prasad1
Active member
Hindustan times.
On a recent December night, I found myself on a rooftop in Goa, listening to a prominent local citizen railing against a supposed Muslim takeover. “Do you know their population in Goa has gone up from 1.2% at Liberation (from the Portuguese, 1961) to 12% now?” the seemingly mild-mannered, silver-haired gentleman asked, a distinctly harsh, hard edge to his otherwise soft voice.
Since this was a family wedding, and the gentleman was a guest of honour, it wasn’t a good idea to start an argument. But I did say that I recalled a figure of less than 8%. As it emerged, the actual percentage of Muslims is 5.25%, according to the 1991 census (2011 figures are not yet available). As for the Liberation-era figure, Goa was occupied territory and unavailable for the 1961 census. In 1971, Goa's Muslim population was 3.3%.
These seemingly inconsequential data indicate how easily prejudice is buttressed with fake information. The Goan gentleman changed tack whenever the facts became inconvenient, and, as the night wore on, his vehemence grew.
..........
Writer Amish Tripathi (author of The Immortals of Meluha) points out that it always appears that “someone else is evil, we are paragons of virtue”. The good citizen of Goa I spoke about is not an evil man. A major reason why he does not know Goan Muslims is — apart from the fact they are so few — that many are the underclass, living in slums. They will, forever, be strangers to him.
Samar Halarnkar is a Bangalore-based journalist.
On a recent December night, I found myself on a rooftop in Goa, listening to a prominent local citizen railing against a supposed Muslim takeover. “Do you know their population in Goa has gone up from 1.2% at Liberation (from the Portuguese, 1961) to 12% now?” the seemingly mild-mannered, silver-haired gentleman asked, a distinctly harsh, hard edge to his otherwise soft voice.
Since this was a family wedding, and the gentleman was a guest of honour, it wasn’t a good idea to start an argument. But I did say that I recalled a figure of less than 8%. As it emerged, the actual percentage of Muslims is 5.25%, according to the 1991 census (2011 figures are not yet available). As for the Liberation-era figure, Goa was occupied territory and unavailable for the 1961 census. In 1971, Goa's Muslim population was 3.3%.
These seemingly inconsequential data indicate how easily prejudice is buttressed with fake information. The Goan gentleman changed tack whenever the facts became inconvenient, and, as the night wore on, his vehemence grew.
..........
Writer Amish Tripathi (author of The Immortals of Meluha) points out that it always appears that “someone else is evil, we are paragons of virtue”. The good citizen of Goa I spoke about is not an evil man. A major reason why he does not know Goan Muslims is — apart from the fact they are so few — that many are the underclass, living in slums. They will, forever, be strangers to him.
Samar Halarnkar is a Bangalore-based journalist.
