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Attacks on Christian priests embarrass Cong in Goa

One witnesses a complete reversal of roles in Goa when it comes to attacks on Christian priests. Here, it is the Congress which is the prime accused, while the BJP is trying to project itself as the protector of minorities.

Two incidents where Christian priests were attacked were reported in close succession this month. Congress leaders have been accused of involvement in the first case, while the government was responsible for the second incident.

Six priests were beaten up on the night of September 6, a day after polling took place, in the Navelim constituency, which is represented by Chief Minister Luizinho Faleiro. The aggressor was a Christian.

"Thank God, he was not a Hindu," said Health Minister Francisco Sardinha, who represents the neighbouring Curtorim constituency. His department is now investigating whether the assailant was mentally unsound, as claimed by the chief minister and the police.

The first one to condemn the incident was the BJP. The party alleged that Churchill Alemao, a Congress minister, was responsible for the attack and demanded a CBI inquiry into the incident.

Dr Wilfred de Souza, the state head of the Nationalist Congress Party, went to the extent of demanding Faleiro's resignation.

Though Alemao has denied his involvement, his utterances against some priests in Navelim who campaigned against his brother Joaquim, have not helped his case.

At the bureaucratic level, the police has been instructed to conduct a high-level investigation into the incident and the possible involvement of some political parties.

Even as news of the assault on the six priests hit the headlines, another incident took place in the port town of Vasco, where the police beat up two priests along with some villagers while they were demonstrating against the controversial Meta Strips project.

Faleiro's government had to again clarify that the attack on the priests was not intentional.

The anger against the Congress is spreading in the coastal Mormugao and Salcete talukas, where most of Goa's 30 per cent Christians live. Most of the Christians here have been traditional Congress voters.

Several priests have been involving themselves in political campaigns, sometimes using the altar and chapel to hint at their favourite parties.

"Many priests are my friends. What is wrong in it?" asks Dr de Souza, who is considered very close to the Church. His splitting the Congress last year created problems for the ruling party.

The BJP, the target when such attacks on minorities have taken place elsewhere in the country, has used both incidents to prove its 'secular' credentials while pushing the Congress against the wall.

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