Goanet Digest, Vol 21, Issue 304

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Today's Topics:

   1. Read: " In Focus-weekend - In Conversation with Romila
      Thapar: Is Hindutva compatible with democracy?" (Vivek Pinto)
   2. Read: "Unveiling the RSS" (Vivek Pinto)
   3. The Max who wasn?t (GERARD DESOUZA)


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Message: 1
Date: Sun, 21 Jun 2026 08:56:55 +0900
From: Vivek Pinto <[email protected]>
To: Goanet <[email protected]>
Subject: [Goanet] Read: " In Focus-weekend - In Conversation with
	Romila Thapar: Is Hindutva compatible with democracy?"
Message-ID:
	<CAH3OY9wHjOiEaSYUfW2shz2qb0vQ4t8cXL2_VUMeZnHQ8itgeQ-JsoAwUIsXosN+BqQ9rBEUg@public.gmane.org>
Content-Type: text/plain; charset="UTF-8"

By:  G Sampath, Social Affairs Editor, *The Hindu*
Published in: *The Hindu Originals and The Hindu*
Date: June 20, 2026
Source: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Rc6TSBmWP2E
*Note:* Please access the source to read the transcript.

"Romila Thapar, an extraordinary scholar known for shaping our
understanding of ancient Indian history, and for instituting critical
inquiry at the heart of Indian historiography, has come out with an
expansive memoir, titled ?*Just Being*?.

In this special edition of InFocus-Weekend, she speaks about her new book,
the past, the present, and traces the role and impact of Hindutva in
India?s present back to its roots in discredited colonial theories.

Host: G Sampath, Social Affairs Editor, *The Hindu.*"


------------------------------

Message: 2
Date: Sun, 21 Jun 2026 17:26:52 +0900
From: Vivek Pinto <[email protected]>
To: Goanet <[email protected]>
Subject: [Goanet] Read: "Unveiling the RSS"
Message-ID:
	<CAH3OY9wP+x4_Xken0-sUfVhQD5MDGZBP5E=xPnKb5N9+Bp23CA-JsoAwUIsXosN+BqQ9rBEUg@public.gmane.org>
Content-Type: text/plain; charset="UTF-8"

By: Felix Padel [Felix Padel is a lecturer in political science and
international relations at the University of Western Australia.]
Published in: *The Caravan*
Date: December 11, 2025
Source: https://caravanmagazine.in/politics/unveiling-the-rss#
*Note:* This article is a LONG READ and is perhaps best archived.  Read it
when convenient.
Exposing the largest far-right network in history

?'THE SANGH DOES NOT CONTROL, neither directly nor remotely,' Mohan
Bhagwat, the chief of the Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh, insisted during a
conclave in August. The organisational fountainhead of the Hindu Right is
celebrating its centenary this year. In a series of public events to mark
the milestone, Bhagwat took on the air of an aloof parent, as if eager to
distance himself from his children. The RSS is at the centre of a sprawling
network of organisations, but Bhagwat claimed that Sangh affiliates 'are
independent, autonomous and they gradually become self-dependent.' In
several of its public materials, too, the RSS repeatedly disavows a
relationship with organisational progenies that fall outside the
approximately three dozen affiliates it officially acknowledges.

Why has the size, shape and nature of this network never been empirically
investigated till date? Well, because the Sangh is invested in keeping it
that way. The RSS, as has been repeatedly noted, is not registered?not as
an NGO, not as a religious trust, nor as any other legal entity. *The
Caravan*?s July cover story, titled 'The RSS does not exist,' demonstrated
how this lack of traceability on paper allowed it to set up a headquarters
in the heart of the national capital without having to disclose its sources
of funding, or even who its members are. Most crucially, although the RSS
openly works through proxies, it has constantly dodged demands to outline
what those proxies are and how it is connected to them."


------------------------------

Message: 3
Date: Sun, 21 Jun 2026 02:30:54 +0000
From: GERARD DESOUZA <gerardsgazette-0C6mNlnCMQpWk0Htik3J/[email protected]>
To: [email protected]
Subject: [Goanet] The Max who wasn?t
Message-ID: <20260621023054.3.823f11b63e041d07-tmoPwdM+tZgM1iHqa8znS9BPR1lH4CV8@public.gmane.org>
Content-Type: text/plain; charset="utf-8"

View this post on the web at https://gerardsgazette.substack.com/p/the-max-who-wasnt

The rains aren?t here yet, despite my attempts at reverse psychology last week, but the prayers surely are in full flow [ https://substack.com/redirect/e48525cd-13d3-46d8-9a84-f87933807917?j=eyJ1IjoiMTdkMzMzIn0.fgOj6myyAgvFoWmj-LgXwMrpDLUf7f7HnFNWVfgXm9c ]. The forecast is that in the week to come, the monsoon is set to resume, but how long (and how heavy that lasts) remains to be seen. 
But even if the rains aren?t that regular at least my newsletter is! Ha! There?s a few odd bits of events to cover this week including the headline piece which I never thought I?d be writing!
Welcome to yet another edition of Gerard?s Gazette, a weekly newsletter in which I attempt to break down the events of the week gone by and offer a bit of context, as well as a dose of news you may have missed and news behind the news. 
Thanks for reading GERARD?s Gazette! Subscribe for free to receive new posts and support my work.
If this is your first time here, thank you for signing up, and I hope you stick around! And, as always, if you like what you are reading, make sure you pass it around.
The Max who wasn?t
Over the week gone by, certain sections of the media were awash with news  [ https://substack.com/redirect/e1212047-0ac5-4565-ad07-ea90a6b283e2?j=eyJ1IjoiMTdkMzMzIn0.fgOj6myyAgvFoWmj-LgXwMrpDLUf7f7HnFNWVfgXm9c ]that a footballer of Indian origin, of Goan origin in fact had brought laurels to the state and country [ https://substack.com/redirect/4abd5b63-ac9f-4165-9782-169aab1d4a51?j=eyJ1IjoiMTdkMzMzIn0.fgOj6myyAgvFoWmj-LgXwMrpDLUf7f7HnFNWVfgXm9c ] by becoming the first person of Indian origin to score a goal at the FIFA World Cup.
There were stories written about how his grandfather (or was it his great grandfather?) who hailed from Goa?s Loutolim village, first migrated to Angola and from there to Uruguay where the young Maximiliano grew up, became a footballer good enough to represent his national team alongside other stars such as Darwin Nunez, etc.
There were others who
Well as it turns out, none of this is true [ https://substack.com/redirect/63063e54-8878-4275-b0ec-61188bb6e9f6?j=eyJ1IjoiMTdkMzMzIn0.fgOj6myyAgvFoWmj-LgXwMrpDLUf7f7HnFNWVfgXm9c ]. The origin of this story is believed to be a Facebook post by one Sandeep Araujo [ https://substack.com/redirect/0962bd7b-831c-4b23-a648-219b99fcd936?j=eyJ1IjoiMTdkMzMzIn0.fgOj6myyAgvFoWmj-LgXwMrpDLUf7f7HnFNWVfgXm9c ], (I?m not his friend and so have no access to the original post), which was meant only as a prank, in which he claimed that Maximiliano Araujo?s grandfather originally hailed from Loutolim. Since then, in another post (which I also don?t have access to), he has ?come clean? saying that his previous post, which he circulated via WhatsApp was entirely made up as a prank, not knowing that it would be 
 taken up first by the local media and later the national media and will probably make its way to his Wikipedia page as well citing these same reports as ?sources?.
I don?t know about you guys, but when I first got to know about this the only thing my mind went back to was ?Nazi-gate? [ https://substack.com/redirect/71f78e34-b96c-42a2-98f1-da416cace86c?j=eyJ1IjoiMTdkMzMzIn0.fgOj6myyAgvFoWmj-LgXwMrpDLUf7f7HnFNWVfgXm9c ] in which large sections of the Goan print media, and some national media (the online space wasn?t as populated back then) printed a story about how a nonagenarian Nazi commander named Johann Bach was arrested by the Police as he was trying to sell a grand piano in the forests of Khanapur.
That story was completely made up, yet lapped up by the media, believing it to be true all because newsdesks received official-looking press releases and didn?t bother to cross check whether the fantastic sounding story was true or not. It turned out it was a prank, nay a ?super prank? pulled off by the sting operator who gave up anonymity [ https://substack.com/redirect/7c2e2a0c-83b5-4a49-aa1d-66ffaae4ad17?j=eyJ1IjoiMTdkMzMzIn0.fgOj6myyAgvFoWmj-LgXwMrpDLUf7f7HnFNWVfgXm9c ] to hopefully shine light on, well let?s just say, how the media really functions on a day to day basis. He didn?t even need AI back then.
Whether Sandeep?s intentions were to deliberately mislead the media or not, I know not, but he certainly succeeded in doing so.
At least what this incident has done, is get at least some in the media to cross question similar claims such as that of Portuguese goalkeeper Diogo Costa?s grandfather is from Goa or at Congo?s Samuel Moutoussamyu?s father is from Tamil Nadu.
But if you are indeed looking for a connection, then there?s one between Goa and Cabo Verde [ https://substack.com/redirect/227917ae-834f-44b1-8bb8-7a6ca3c6631b?j=eyJ1IjoiMTdkMzMzIn0.fgOj6myyAgvFoWmj-LgXwMrpDLUf7f7HnFNWVfgXm9c ], though not strictly football related. The small island nation with a population of around 5-lakh (one third that of Goa) has qualified for the World Cup, used to have close ties with Goa back in the day with both Goa and Cabo Verde being ruled by Portugal.
The ?Padre Pimenta Avenida? is Cabo Verde?s largest avenue spanning 4-plus kilometres in length in the capital Praia on Santiago island is named after Goan priest Caetano Francisco Piedade Pimenta Pereira who spent a lifetime working for the people where he lived, worked and was buried!
When irony cursed the day it was born
This was the week when Goa commemorated Goa Revolution Day. The day in 1946 when Socialist and fighter Ram Manohar Lohia defied prohibitory orders and went ahead with a public meeting at Margao, a meeting that was said to have given rise to Goa?s liberation movement and from that day on, there was no turning back.
But if you?ve been following events in Goa on that day, you will not have missed the irony [ https://substack.com/redirect/5ea7a01a-8703-4134-821b-22f1aa90704f?j=eyJ1IjoiMTdkMzMzIn0.fgOj6myyAgvFoWmj-LgXwMrpDLUf7f7HnFNWVfgXm9c ]. Things really have come full circle. The villagers of Carapur, who as you know, have been protesting against the ?rulers of Delhi [who] now conquer Goa? project that promises to have an artificial beach created and set up exclusively for the use of the residents of the enclave that they intend to build in the village, decided to take their protest to Panjim on that day.
However, no sooner the protest march threatened to reach Azad Maidan, they were stopped by the Police and after a brief stand off bundled into buses and driven to the Old Goa Police station from where they were released without any charge later that evening.
Grandstanding speeches notwithstanding, the real nature and current status of the ?liberation? we so valiantly fought was on full display as parallel realities played out in real time. Actions speak louder than words, they say, and there?s nothing better to illustrate this than what happened on Thursday.
Although, if you are indeed looking for a glimmer of hope, or a silver lining, then let it be known that the resolve of the villagers of Carapur is yet undefeated. The government is unlikely to easily budge given the big interests involved, but if past battles are anything to go by, with enough pressure and persistence, even the most stubborn of governments has been known to back down.
Where might this pressure and persistence come from? I don?t quite have the answers. But, later that evening San Andre MLA Viresh Borkar announced the launch of a 39A Revolt, [ https://substack.com/redirect/0777fb02-a2bb-4e3c-8f51-7a68d3c8ab45?j=eyJ1IjoiMTdkMzMzIn0.fgOj6myyAgvFoWmj-LgXwMrpDLUf7f7HnFNWVfgXm9c ] which he said would be taken across the state to demand the scrapping of section 39A.
Fingers crossed on this one.
Where have all the flowers gone?
There was a story in the Times of India [ https://substack.com/redirect/67eb38be-7aa0-4e48-bc8e-e292bea8190f?j=eyJ1IjoiMTdkMzMzIn0.fgOj6myyAgvFoWmj-LgXwMrpDLUf7f7HnFNWVfgXm9c ] that caught my eye this week. Primary schools in the state have 10,000 fewer students than they had around seven years ago. Enrollment has fallen from around 98,000 in 2019-20 to around 88,000 in the academic year 2025-26. And given that this is a consistent trend of falling enrollment Goa is on track to have the first decade since at least the 1950s when the number of students enrolled is fewer than the previous one. The trend, according to many, is unlikely to change.
This despite all the immigration that the state is witnessing simultaneously accompanied by Goans emigrating to faraway shores. Meaning the birth rate in the state is likely even lower than the official numbers say they are, which for better or for worse, is going to mean that demographics are going to be changing, and changing fast.
Now, those of you who have school-going kids are probably already aware or at least suspect that things are no longer what they used to be in the past.
First it was the government primary schools that were shutting down, but back then we were told it was because parents were opting for aided schools. But now the news is that even city schools are struggling for students. Schools that, at one point of time, would witness a rush for admissions with parents queuing up through the night, today are just about receiving students to their capacity. Others are losing funding because of falling enrollment.
This is, of course, a global trend, and is no exception. Except that, if anything, on a pan-India level we, along with other south Indian states are ahead of the rest.
Depending on how you look at it, times ahead are going to be interesting (or worrying). Either way, don?t expect home prices will be coming down anytime soon.
You got to be kidding, right?
A final word for the Shinde Sena, a political party that today is only sometimes referred to by its official name: the Shiv Sena. Its Mumbai North West MP Gajanan Kirtikar was down in the state over the week and while he was here, announced the party?s plans to contest at least 30 seats in the upcoming Goa Legislative Assembly elections [ https://substack.com/redirect/50733a2f-1e8c-4792-9309-a7bfb5b8c41f?j=eyJ1IjoiMTdkMzMzIn0.fgOj6myyAgvFoWmj-LgXwMrpDLUf7f7HnFNWVfgXm9c ].
Now that?s a little surprising since the Shinde Sena is a BJP ally and besides being partners in the ruling NDA at the Centre are not generally expected to take on the ruling BJP in the state.
But seemingly that didn?t stop Kirtikar from claiming that the party had the strength to fight in 30 seats in the state. Nor did the fact that the Shiv Sena even during its heyday has had multiple albeit all unsuccessful attempts in attempting to get at least one MLA elected in the Goa Legislative Assembly.
Kirtikar said that his confidence stemmed from two things -- the fact that the ruling BJP government in the state has been ?unsuccessful? (asafal was the word he used) and that the (original) people of Goa (bhumiputra) are facing injustice upon injustice as land and jobs in the state were being taken by outsiders. He did have a special mention for land conversion which he said has destroyed agricultural orchards (and lands in general) in the state (which is true).
But it is his second reason that caught my attention. The Shiv Sena was entering the electoral fray in Goa, because, according to him, thanks to repeated defections, there wasn?t a proper opposition in Goa to take up people?s issues. I really had to do a double take on that one. Somehow using the phrase ?pot calling the kettle black? doesn?t quite seem to encapsulate the sheer nakedness of a claim like that.
What gives?
That?s all I have for you this week. Make sure you comment or write in, should you have something, anything to say.
I would also invite you to contribute via sending in your views, especially on a subject you know something about, and I will be happy to include it as part of the newsletter.
You are also welcome to write in with leads and tip-offs or anything that you think might be interesting enough to include here.
As always, please share and help spread the word.
Until next week, then. Tchau!
Thanks for reading GERARD?s Gazette! This post is public so feel free to share it.

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End of Goanet Digest, Vol 21, Issue 304
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