Chief Minister Pramod Sawant plays up Goa as the Kashi of the south to re-brand Goa from a beach side tourist destination to a pilgrimage destination of old where prayers are heard and blessed by the Hindu deities.

By Rajan Narayan

AND a few stray thoughts for yet another Saturday. For a Saturday following the week when an allegation that the president of the Aam Aadmi party tried to destroy evidence in the Banastari case. For a Saturday following the week when there was an uproar over the statement of Tamil Nadu Minister of Sports Udhayanidhi Stalin that sanathan dharma should be abolished. For a Saturday following the week when dentists in the beach belt are taking foreign tourists for a ride. For a Saturday following the week when the Manipur government targeted the Manipur branch of the Editors Guild of India. For a Saturday following the week when Pramod Sawant wants to promote Goa as the Kashi (Banaras) of the South.
AND a few stray thoughts on allegations that the president of the Aam Aadmi Party tried to destroy evidence in the Banastari case. The AAP chief Amit Palekar is reported to have gone to the Mardol Police station to try to save his friend, Paresh Sarwardekar.
Paresh claims that he was driving the Mercedes Benz SUV which killed three people and injured many others on August 6, 2023. Palekar took with him a migrant driver, Ganesh Lamani, to claim that it was the driver who was at the wheel. In effect, Palekar tried to plant a dummy driver.
Unfortunately for him, while being interrogated by the cops he revealed the whole story. Amit Palekar, who conspired to protect the Banastari drunk driver, was arrested. The extent of the influence of Paresh Sarwardekar is dramatized by the fact that the Mardol police accepted his story of the dummy driver Ganesh Lamani. Considering that Sarwardekar has offered Rs2 crore as compensation to the aggrieved parties in this case, his money power may well be imagined.
AAP president Amit Palekar is a lawyer himself. Incidentally, the children of the killer driver admitted that Meghna, the wife and their mother, was at the wheel. Apparently, she was equally intoxicated while driving. The Mercedes is registered in her name and the couple are known to be speed freaks with many traffic challan pending against them.
Amit Palekar himself is close to the BJP government. It is not known if the government will pursue the case against him or the real driver. AAP leaders of the state have asked party president Arvind Kejriwal to sack Amit Palekar. The police have started issuing notices to those who have been issuing challans. The challans themselves are a mockery as no follow-up action has been taken.
Moreover, fines for driving under the influence of liquor are nominal and no deterrent for the bold and beautiful, rich and powerful. Several prominent citizens have been victims of driving in a drunken condition. This was also the case when the father-in-law of Dr Oscar Rebello was hit while taking a walk down the Campal promenade near Miramar beach. In most cases, the killers get away scot-free. Most of these accidents occur in the early hours of the morning when people are either going or returning from nightclubs.

SANATAN DHARMA UPROAR!
AND a few stray thoughts on when there was an uproar over the statement of the Tamil Nadu Minister of Sports Udhayanidhi Stalin that sanatan dharma should be abolished. In fact, the Tamil politician called for a total ban on sanatan dharma (presumably an extremist from of Hinduism which believes in the caste system). The young DMK leader allegedly compared sanatam dharma to a disease like malaria, dengue fever, leprosy and such diseases which should be cured and abolished or destroyed. However, the BJP version apparently has it that the sanatan dharma promotes Hinduism in its purest form. The sanatan dharma is primarily seen as practiced by the upper caste of Hindus and it discriminates against lower castes like the Dalits or Harijans. Sanatan dharma moreover believes that India should be a Hindu nation like Nepal.
There is nothing wrong with sanatan dharma as along as its followers do not impose their beliefs on others. The organization in Goa that claims to represent the sanatan dharma is the Ponda-based Sanatan Sanstha. The Sanatan Sanstha objects to the effigies of demon Narkasur being celebrated during Naraka Chaturdashi of the Deepavali celebration. The logic being that while Lord Ram and Lord Krishna are forgotten the demon kings or not hog all the attention in the imagination of the general lay public.
We remember way back in 2006 the Sanatan Sanstha allegedly exploded a bomb close to a Narkasur Effigy competition venue. The then chief minister, Digambar Kamat, who was chief guest had a narrow escape. All religious groups should be free to function provided they respect the rights of other religions. The problem with concepts like sanatan dharma is that some fanatical followers use Taliban-styled methods or modus operandi.
This is not to say that other religions do not have their fanatical factions. In the northeastern states, including Manipur, various Baptist groups have been instigating the tribals against each other. The BJP is only following the examples set by the Baptist priests. In the light of all this the statement of the Tamil Nadu minister, Stalin, is not at all surprising. Tamil Nadu is the only state in the country which is opposed to all religions.
In Tamil Nadu unlike in other states, the Brahmins are in fact the lowest caste. Over 90% of the reservations for jobs and admissions to school are for the backward classes and scheduled tribes and castes. Ironically, the former chief ministers of Tamil Nadu, MG Ramachandra and Jayalalitha were from outside Tamil Nadu. Chief Minister MK Stalin is part of the I.N.D.I.A. Alliance which is opposed to Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s style of governance.

GOA DENTISTS WEALTHY!
AND a few stray thoughts on dentists in the beach belt of Goa who are reportedly taking foreign tourists for a ride. Dentists are among the wealthiest doctors in Goa. Their favorite customers are Goan tourists, particularly those coming from the United Kingdom. Though dentistry is accessible to British citizens as part of the National Health Services in the UK, appointment time stretches into years months and years. Dental treatment is 25% of the cost in the UK in Goa and India. It is cheaper to get your teeth or dentures fixed in Goa.
This business has attracted not only Goan doctors but dentists all over the country. The most fashionable and most expensive dental interventions are to do with implants. In this procedure steel rods or even gold is used to install new tooth or teeth. There is more or less zero risk replacing dentures with implants which are seen as safer and more attractive…only the rich and the famous can afford implants as a single implant may cost Rs1 lakh.
Some dentists have tied up with travel agencies to offer dental treatments along with 3-star hotel holidays. Since the stay of the chartered tourists is a minimum of 15 days, it gives them enough time to carry out their dental work. Incidentally, ophthalmology is also much cheaper to do in Goa than the UK. We recall paying 50 pounds while in England where I had broken my spectacles. A new pair would have cost me less than Rs5,000 in Goa.

TARGETING JOURNALISTS IN MANIPUR
AND a few stray thoughts on the Manipur government targeting the Editors Guild of India journalists. The Manipur Editors Guild had come down heavily on so called “Modi media” in Manipur. It was discovered that some publications were taking money from the government to distort news. These publications were also inciting violence. The Editors Guild in Manipur lodged a complaint against these publications for spreading fake news. Instead of acting against the media spreading fake news, the state government has targeted the Editors Guild member media people.
As many as four members of the Editors Guild have been arrested by Manipur police. Prime Minister Narendra Modi has yet to visit Manipur himself and violence continues to break out in this north-eastern state which has already seen mindboggling violence, lynching and killings.

GOA IS NOW KASHI!
AND a few stray thoughts on Chief Minister Pramod Sawant wanting to promote Goa as the Kashi (Benaras) of the Konkan coast or south India. Historically, Goa has always been considered the home of the East and Kashi of the south. Kashi is the popular old name for Banaras, reputed to be the holiest and oldest city n the country and world.
Most Hindus grow up in the belief that they should retire to Kashi in the latter days of their life. To die in Banaras is supposed to be a one-way ticket to moksha. So not surprisingly the Manikarnika ghat of Banaras is very famous for loitering around at life’s end years. Banaras is also the constituency of Prime Minister Narendra Modi.
Goa has been referred to as the Kashi of the south for ages because of its many famous temples. When the Gaud Saraswat Brahmins migrated to Goa from Bengal they brought the Goddess Durga with them. The original Durga of Calcutta is a bloodthirsty ferocious goddess. In order to reassure locals in Goa, Durga became Shanta Durga. The two main Shanta Durga temples are at Ponda and at Fatorda. The Ponda temple is reserved for the GSB community.
In contrast, the Shanta Durga temple in Fatorda is managed by the Chardo Kshatriyas. The Fatorda temple was originally in Cuncolim, but was shifted when the Portuguese threatened to destroy the temple. Perhaps the most famous temple in Goa is the Mangeshi temple, again in Ponda taluka where many temples moved during Portuguese era. India’s famous songstress Lata Mangeshkar’s family hails from here as devotees of the Mangeshkar temple.
In Goan Hindu community there is a tradition to consult the goddess before finalizing a marriage. A flower is mounted on the idol and only if it falls to the right can the marriage take place. The notorious devadasi system of dancing girls in temples, in which young women were dedicated to the temple, was abolished by Goa’s first chief minister, Dayanand Bandodkar.
There are many other famous temples in Goa including the Mahalaxmi temple in Panjim and the Hanuman temple in Mala. Goa also has the distinction of having a temple devoted to Lord Parshuram. Legend goes that Lord Parshuram, during his exile, was looking for land for his followers to settle down. He is reported to have shot an arrow from Chiplun in Maharashtra which landed in Benaulim and thus was created the golden green paradise of Goa. Through the ages tourists have been lured to Goa because of its Portuguese, Mediterranean, Iberian or cosmopolitan charms. We do not know how successful the government of Goa will be in proving anew that Goa is a Hindu paradise.