Goa: Church and BJP nationalists clash over elections
Goa (AsiaNews) – The Church should stay out of local politics and leave the public sphere to society and not tell people how they should vote, this according to the Bharatya Janata Party or BJP, India’s main nationalist party in Goa, which has opted for a direct political confrontation with the Church ahead of next month state elections.
Local BJP leader M. Venkaiah Naidu has criticised the Catholic position in the upcoming June 2 elections to the state assembly, in particular the Church’s reminder that people should not vote for candidates who play up social tensions.
Mr Naidu said that religious institutions and people should focus on religious matters and leave politics to people in public life. He was referring to a circular issued by the Council for Social Justice and Peace which called on everyone to think about the future, Goa and the country, by backing candidates who focus on social development and not feed the flames of communal tensions.
Catholics constitute about 26 per cent of the population of the former Portuguese colony. In taking such a clear stance the Church can have an impact on the outcome of the elections.
For this reason, the BJP has come out swinging at the Church, not out of concern for ethics in politics, local Catholics said. In fact, when Catholics attacked corruption within the ranks of the Congress Party, the BJP’s main rival, no BJP leader uttered a word except to applaud what they now call interference.
“The Church has every right to guide its flock precisely because it is not actively involved in the political sphere. The Church has only issued moral guidelines against communal governments which sow divisive seeds that can cause great tensions and divide society,” said Prof Olivinho Gomes, former deputy dean of Goa University.
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