More than four decades after Goa opened up as a tourist destination, the local population is slowly turning against the influx of “outsiders” who threaten the local way of life. In fact, it is not the short-term visitor from the West who is facing the cold shoulder, but people from other parts of the country.

“Bhaile” is the mildly derisive term employed by Hindus and Catholics alike on “outsiders” who are unable to fit in. During the peak tourist season from October to February, the common topic of conversation across Goa is the rising price of fish attributed mainly to “outsiders” gobbling up the fruits of the sea.

The animosity against “outsiders” has worsened since the 1990s when scores of Muslims from Karnataka and Maharashtra flocked to Goa in order to set up businesses, lured by the relative communal harmony in the state.

But what has really riled all Goans cutting across caste and creed is the decision by some politicians last year to implement the Regional Plan 2011. Under this, vast tracts of farm and forest land were to be converted into plush townships and sold to investors across the country and abroad.

A month-long agitation which saw saffron-clad sadhus of the Sangh Parivar share public space with the Catholic clergy forced the Government to scrap the Regional Plan. The Government’s decision to set up 17 Special Economic Zones that came shortly after is being seen as another version of the scrapped Regional Plan.

BJP leader Manohar Parrikar was the first leader to point out that the Government’s own data that promised employment to nine lakh people would bring in a tsunami of “outsiders” to Goa. Parrikar even called for restrictions on entry and stay of people from other parts of the country in the state.

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