Cong urges Guv to
intervene in mosque-burning
Sandesh Prabhudesai
18 December 2001
While the ruling Bharatiya Janata Party is
trying to downplay the incident of burning the mosque on the
eve of Id in Goa, the Congress has alleged that same forces
that demolished the Babri Masjid are behind the ugly incident.
Claiming that the law and order machinery
in the state will do nothing in the case, state opposition
leader Luizinho Faleiro has urged Governor Mohammed Fazal
to personally intervene into the matter for a thorough probe.
Following assault on Goa-based union minister
for state Shripad Naik by two Muslim boys on Sunday after
their motorcycle hit his private car from behind while taking
right turn at his residence, the incident of burning down
a makeshift mosque and holy books of Koran had taken place
the same night later.
Chief minister Manohar Parrikar, while assuring
the minority community to get the damaged structure repaired
at government cost, had dismissed any interlink between the
two incidents. He has however ordered thorough probe into
the background of the brothers who assaulted the union minister.
Faleiro however links it much further, recalling
visit of Vishwa Hindu Parishad general secretary Pravin Togadia
two days prior, where he had made provocative speeches in
the state against the minorities, referring to the issue of
attack on Parliament in Delhi.
He has also condemned the statement made
by local BJP president Laxmikant Parsekar that the incident
of assault on the union minister is a clear indication that
non-Goan Muslims settled in Goa are becoming more and more
aggressive day by day.
"The mindset of Muslim youth in Goa
is undergoing a gradual change, being influenced by the large
influx of aggressive non-Goans settled in the state",
states Parsekar while urging the authorities to probe into
their under-carpet activities.
"I will not comment about Parsekar’s
statement unless I find out from him what actually he said",
said the chief minister when journalists asked him whether
it is a healthy statement, considering the communal harmony
being practiced in the tiny tourist state.
In that case, said Faleiro, the non-Goan
elements like VHP leader Togadia are also doing the same thing
by instigating people against certain communities by making
provocative speeches.
Though he does not make allegation against
anybody in specific, the Congress leader charges that the
same forces who had demolished Babri Masjid, attacked minorities
all over India, raped nuns, murdered Stains and desecrated
statue of Jesus Christ are behind the incident of burning
down the Masjid and holy scripts of Koran.
Meanwhile, union minister Naik was discharged
from the hospital and left for Delhi today. Irfan Aga, who
was injured due to the revolver bullet fired by the minister’s
bodyguard, is still in the hospital. His brother Aiays has
however been remanded to two-day police custody.
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