instances of people living in amity and peace, for generations. Goans share some religious festivals -in places like Fatorpa, Mapusa and a few other spots. Catholics, for the most, acknowledge their Hindu roots. Dividing lines between 'we' and 'them' are not so clear-cut here, though increasingly this is sought to be made so.
Concern over communalism continues to show up though.
In mid-November 2008, the Jamaat-e-Islami Hind "vowed to build a secular and prosperous Goa and not to allow polarisation of the state on communal lines."
In October 2008, the Citizens' Forum for Secularism and Communal Harmony fact-finding committee pulled up the police administration for its failure to check communal violence in Margao and Rumdamol on June 27 this year.
It is not as if we lack the law to tackle communalism.
The Indian Penal Code has clear-cut laws against destroying, damaging or defiling a place of worship or sacred object, with the intent to insult any religion (Sec 295, IPC). On the law-book too are laws against maliciously insulting any religion (295A), causing a disturbance to religious worship (296), trespassing into a place of worship (29), or even "uttering any word or making any sound" with the intention to wound religious feelings (298). But, as one could guess, these are seldom implemented, by a State which is itself appears lackadaisical about the growth of communalism.
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Goa's reality is different from that across the country. Our history is different, so is our demography, and the relations between communities.
What is the same however is the manner in which this region too is prone to sustained communal propaganda, the political interest in instigating communalism, and the growing pressures to find scapegoat-communities in times of economic pressures and change.
Ironically, contrary to the widely-held view, Goa has not always been the haven of peace it is made out to be.
On the contrary.
This tiny region has been the hotbed of communal battles, caste conflict and theocratic intolerance for much of the past centuries. But the good side of this bad story is that, despite all that has happened -or perhaps, because of it -Goa has been less prone to go in for blatant communal bitterness for much of the recent past. The state seems to have realised that religious-based hate doesn't pay, and solves no problems. Suspicions, and communal, politics do linger on though.
The villain of the piece has been Portuguese colonial rule. A few decades after settling in Goa, in the mid-sixteenth century, the colonial ruler began a policy of Lusitanisation and religious conversions. Even in the 20th century, Salazar's Estado Novo was known for its theocratic approach and modus vivendi with the Vatican.
But contrary to the lore perpetuated by contemporary communalism in Goa, it was not the Portuguese alone that adopted policies of religious intolerance. Nor were the Portuguese persistently biased against whom they defined as The Other. Portuguese policy also hurt diverse segments of the population, cutting across religious lines.
Initially, the colonial rulers slaughtered the Muslim population of a Muslim-ruled Goa. The belief of some influential players then was that the Hindus of Goa could utilise the Portuguese to oust the then Muslim rulers is also documented. But, for some time during their long regime, the Portuguese gave Goa stints where anti-clerical politics saw the expulsion of the Jesuits and other religious orders.
On the other hand, the Portuguese intolerance during its rule in parts of Goa (the 'Old Conquests' central core, ironically more Catholic today) is also well documented. There is no denial about the Hindu or Muslim shrines destroyed and rebuilt as Catholic places of worship or even forts.
Anyone wanting to rake up a bad row could create dozens of Ayodhyas here. Though of course things are more complex than that, because together with the shrines, the a section of the people too were converted. Most of the latter are today content to belong to the faith they are part of.
In addition, religious conflict wasn't the the only or prime driver of colonial rule, as is sometimes sought to be suggested. Likewise, religious minorities of today should not be confused with the colonial rulers of the yesterdays.
This situation is ripe with other contradictions too.
A researcher planning to take up this issue listed a number of religious monuments that got caught in the religious intolerance of the past. Such as the Muslim cemetery and mosque site near the fortress in Chapora; the Reis Magos fortress and church site, built on a Hindu temple; the Rachol Seminary, built on a mosque site; monuments at Velha Goa; and temples temples around Ponda, that were created as "fugitive" religious sites.
Those raking up issues against the Portuguese policies on religion often gain support from the 'New Conquest' areas, areas where ironically enough colonial religious intolerance was not fierce, or hardly felt.
Goa nowadays often gets reminded about the Inquisition in Goa. Sometimes, the motives are genuine; at other times, the intention is simply to justify more present-day communal intolerance on the basis of the bigotry of the past.
Goa's complex history says it all. The post-1910 Republican regime in Lisbon in fact made attempts to make up for periods of anti-Hindu bias, till Salazar set back the clock.
Post 1963, after one-man one-vote electoral politics were introduce in Goa, political parties played to communal galleries to lesser or greater extent. The MGP, UGP, BJP, Shiv Sena, Goa Congress, among others, have banked on getting the votes sometimes with overt and unchecked appeals to religion. Congress' attempts to garner votes involves a more complex process of incorporating regional leaders -of diverse local community or caste groups -together with a role for money and migrant votes.
But during the BJP rule one had Governors like the RSS-linked Kidar Nath Sahani highlight the importance of rebuilding temples demolished by the Portuguese and "erstwhile regimes" as part of the "nation building task" in October 2003. It boggles the mind how such sectarian talk can be tolerated by a high functionary of a secular state.
There were other trends that caused concern in that period.
In early 2003, when the controversial Marathi play "Mee Nathuram Boltoy" was staged in Kala Academy, the character Nathuram Godse (Gandhiji's assassin in real life) got loud applause from the audience.
There was a controversy over scrapping of some religious holidays; hot-heads managed to get into the Archbishop's House on an excuse; and, contrary to national policies to have a force representative of the populace, only a tiny number of minorities were recruited to crucial sectors like the police. This was justified on the grounds that Catholics anyway disliked working as stereotyped constables.
A controversial VCD, communalising the past via a religiosity-suffused interpretation of history, was released by the government. State monies were passed on to allegedly partisan bodies in the wake of the Gujarat quake.
Samata Andolan, a body campaigning on social issues, then also blamed the BJP Goa government of handing over over primary schools to the Sangh Parivar "without complying required formalities."
"How does (ex-chief minister Parrikar) justify the thousands of saffrons he has recruited into government service ever since the BJP took over the reins two years ago?" charged lawyer Aires Rodrigues, currently a vocal supporter of Mr Parrikar, whom he now sees as the only option for Goa.
Winds blowing in the rest of the country are also bound to affect Goa.
Outlook, the New Delhi-published magazine, offered some surprising info recently. In its issues of Sept 28, 2008 and Oct 6, 2008, it reported a link between Hindutva terrorism and Goa. Some of those involved in recent cases of violence had got trained in making timer-bombs. Said Outlook, "Panse (one of those involved, also) underwent training by the VHP and Bajrang Dal at Goa for two years." Names of other groups, like the Sanatan Sanstha, which publishes a newspaper from Goa, have also come up in connection with this controversy.
But even while attempts are on to widen the communal rift, some understand that religious-infighting doesn't make any sense, and the State swims or sinks across communities.
As Prof Afonso put it, "It is my belief that the hope of sustaining Goa and enriching Goan cultural identity depends on healing of the old wounds that have divided the Hindus and Catholics."
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