To Goanet - Selma Cardoso wrote: >Just a few months ago some posters on Goanet were extolling >the virtues of the BJP in Goa, and wanted us to watch the >Parrikar v/s Parrikar interview, so that we could have a >better understanding of Parrikar's thought processes. This >same Parrikar who says the RSS is his Church.
Just a few months ago, Selma Cardoso claimed there are secret camps in Goa where Hindu boys are being trained to eliminate Catholics. Just a few months ago, she exhorted Goan Catholics to leave Goa en masse. No doubt she has lined up cushy jobs for them at the chicken factories in Swindon. Just a few months ago, Selma and others were scared witless the minute we announced we were doing the Manohar Parrikar interview. That is because she knew all her smears about Manohar Parrikar will be shown to be a pile of rubbish. She wanted all the freedom in the world to trash him from behind the safety of her gated (if Cornel is to be believed, non-gated) community but when she realized Parrikar now had an opportunity to have his say, she wanted Goanet to immediately scuttle it. Ah, inscrutable are the ways of the intolerant bigots! And just a few months ago, Selma Cardoso wanted to "repair democracy" in Goa by appealing to that great beacon of rectitude, Digambar Kamat. What she really meant was that the govt ought to clamp down on popular people's movements - all this in reaction to calls by villagers to stop construction violations and land scams in our villages. And just a few months ago, she...you get the idea. What we finally got out of the Parrikar vs Parrikar session was an engaging conversation. The exchange was based on questions the content of which was almost entirely provided by Goanet readers. One could disagree intelligently (but only if one had intelligence, alas) with his positions without being disagreeable. Unfortunately for Selma and the resident pinko, most of the folks saw it that way. It was also screened on local TV several times and reached out to a wide section of the Goan audience. Selma's caricature of Manohar Parrikar as some sort of a radical or extremist Hindu had to eat crow, something that apparently sticks in her craw even today. Now, Manohar Parrikar will rise or fall based on his own deeds or misdeeds. But Selma and her rancid tribe have ZERO CREDIBILITY to make that judgement. For some of us, the crucial question right now is: Regardless of our political leanings, can Goan Hindus and Goan Catholics join hands in the struggle to reclaim Goa? Can we discard the political badges, Kangress, BJP or whatever, we have pinned to our lapels and rally for the cause of Goa? These matters, not the Selma-esque muckraking antics, ought to be our issues du jour. Without the Hindu heartland on board, Goa is done for. Likewise, without the Catholic community standing alongside, we stand no chance. In this larger struggle, bloviating, cheapshot-ing malcontents who seek to incite and divide, not unite, us Goans, are to be consigned to the garbage bin. >Too bad, there is scant respect shown to Churches in >Orissa at the moment. Yes, too bad. Let's hold Manohar Parrikar responsible. How about Hurricane Gustav - I bet Parrikar had a hand in that too. And let's not forget his complicity in the melting of the polar ice caps. Warm regards, r