The temple belt of the Ponda taluka is brimming with discontent over a divide which has erupted between common villagers and the mahajans of temples. Somewhere in a web of complex issues is the feeling of discrimination and alienation by locals who feel that their access to equal rights to worship has been denied. On the other hand the mahajans, who are custodians of the temples, by law, convention and lineage state that they are governed by the Mazania Act and that they do not discriminate or prevent anyone from coming to the temple or worshipping. Where they draw the line is when it comes to managing the temple affairs which remains with the same set of families who pass down the title of Mahajan and the membership of the organising committees of the devasthan, to their successor.
The issue has reached a flashpoint because this is 2016 and the world has changed. The Mazania Act, confers life-long powers to the families of Mahajans, to run the affairs, and more importantly, the coffers, of the devasthans. Locals, many of them Bahujans, especially in Madcaim are demanding empowerment in an era where rules and conventions are being calibrated to suit the greater common good and in the interests of a level playing field for all. This has clearly come in conflict with the devasthan controllers who believe that the public “cannot interfere” or partake in their divine right of temple control.
While the issue has taken a Mahajan versus Bahujan colour, it will be too simplistic to brand this as just this.This isn’t quite a fight between the weaker sections and the Saraswats who literally define the Mahajans but as a fight for equality and access in the fullest sense, to places of worship which also includes the right to be selected to be a part of the managing committee of the devasthans. But many of the mahajans, including those who believe that the misuse of the power and the wealth of the devasthans need serious introspection, offer a solution which doesn’t quite signal equality but hopes for peaceful co-existence. They say that if locals, who are not in the managing committee of the devasthans, want to be mahajans, they should construct their own temples. In any case they say that goldsmiths, dhangars, scheduled castes and tribes have their own temples.
However the narrative on the ground is changing. It is not about having more temples as power and wealth centers. It’s about making the existing temples not about Majahan control but people control. The Navdurga Pratishthan has emerged as the immediate face of this narrative.
But the core of the issue is beyond equal rights. The sheer quantum of funds at the disposal of the managing committee of the devasthans and their spending capacity is emerging as the main bone of contention. The local worshipers rightly ask why donations to the temple by the community and other devotees should not be done in a manner decided by the community. The extreme counter view is that even if a course correction and introspection has to be done, the Mahajans will do it without brooking any interference from others.
What has added to the mix as the Navdurga Pratishthan heads to a hunger strike in Panjim for repealing the Mazania Act, are the forthcoming elections. This is when common sense, logic and the need to step back to deliberate solutions takes a back seat and political decisions go in favour of forces which control more votes.
What should be of concern to the BJP- MGP combine is that the conflict is in their backyard and a political divide will harm the ruling alliance. Which is why Chief Minister Parsekar has played this safe and chosen not to interfere while the PWD minister Sudin Dhavlikar and his brother Deepak, MLA’s of Madcaim and belonging to a family of bhats are giving tacit support to the locals in their battle against their mahajans, because the numbers add up there.
It will be an error to see this as a religious or a caste fight. It’s a fight for equality against age old traditions governed by a law put in place during the Portuguese era. But beneath it all it’s a battle for retaining power versus those wanting an equal share of it.
