MARGAO/VASCO/SANGUEM, April 24 -- Goa is on the boil. A groundswell of public outrage over alleged derogatory remarks made by Gautam Khattar against St Francis Xavier - one of the most venerated saints in the State - has snowballed into a mass movement that is now putting the government on notice. Protesters have issued a stark ultimatum: act by 5 pm on April 24, or Goa will be paralysed.

The demands are clear and uncompromising - the immediate arrest of Gautam Khattar and the removal of Minister Mauvin Godinho from the Cabinet.

What began as outrage over comments allegedly made at a Parshuram Jayanti event organised by the Sanatan Dharma Raksha Samiti at Tilak Maidan in Vasco on April 18 has rapidly escalated into a coordinated, statew...