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NAFRAT HATAO, MOHABAT BADHAO!
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NAFRAT HATAO, MOHABAT BADHAO!

April 25- May 01, 2026, UNITY April 24, 2026 , by

Goa has a large enough heart to accommodate both Lord Parshuram who created Goa and St Francis Xavier who preached and practiced humility and compassion for all. Goa’s communal harmony has been disturbed by the Youtuber Gautam Khattar calling Goencho Saib a terrorist, from the platform of a function celebrating the birth anniversary of Lord Parshuram at Vasco-da-Gama, in the presence of the Transport Minister Mauvin Godinho and other dignitaries .

THE glorification of lord or bhagwan Parshuram and the denigration of Goenchi Sahib are all part of a Narendra Modi inspired agenda of promoting an insular exclusive Hindutva. The chief minister of Goa, Pramod Sawant is acting on the Yogi Adityanath Uttar Pradesh model of promoting aggressive Hindutva and marginalizing the minority communities. In the UP model the target is the Muslim minority communities. We have heard of horror tales of Muslims being lynched merely on the suspicion of transporting meat. The presumption being that it is cow meat or beef. This of course is taboo because of the sacred cow. Taking this one step further roadside dhabba and restaurants serving non-veg food were banned during the Khumbh Mela and other Hindu religious events in UP.
The thrashing of Goencho Saib did not begin with the UTube blogger from Uttarakhand Gautam Khattar. It actually started in 2024 with Subhash Velingkar launching a virulent attack on the cult of St Francis Xavier in the run-up to the Dicennial Exposition of St Francis Xavier. Subhash Velingkar is the former RSS chief and he called for DNA testing of the bones and relics of St Francis Xavir preserved in a silver casket at the Don Bosco Cathedral in old Goa. The allegation by Velinkar was that the relics are not of St Francis Xavier but an imposter.

MATTERS OF FAITH
THE Goan Catholic community and the Church reacted with outrage. The relics of St Francis Xavier are a matter of faith and not of scientific experimentation. Goan Catholics and of course Catholic MLAs including Mauvin Godinho was present at the Parshuram birth anniversary celebration; Godinho also condemned the remarks of Velinkar. Never mind that at the Parshuram celebration in Vasco da Gama Utube videos made showed Mauvin Godinho endorsing the slander of Gautam Khattar.
 The Vasco event was a separate distinct event organized by the local Sanatan group to commemorate the birthday of Parshuram. According to Hindu legend Parshuram was born on Akshay Tritya day.
When Subhash Velinkar first attacked St Francis Xavier in 2024 there was a huge outburst in Goa. Interestingly, then too there was no arrest of Subhash Velinkar although multiple complaints were made. Instead, the police filed cases against the protesters. This time around Chief Minister Pramod Sawant was put on the defensive because even the BJP MLAs, notably Michael Lobo and even Babush Monserrate, demanded the arrest of Gautam Khattar.
The minority community MLAs who are now part of the BJP also demanded not only the arrest of Khattar but also that of Mauvin Godinho. Mauvin in his speech insisted that history was distorted by the Congress party of which he was a leading member. Mauvin claimed that Gautam Khattar was correcting the erroneous version of Goa’s history, that Khattar and indeed the Chief Minister of Goa Pramod Sawant were reclaiming Hinduism and the Hindu heritage of Goa.
Even after the controversy broke out a Hindu godman at the ongoing Parshuram celebration in Panjim lamented that the people of Parshuram were unfortunately running after St Francis Xavier. Lord Parshuram is credited by a legend of creating not just Goa but the larger Konkan region. Parshuram, a Brahmin by birth, was apparently furious over the killing of his father by a Kshatriya king. The legend has it that Parshuram filled with rage destroyed 23 generations of Kshatriya people with his axe. Parshuram wanted to create a safe heaven for the Brahmins. Parshuram, according to the legend, through his axe in the direction of Goa from a village now known as Parshuram near Chiplun in Maharashtra. The axe Parshuram flung in the direction of Goa created a passage through the sea to reclaim land which became Konkan in Goa.
IT is not the BJP or Pramod Sawant who are the first to realize the propaganda value of the image of Parshuram creating Goa. In the 90s it was Captain Krishnan Nair of The Leela brand of hospitality, who decided to open The Leela Resort in Cavellossim, south Goa . The belief is that Benaulim, which literally means the bow, was named after Parshuram’s bow, along with the other beaches in south Goa. Parshuram Jayanti is observed mostly in the Konkan areas. The GSBs of Goa claim descent from Lord Parshuram.
Goa has a very large heart with a history of syncretic fusion. This is dramatized by the tale of the seven sisters and a brother. Epitomised by the ongoing Lairai zatra in Siridao, Bicholim. The story goes that the deity Lairai is one of the seven sisters who descended from the Chorla ghats through various villages of Goa. The “homkund” or firewalking ceremony is a distinctive event of the Siridao jatra — because Lairai representes the spirit of fire. She is considered pure energy, which is why she is bottled up, and her image worshipped is that of a goddess in a bottle. The other sisters are Satteri (earth) Mahamaye (water), Ajadipa (light) and Mirabai who subsequently became our Lady of Milagres in Mapusa.

STORY OF SEVEN SISTERS
COINCIDENTALLY, the feast of Our Lady of Milagres happens simultaneously with that of the Lairai firewalking ritual in a five-day festival. In a departure from Catholic tradition the image of Milagres is anointed with coconut oil by devotees from both Hindu and Catholic devotees. The worship of the seven sisters is part of the older traditional worship of local deities by the Bhandari Samaj as distinct from the glorification of Mangeshi and Shantadurga by the Gaud Saraswat Brahmins.
It is only this year in 2026 that the Goa government has launched large scale celebration of Parshuram Jayanti. Besides the mega event at the Mandovi promenade inaugurated by Chief Minister Pramod Sawant, similar events were organized in Mormugoa and in Pernem. The local MLAs took the lead in offering to build bigger and bigger statues of Parshuram. The Mandrem MLA Jit Arolkar has been claiming that Parshuram came to him in a dream and urged him to build a 20-metre tall statue of Parshuram. The Panjim event reportedly was the mother event lasting for 5 days and inaugurated by the chief minister himself. For the ancient warrior sage there was a very hi fi lazer sound and light show for three nights starting at 8pm.
The reason for the Parshuram fixation is that unlike Lord Ram or even Shivaji Maharaj, the Hindutva brigade can claim that Parshuram is a homegrown hero. That Parshuram is a Goan deity. That after all Goa owes its existence to Parshuram. If Parshuram had not created Goa the Portugese could not possibly have colonized it. Pramod Sawant tried to promote the cult of Lord Rama in Goa but did not find too many takers. The BJP promoted the cult of Shivaji Maharaj but again most Goans were indifferent. The reclaiming of Parshuram is an attempt to polarize the people of Goa along communal lines.

DEMONIZATION OF ST FRANCIS XAVIER
PRAMOD Sawant has quickly realized that the demonization of St Francis Xavier is politically suicidal. The majority of MLAs who are part of the BJP in Goa are Catholics. Interestingly, the former chief minister of Goa Manohar Parrikar, realized that the BJP cannot come to power and retain power without the help of the minority Catholic community. This was again dramatized in the 2024 parliamentary elections, when despite the presence of a high profile candidate like Pallavi Dempo, the BJP lost the seat to Capt Viriato Fernandes.
The loudest and shrillest protests against the labeling of St Francis Xavier as an “atangvadi” (terrorist) has come from Michael Lobo and Babush Mosnerrate who are the pillars of the BJP government in Goa. Never mind that this might lead to Pramod Sawant appointing Delilah Lobo as a minister in place of the late Ravi Naik.
GOA has a very large heart. Both Lord Parshuram and St Francis Xavier can co-exist in the Goan mind space. Just as goddess Lairai and Our Lady of Milegres have coexisted through the ages. Goa is the last secular oasis in a country dominated by the BJP hate-mongers. Goa is the only state which can be characterized as a “mohabat ki dukan.” All of us have to preserve the secular idea of Goa which is more important or as important as our paddy fields, our hills, our lakes and the beaches. Without the idea of Goa as the home of unity, love, compassion and grace there can be no Goa.

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