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Journalism of Courage
On April 16, Felipe Neri Cardinal Ferrao, the Archbishop of Goa and Daman, issued a circular urging Catholics to vote for candidates with secular credentials “committed to upholding the values enshrined in the Constitution”.
The archbishop also appealed to Catholics to exercise their vote and refrain from going to Velankanni, a prominent pilgrimage site in Tamil Nadu, on the eve of the Lok Sabha polls in Goa on May 7. The circular was issued after rumours surfaced on social media about a “conspiracy” by the BJP to ensure Catholics miss voting on the pretext of the pilgrimage.
The following day, Goa Chief Minister Pramod Sawant was quick to underline that his party was “secular”, saying he welcomed the Archbishop’s call. “The BJP government has spent money for the upkeep of Churches of Old Goa and the exposition of the relics of St Francis Xavier. The BJP government revived the minority commissions in Goa and nationally. If any party is secular, it is the BJP,” Sawant told reporters.
The CM’s statement reflects the BJP’s outreach efforts as it attempts to make inroads into the Catholic-dominated belt in the South Goa seat, which has traditionally been a Congress stronghold. Since Goa’s liberation from Portuguese rule in 1961, the Congress has won South Goa 10 times, while the BJP has won it only twice (in 1999 and 2014).
In the 2019 Lok Sabha polls, the Congress’s Francisco Sardinha defeated the BJP’s Narendra Sawaikar by a narrow margin of 9,755 votes. This time, the Congress has picked retired Naval officer and Kargil war veteran Captain Viriato Fernandes over Sardinha. Fernandes is pitted against industrialist Pallavi Dempo, the first woman candidate fielded by the BJP in Goa in a parliamentary election and one of the richest candidates in the third phase of elections.
The South Goa fight essentially always narrowed down to Salcete, the most populous taluka in the region with a majority Christian population. However, changing demographics in the area, migration patterns and a recent churn in Goa’s politics suggest that South Goa is poised for a close fight.
Salcete has eight of South Goa’s 20 Assembly segments: Margao, Fatorda, Navelim, Curtorim, Benaulim, Velim, Nuvem, and Cuncolim. Out of the more than 5.9 lakh voters in the constituency, Salcete accounts for 40% of the voters.
As per the 2011 Census, which are the latest available numbers, Hindus constitute over 53% of the population in South Goa, while Christians are 36%. The Muslim population is close to 10%. In Salcete, there has been a drop in the number of Christians, with the numbers now down to 54%. The share of Hindus in the population, meanwhile, is 35%.
Prabhudesai argues in his book that “it is a myth” that South Goa is Christian-dominated.
He lists three factors for the changing demographics: urbanisation of Hindus; migration of labour and trading class largely from the Hindu and Muslim communities to Goa; and a continued exodus of Goans, especially Christians, who are choosing Portuguese passports for employment opportunities abroad.
In response to a question by AAP MLA Venzy Viegas in the most recent Assembly session, Sawant said around 10,129 Indian passports had been surrendered in the past five years by people who obtained Portuguese citizenship.
“Salcete is slowly losing its identity as a Christian bastion of Goa. Till yesterday, it was a balancing factor for Hindu-Christian unity in Goa’s political arena … To date, the Hindu community of Goa has not fully surrendered to the Hindutva politics of the BJP, due to which the BJP has to form the government by borrowing Congress legislators,” Prabhudesai writes.
But despite the demographic changes, Salcete continues to be a citadel of the Christian community. Of the 2.32 lakh Christians in South Goa, more than 1.58 lakh are in the taluka. The Congress has the support from its INDIA alliance partners — the Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) and Goa Forward Party (GFP) who also have a base in Salcete. In the 2022 Assembly polls, the AAP won Benaulim and Velim and the GFP won Fatorda.
In September 2022, eight MLAs switched over to the ruling BJP from the Congress, including former Chief Minister and Margao MLA Digambar Kamat, Nuvem MLA Aleixo Sequeira, and Mormugao legislator Sankalp Amonkar.
In Salcete, there is palpable anger about legislators who “defected” and the issue has been a central campaign issue. Congress leaders have said they will make the Tenth Schedule stronger to strengthen the anti-defection law.
The BJP, meanwhile, is banking on relying on its strongholds of Ponda, Sanguem, Quepem, Canacona, and Dharbandora while hoping to expand in Salcete with the help of “defectors”. In Verna, Remy Dias said that a “bad precedent” has been set by the defectors and that there is a sentiment among the Christian community that if the BJP comes to power, the party could “amend the Constitution”. The BJP is also reaching out to Muslims, mostly traders and migrants.
At a public meeting on Wednesday in Baina near a mosque in the port city of Vasco, BJP MLA from Mormugao Sankalp Amonkar addressed a crowd of migrants and Muslims in Hindi, a rarity in Goa, appealing to them to “not believe in rumours” of the BJP altering the Constitution.
Ramesh Naik, a shopkeeper from Vasco, said, “Polarisation does not help garner votes in a state like Goa. People here have always voted for harmony. I will vote for the BJP candidate because of Prime Minister Modi and his vision. The candidate does not matter.”
Asif Hussain, 28, whose family migrated from Karwar in Karnataka to Vasco in the 1970s said he would vote for the Congress. “Last year, on Ram Navami, there was stone pelting near a mosque, which created tensions between communities here. Such an incident has never occurred before,” he said.
