Who belongs to Goa? This question resurfaces as the State battles the raging pandemic

The droves of reckless tourists descending on a Goa already coping poorly with the pandemic has turned the spotlight back on the long simmering discord between locals and settlers

On May 1, India’s smallest State crested a milestone: a record 54 people died from COVID-19. Social media erupted with anger about how the number of casualties in Goa was higher than in entire countries such as Tanzania, Vietnam, and Taiwan. On its front page, the iconic oHeraldo newspaper — once the last Portuguese daily in Asia — headlined another shocking fact: on that day, the tiny territory moved past China in cumulative infections. At that point, Goa’s positivity rate had reached 50%, one of the highest in the world. It has stayed in that range, even as mortality figures continue to climb. On May 11, an astonishing 75 people died from the virus, at which point it was discovered that dozens were succumbing every night due to interrupted oxygen supply in the main Covid hospital at the Goa Medical College (GMC). That revelation triggered vicious internecine sniping between the Chief Minister Pramod Sawant (an RSS loyalist appointed to succeed the late Manohar Parrikar) and his health minister Vishwajit Rane (the former Congress MLA). Earlier this week, Sawant made a show of being “probably the first CM in the country to visit a COVID-19 ward” at the GMC, where he announced, “we have 100% oxygen. The problem will be resolved in a day.” But the situation remained unchanged, and Rane went to the extent of demanding “a High Court-monitored inquiry” into his own portfolio, “to find out why so many are dying”.