In Goa, BJP embarks on an old agenda: rebuilding history, one temple at a time

The government’s statement in the Assembly had come in the form of an answer to Goa Forward Party (GFP) MLA Vijai Sardesai and Congress MLA Altone D’Costa who asked for a “list of all religious and heritage sites destroyed by the Portuguese and whether these religious sites or deities were relocated and/or rebuilt; if not, the total budgetary provision made to rebuild temples”.

In his written reply, Archives and Archeology Minister Subhash Phal Dessai stated, “List of religious/Heritage sites destroyed by the Portuguese is not available with the Archeology Department. However, several historians have published relevant research on this topic which is available in public domain. Budgetary allocation for Restoration of temple is 20 Cr for financial year 2022-23.”

On Wednesday, Sardesai shot back, saying it was “ridiculous” for the government to make a budgetary allocation without having an idea of the scale of the project. “Are they going to do it based on books in the public domain? Does any government function like this? There has to be research first,” he said, adding that the temple issue should not be used to “stoke communal passions”.

The promise to rebuild temples destroyed by Goa’s erstwhile Portuguese rulers was made by Sawant ahead of the February Assembly election, in which the BJP won 20 of 40 seats and formed the government with help from the Maharashtrawadi Gomantak Party (MGP) and three Independents.

“They raised this issue before the election – remember 67 per cent people in Goa voted against the BJP. This issue did not get the kind of traction it would have perhaps got in some other states which are perhaps not as educated or cosmopolitan (as Goa),” said Sardesai, who was a minister from 2017 to 2019 in the former BJP government led by then CM Manohar Parrikar, and whose GFP aligned with the Congress ahead of the Assembly polls this year.

“They have not even completed the restoration of the 500-year-old Saptakoteshwar temple in Narwe that was started in 2017 when I was the minister. They are not focusing where they need to focus. They are just causing communal disharmony and hatred that they feel is the calling card of the ruling party,” added Sardesai.

Sawant, in many of his speeches, has repeatedly brought up the issue of the temples being destroyed and declared his government’s intention to undo the “atrocities” of the Portuguese. “So many Hindu temples were destroyed by the Portuguese. Our faith and culture was preserved because people ran with their deities and hid them,” Sawant has said more than once.

Standing by the government’s decision to rebuild the temples, Chief Minister Sawant responded to Sardesai on the floor of the House, saying, “No one can erase or forget the history of Goa. There is no list (of destroyed temples) that is notified. Practically everyone knows history. When you look at history, there may have been a temple at a certain location in the past. The Archeology and Archives department has undertaken a survey… They will decide which temples need to be rebuilt. Even if we don’t have a notified list, what is there in history is known to all. We will notify it.”

Independent writer, researcher and Vice-Chairperson of the Goa Heritage Action Group, Heta Pandit, told The Indian Express that nobody has maintained a record of the number of temples destroyed by the Portuguese and that the government has embarked on an impractical exercise. “Nobody has a record. It is true that some temples were razed to the ground and churches were built. It is also true that some temples were broken down and other temples were built in their place. It is a populist announcement to please a certain segment of Goan society who are, quite frankly, not even bothered about such things. Goans have always lived in complete harmony.”

She added that the Rs 20 crore set aside by the government for the purpose was, in any case, “a very small budget to do any reasonable project like the restoration of a temple or a fort”.

“Since 1961, when Goa was liberated from Portuguese rule, you (Goa government) have not done anything to preserve the archeological, architectural or even archival material that the government has in its trust. For example, the air-conditioning in the central library, which has some very precious archives, has not been repaired for 15 years. We have so many archeological monuments. Why aren’t we repairing and restoring what we have?” said Pandit.

Author, researcher and architectural historian Amita Kanekar said Hindu temples were not the only monuments that were destroyed during Portuguese rule. She pointed out that, like in many parts of the world, if a shrine was destroyed, another was built in its place because the site was considered sacred.

“Goa has lost shrines of several faiths. There were Buddhist and Jain shrines here which have disappeared. We know for a fact that when the Portuguese came, they obliterated whatever Muslim shrines were there. The destruction of Hindu shrines came later. The Chief Minister is not talking about the shrines of all these faiths. There were shrines of indigenous communities that were destroyed and are being destroyed even today… This is a political strategy to spread a communal divide.”