Church has an unenviable role to play in Goa polls
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Church has an unenviable role to play in Goa polls
CAMIL PARKHE | Tuesday, 24 January 2017 AT 12:56 PM IST
As the campaign for the Goa State assembly has picked up, the role of the Catholic Church in the politics of the tiny coastal state is being debated once again. The Catholics in Goa are an important constituent in deciding the poll fortunes in many assembly seats and the Church can directly or indirectly influence the pattern of voting in the polls. That is the reason all the political parties in Goa have been keeping a close watch on the signals sent out from the Bishop’s Palace located at Altinho in Panaji.
It is a fact that the Church in India has always reiterated that it is a apolitical institution and that the faithful are always free to vote for or contest on behalf of any political party. The Church in Goa is also not an exception to this stance. Nonetheless, a glance at the political transitions and upheavals in Goa after the territory’s liberation from the Portuguese regime in 1961 will reveal that it is impossible to exclude the Church in deciding any important issues in this state.
In the medieval period too when Goa was ruled by the Portuguese, the Church was an influential power in this territory. It is said that whenever the Portuguese viceroy and the Goa archbishop came face to face, there was often a dispute as to who stood first in the right to protocol. This piquant situation was especially experienced on occasions when the vehicles of both the viceroy and the archbishop arrived at the jetty to cross over the rivers in ferryboats.
The Indian Army liberated Goa from the Portuguese regime in 1961 and there were many changes in the Church hierarchy and structure too. The chief minister’s bungalow and the Bishop’s Palace are located at Altinho (hill in Portuguese) in Panaji. The power tussle between the political rulers and the Church in Goa is therefore not a recent phenomenon.
As a policy, the Church hierarchy in the country has always advocated that the faithful and other voters should vote for those candidates and parties those profess to adhere to the secular, democratic principles as enshrined in the Constitution of India. In the 2012 assembly elections however the state BJP under the leadership of Manohar Parrikar had succeeded in a social engineering to woo the Christian votes. The social engineering had led to as many as eight Christians being elected on BJP seats to the assembly. This is significant especially in view of the fact that the BJP under the leadership of Narendra Modi had a spectacular record of winning as many as 282 Lok Sabha seats in the country but the party does not have a single Muslim person among these Lok Sabha members.
The BJP rule in Goa, first led by Parrikar and later by Laxmikant Parsekar, had witnessed a clash over the issue of government grants for the private schools having English as the medium of instruction. Here the RSS-led Bharatiya Bhasha Suraksha Manch (BBSM) had launched the campaign against the English medium schools (run mainly by the Church) and when Parrikar and Parsekar refused to discontinue the funds to the English medium schools, the BBSM leader Subhash Velingkar revolted and now has formed an independent political party to contest the Goa polls. The BJP government, although in principle willing to have the medium of instruction in Indian languages, refused to disturb the status quo in keeping with the ground reality in Goa, and thus did not go against the Church-run schools.
As the Goa polls approach nearer, there will be efforts by the BJP, Congress and Aam Aadmi Party to woo the Church leaders. Goa and Daman archbishop Filipe Neri Ferrão has already said that the Catholic priests will not be allowed to canvass directly or indirectly for any political party. Nonetheless in the next few weeks, all main parties will watch for the signals sent out from the Church pulpits during the Sunday mass.
It is a fact that the Church in India has always reiterated that it is a apolitical institution and that the faithful are always free to vote for or contest on behalf of any political party. The Church in Goa is also not an exception to this stance. Nonetheless, a glance at the political transitions and upheavals in Goa after the territory’s liberation from the Portuguese regime in 1961 will reveal that it is impossible to exclude the Church in deciding any important issues in this state.
In the medieval period too when Goa was ruled by the Portuguese, the Church was an influential power in this territory. It is said that whenever the Portuguese viceroy and the Goa archbishop came face to face, there was often a dispute as to who stood first in the right to protocol. This piquant situation was especially experienced on occasions when the vehicles of both the viceroy and the archbishop arrived at the jetty to cross over the rivers in ferryboats.
The Indian Army liberated Goa from the Portuguese regime in 1961 and there were many changes in the Church hierarchy and structure too. The chief minister’s bungalow and the Bishop’s Palace are located at Altinho (hill in Portuguese) in Panaji. The power tussle between the political rulers and the Church in Goa is therefore not a recent phenomenon.
As a policy, the Church hierarchy in the country has always advocated that the faithful and other voters should vote for those candidates and parties those profess to adhere to the secular, democratic principles as enshrined in the Constitution of India. In the 2012 assembly elections however the state BJP under the leadership of Manohar Parrikar had succeeded in a social engineering to woo the Christian votes. The social engineering had led to as many as eight Christians being elected on BJP seats to the assembly. This is significant especially in view of the fact that the BJP under the leadership of Narendra Modi had a spectacular record of winning as many as 282 Lok Sabha seats in the country but the party does not have a single Muslim person among these Lok Sabha members.
The BJP rule in Goa, first led by Parrikar and later by Laxmikant Parsekar, had witnessed a clash over the issue of government grants for the private schools having English as the medium of instruction. Here the RSS-led Bharatiya Bhasha Suraksha Manch (BBSM) had launched the campaign against the English medium schools (run mainly by the Church) and when Parrikar and Parsekar refused to discontinue the funds to the English medium schools, the BBSM leader Subhash Velingkar revolted and now has formed an independent political party to contest the Goa polls. The BJP government, although in principle willing to have the medium of instruction in Indian languages, refused to disturb the status quo in keeping with the ground reality in Goa, and thus did not go against the Church-run schools.
As the Goa polls approach nearer, there will be efforts by the BJP, Congress and Aam Aadmi Party to woo the Church leaders. Goa and Daman archbishop Filipe Neri Ferrão has already said that the Catholic priests will not be allowed to canvass directly or indirectly for any political party. Nonetheless in the next few weeks, all main parties will watch for the signals sent out from the Church pulpits during the Sunday mass.
Comments
Ajit - Tuesday, 24 January 2017 AT 04:10 PM IST
Catholic Church should remain apolitical. Afterall, the word 'secular' is defined as separation of church and government. It was coined due to the interference of Church in European countries sovereign matters. If the Church as an institute and its affiliates are targeted by the government of the day, they should rightly highlight from time to time.
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AAP
Altinho
Bharatiya Bhasha Suraksha Manch
Bishop's Palace
BJP
Camil Parkhe
Catholic Church
Congress
Goa
Laxmikant Parsekar
Manohar Parrikar
Narendra Modi
Portuguese
RSS
Subhash Velingkar
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