Subhash Velingkar who has triggered widespread protests over his remarks seeking a “DNA test” of the relics of Saint Francis Xavier, the revered patron saint of the state, may now be a persona non grata for his former organisation RSS in the state. But over the years, he has mentored many of the Goa BJP’s seniormost faces.
Velingkar’s remarks regarding St Xavier were a throwback to an old claim, attributed to a Sri Lankan journalist, that the body of St Xavier was lost at sea and that the Portuguese had placed the relics of a 15th-century Buddhist monk, Thhotgamuwe Sri Rahula Thera, in place of Xavier’s in the Basilica of Bom Jesus in Old Goa.
In a speech last week,Velingkar remarked: “I am waiting to gather more evidence and then our demand will be to conduct a DNA test. If it is confirmed that the relics are of Xavier, we will have no problem. Do the DNA test and compare it with that of the people in Navarre, Spain, where he was born.”
This is not Velingkar’s first brush with controversy over statements on St Xavier. In 2022, he said St Xavier was instrumental in the Goa Inquisition during the Portuguese rule in the state, and that the title of “Goencho Saib (Protector of Goa) conferred on the saint should be given to Lord Parshuram instead.
And in a police complaint filed last week over “activist groups” for spreading “false narratives” over his recent statements, Velingkar said the Goa Inquisition was an “unfortunate chapter in history”.
“While history speaks of Saint Francis Xavier’s contribution to Christianity, it is important to understand that the Goa Inquisition created a reign of terror for many non-Christians,” he said in his complaint.
Old RSS family, Parrikar mentor
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Born in Panaji, 76-year-old Velingkar belongs to the Gomantak Maratha Samaj community. Several members of his family were involved in the movement to liberate Goa from Portuguese rule.
Velingkar is believed to have joined the RSS as a young 14-year-old in 1962, and risen through the ranks, with his travels across the state for volunteer work catching the eye of seniors. During the Emergency, he spent 10 months in jail along with fellow RSS functionaries for trying to organise a meeting.
Velingkar worked initially at a Marathi daily but later shifted to teaching, which he did at several high schools for decades, earning him the moniker of Professor.
His role in mentoring many BJP politicians in the state including late Goa chief minister Manohar Parrikar and Union minister Shripad Naik, when the party first made inroads in Goa in the 1980s, further cemented that reputation.
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Velingkar also spearheaded the cause for regional languages in Goa, with an organisation called the Bharatiya Bhasha Suraksha Manch launched by him at the forefront of an agitation to promote Konkani and Marathi in schools. The organisation also sought withdrawal of grants to Church-run English-medium primary schools.
Velingkar’s differences with the BJP erupted when his relationship with Parrikar soured over the same issue. Velingkar openly attacked Parrikar for the BJP government continuing grants to English-medium schools, not insisting on Marathi and Konkani as the medium of instruction for elementary education.
Ahead of the 2017 Assembly elections, Velingkar took this one step further and floated a separate political outfit called the Goa Suraksha Manch. He was subsequently sacked as Goa RSS chief.
After his ouster, around 400 RSS volunteers resigned from the Sangh’s Konkan prant and joined Velingkar’s breakaway Goa prant.
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While the Goa Suraksha Manch and its ally Shiv Sena made barely a dent in the 2017 polls, losing the five seats they contested, the Manch is believed to have split the BJP votes in some of the seats, helping other parties win.
After the Assembly polls, Velingkar dissolved his rebel unit.
In 2019, he was back in the news when he announced that he would contest the bypoll for the Panaji Assembly seat – left vacant after Parrikar’s demise – and also resolved to “finish the BJP in Goa”.
But that electoral foray also had a dismal end, with Velingkar getting only 560 votes.
The decennial exposition of the sacred relics of St Francis Xavier is scheduled to be held in Goa between November 21, 2024 and January 5, 2025.
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Ahead of this event and with the state headed to polls in 2027, the BJP cannot afford to antagonise the Christian community, especially the Catholic-dominated belt of Salcete in South Goa that has traditionally been a Congress stronghold.
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