Goa Pradesh Congress Committee vice-president M K Shaikh belongs to an old Muslim Goan family. But moderates like him are becoming increasingly anxious over the recent attempts to introduce a more rigid form of Islamic practice in Goa.
In recent days, serious disagreements between the moderates and the hardliners within the Sunni Muslim sect has threatened to disrupt peace around the mosques in Margao and Vasco.
On Friday, police had to be deployed outside the Madina Masjid in Vasco to ensure peace between two factions. “We have called both groups for talks on Monday to sort out the matter,” Vasco deputy superintendent of police Deu Banaulikar told Deccan Herald.
Over 200 Muslims from Vasco want the present maulana of the mosque to be sacked, and have sent a memorandum to the South Goa Collector alleging that inflammatory remarks were made by Maulana Mujahidul Islam.
In Margao, the increasing tensions between the moderates and the Tabliq sect erupted into clashes between the two groups on April 13 over the burial of a local businessman who had embraced the Tabliq path.
A truce was mediated by South Goa Collector Gokuldas Naik. But a watchful edginess remains over attempts by the Tabliq sect to gain control of the Margao Masjid. The Sunni Jamat controls 17 mosques and the Tabliqs three.
Factionalism
Shaikh explains that the factionalism that has crept into the Sunni sect in Goa is not a conflict between Goans and non-Goans, but differences in the perception of religious practice. The Tabliqs, he says, have a more “rigid” view of the religion. He does concede though that a more austere form of Islam has been introduced into Goa from outside, mainly by Muslims migrating to Goa from Karnataka and North India. The Margao Masjid has been with the Sunnis from way back during Portuguese rule. “There is no way the Tabliq sect can take over,” he said.
According to the 2001 Census, in the last four decades the Hindu population increased from 60 to 66 per cent in Goa, the Christians declined from 38 to 26 per cent and Muslims grew from 2 to 7 per cent.
The visible influx of a large number of Muslims into this state in recent years has added fuel to the armoury of right-wing Hindu groups like the Bajrang Dal which has taken to baiting Muslim settlements in Margao.
