Goa | A missionary and his maledictor

It’s unclear whether it was strategy or just zeal gone out of hand, but this was a controversy the ruling Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) could have done without in the lead-up to the assembly election in early 2027. Having a self-ordained saffronista YouTuber trash the patron saint of Goa wouldn’t seem the smartest way to make friends with the state’s Catholic community, who make up a bulk of the 25 per cent Christian population here and whose blessings the BJP has carefully solicited over the years.

All that threatened to unravel when Gautam Khattar, who describes himself as a “spiritual beat journalist” and runs an outfit called the Sanatan Mahasangh, made derogatory remarks against Saint Francis Xavier at an event in Vasco earlier this month. In the face of the widespread protests, the BJP’s discomfiture is made more acute by the fact that its transport minister, Mauvin Godinho, and two party MLAs, Sankalp Amonkar and Krishna Salkar, were on the stage when the remarks were made.

REARGUARD ACTION

As the Catholic Church described the remarks as “derogatory and insulting”, the government swung into rearguard action. Police arrested Khattar on April 24 in Kullu, Himachal Pradesh. His brother Madhav Khattar, who liaised for the event and broadcast the speech on social media, was arrested in Uttarakhand and named a co-accused. On April 28, the 26-year-old YouTuber complained of “chest pain” and got himself admitted to a hospital in Mapusa.

Chief minister Pramod Sawant, meanwhile, sought to make elaborate amends. Using the fact that Khattar is a non-native—born in Delhi, raised in Uttarakhand—he said speakers from other states should not disturb Goa’s communal harmony. He even conceded that Godinho could have stopped Khattar but was possibly taken aback by the remark’s suddenness. Godinho, Amonkar and Salkar, too, went on record to condemn Khattar’s remarks.

THE FRIAR’S PATH

The discomfort is understandable. The Spanish-born Xavier, revered here as ‘Goencho Saib’, is no local figure. A canonised saint, he connects Goa to a complex, transcontinental cultural history. He arrived here two years after co-founding the Jesuit order in 1540. After his death in the Far East, parts of his mortal remains were sent to various parts of Christendom; the main body is housed at the Basilica of Bom Jesus in Old Goa. The decadal exposition of the relics draws pilgrims from across the world, including non-Christians.

Moreover, the BJP has cultivated Christian support here. Under Manohar Parrikar in 2012, it won 21 of the state’s 40 seats with strong backing from Christians and the clergy. The party nominated 10 Catholic candidates; six were elected. In the post-Parrikar phase, it has slowly become more of a contested constituency. Catholics form substantial numbers in the ‘Old Conquests’ region of western and central Goa (Tiswadi, Bardez and the politically crucial Salcette). In 2024, the Congress retained the South Goa Lok Sabha seat largely on the back of consolidation among them, as also the Muslims, who are around 10 per cent.

Analyst and editor Raju Nayak notes that the Inquisition, which right-wing leaders cite against Xavier, was in fact directed at Christians and converts who were not following Catholic tenets. BJP leaders privately admit the controversy could damage the party. “The BJP wants to polarise the state’s politics but has been caught on the back foot by the intense backlash. This will estrange the Catholics,” says a Catholic MLA.

Academic Yugank Naik feels the BJP is trying to consolidate migrant communities in the state around Hindutva, pointing out that the occasion on which Khattar spoke, Parashuram Jayanti, had no roots in Goa’s popular culture. Non-Goan trader groups were funding and organising such events, he says. That syncs with the broadside from the Congress, whose Yuri Alemao alleged that “non-state actors” like Khattar were being brought to Goa to divide people along communal lines.