Goa Patron Saint row: Alemao files complaint against former RSS leader Velingkar

Trinamool Congress leader Churchill Alemao on Saturday lodged a complaint against former Goa RSS chief Subhash Velingkar over his controversial remarks against the 16th century Catholic saint St Francis Xavier.

Earlier, former Goa minister Francisco Mickky Pacheco had filed a complaint against Velingkar with Colva police over the latter's statement that St Francis Xavier (1506-1552) should not be revered as ''Goencho Saib'' (patron saint of Goa) as he was involved in atrocities during the Goa inquisition, and Lord Parshuram was the real patron saint of the state.

In his complaint filed at the same police station in South Goa district on Saturday, Alemao, a former chief minister, alleged that Velingkar tried to create communal disharmony with his statements and should be arrested.

The former RSS leader should be banned from entering Old Goa village where the relics of St Francis Xavier are preserved in a basilica, he told reporters.

“The way the Goa government had imposed a ban on Sri Ram Sene chief Pramod Muthalik from entering the state, Velingkar should be banned from going to Old Goa,” he said.

Velingkar said such complaints were expected.

“We were expecting such developments. We won't be cowed down by them,” he told reporters.

The Hindu Raksha Aghadi, his organization, plans to conduct an awareness campaign to inform people that St Francis Xavier was not 'Goencho Saib', he said. He also claimed that his statements were not against any particular community, but he wanted to present historical facts. On the lines of the film ''The Kashmir Files,'' the HRA would be releasing ''Goa Files' on May 3, and it will be about atrocities committed on neo-Christians during the infamous inquisition during the Portuguese rule, Velingkar said.

“Whatever I am saying is documented in books and other scriptures. I am not saying anything new,'' he added.

Meanwhile, a senior police official said the complaints against Velingkar have been transferred to the Panaji police station as he had made the controversial statements in a press conference in the state capital.