Marcaim villagers took an oath to fight against the Portuguese Act which the Mahajans are following to deprive the people of their rights in celebrating festivals and worshipping the deities. The meeting held on Sunday, November 6, was led by Shailendra Panjikar, president of Navdurga Prathishtan, an association of the villagers.
Meanwhile the Mahajans of the temple have announced on Friday, that they will not hold any festivals in the temple. This announcement comes in the wake of the forthcoming zatras. But the villagers have objected to this move and decided to hold another meeting to sort out the issue.
Navdurga Prathishtan president Shailendra, whilst addressing the General Body meeting, on Sunday, said that ‘Goa is liberated from the Portuguese rules but the Bahujans are still slaves of the Portuguese, as they are still ruled by the Portuguese laws.”
He said that Portuguese never believed in idol worship but religious laws made by them favour certain Mahajans are still ruling and depriving Bahujans of their rightful religious rights for idol worship as well as to celebrate festivals for the deities.
“Our ancestors were worshipping in the temple more than 800 years ago at Marcaim. This is much before the arrival Portuguese in Goa. We have made representations to the government but it has not taken any cognizance of our demands.”
Around 300 villagers present for the General Body Meeting took an oath to fight for justice till their last breath. They also decided never to stop their religious service in worshipping the deity.
Shailendra hoped that they will get justice in the Court as the matter has now reached the Court. He said the Government should scrap the old act which is denying due rights to villagers.
It was discussed in the meeting to establish various committees of villagers to collect funds for Zatra Festival which will be held on November 22 and 23.
He said Temple Committee has stopped religious rituals for the past eight months now. The villagers, however, continue to contribute and celebrate the festival from their own funds.
He appealed to all the villagers residing in the seven wards of village to collectively and unitedly celebrate the Zatra Festival with proper arrangement for devotees as he expected large number of devotees to arrive in Marcaim during forthcoming festival. The meeting was held in premises of Navdurga Temple.
