When Gayatri Mantra rang through the Goa Assembly

PANAJI

The congratulatory motion moved by MLA Rajesh Patnekar at the conclusion of question hour took an extremely peculiar turn. The morning session of the Assembly concluded with PWD Minister Ramakrishna "Sudin" Dhavalikar chanting the ‘gayatri mantra' and two other mantras on the floor of the House and WRD Minister Vinoda Palyenkar crediting Swami Brahmeshanand with securing the victory of Goa Forward in three constituencies.
Patnekar moved a motion to congratulate the Swami's institution, Brahmanand Vidhya Prabhodhini, for starting first Bachelor's degree in Sanskrit Mahavidhyalaya in Goa and for also running 40 Sanskrit pathshalas across Goa, thus promoting the treasure of knowledge in Sanskrit language.
Five Catholic MLAs were among the first to stand up and second the motion with words of praise for the Swami. These included Michael Lobo, Glenn Ticlo, Francisco Silveira, Nilesh Cabral and Mauvin Godinho.
Panchayat Minister Godinho went to the extent of stating that Sanskrit, the mother of all tongues, should be encouraged. He also stated that although people are fighting for English as the Medium of Instruction, they still have love towards Konkani and Marathi.
The most interesting comments, however, came from Tourism Minister Manohar "Babu" Azgaonkar and WRD Minister Vinoda Palyenkar.
"It is only because of the blessings of Swami Brahmeshanand that our party won three seats," the Goa Forward MLA claimed as his party colleagues Housing Minister Jayesh Salgaonkar and TCP Minister Vijai Sardessai sunk lower into their seats and turned red with laughter.
The Tourism Minister, who is a prominent leader of the Bahujan Samaj, declared that Swami Brahmeshanand has opened the doors for dalits to learn Sanskrit.
"We now have many dalit bhats (priests), a profession which was previously the monopoly of brahmins and bhats. We don't have to beg brahmins to grace our houses because our bhats now understand Sanskrit and can perform rituals," Azgaonkar thundered.
PWD Minister Dhavalikar was next in line and after stressing on the benefits of learning Sanskrit such as improvement of pronunciation, he decided to chant a few mantras. The silence was broken only by occasional bouts of laughter and giggle, which range from both the Opposition as well as the treasury benches.
All applauded after Dhavalikar concluded and Chief Minister Manohar Parrikar quipped that the peace evoked by the mantras needs to last till the end of the monsoon session.
Then stood the TCP Minister, who attempted to offer an academician's view on the matter.
"Swami Brahmeshanand has embarked upon democratisation of Sanskrit, the lingua Franca of upper castes. Religion isn't an end unto itself and it needs to be connected with knowledge. Knowledge is power. TCP department will give special concession to the institution. We will consider changing the zone," the TCP Minister offered.
The 20-minute long discussion on the congratulatory motion ended with CM Parrikar's announcement of Rs 2.5 crores sanction for development of the institution based in Ponda.