Sandesh Prabhudesai
6 October 1998
The Congress in Goa holds their party chief minister in MP also responsible along with the BJP-led government at the centre for increasing number of attacks on minorities, especially the Christian community in India.
Luizinho Faleiro, the state opposition leader, has announced to collect over one lakh signature from all Goans, who candidly practice communal harmony in the tourist state, condemning the incidents of attacks on nuns as well as the church property.
Chief minister Dr Wilfred de Souza, whose coalition government is supported by the BJP, has also written a strong letter to MP chief minister Digvijay Singh demanding stern action against the accused in the nuns rape case.
Mr Faleiro, the Congress leader, however prefers to target the Sangh Parivar more than his party government by generalising the issue of attacks on Christian minorities in several parts of India. "There are over 40 such incidents reported against Christian alone in five months, from April to August", he points out.
Linking it also to the inaction against the Shrikrishna Commission report in Maharashtra, Faleiro feels the religious minorities are gripped by insecurity since the BJP-led government has come to power at the centre and the Shiv Sena - BJP alliance in Maharashtra.
"It pains more when the BJP's frontal organisations like the VHP and the Bajrang Dal justify such incidents in the name of nationalism and patriotism", he says, pointing out that most of such attacks are on the people running educational institutes for the underprivileged and destitute.
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