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BBC News 2 Sept. 2003
Headline: Goa's Catholics under threat? By Zubair Ahmed BBC correspondent in Goa Text and photographs at http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/world/south_asia/3201361.stm
Full text:
Forty years after the Portuguese left, the western Indian
state of Goa hangs on to an unusual legacy of imperial rule.
It is India's only state with a uniform civil code. This means that the Hindus, who make up 60% of the population,
the Catholics, who account for 35%, and its tiny minority of Muslims are
governed by just one, uniform, set of family laws.
The code has worked well enough for centuries - but now there
are fears for Goa's fabled communal harmony.
Despite its strong Catholic cultural roots, Goa currently has
a right-wing Hindu nationalist government.
For Goans, Christianity has long been a fact of life.
But sections of the Hindu community have begun making
increasingly bold - some say dangerous - statements expressing the view that
Christianity is an alien faith, imposed on Indians during the colonial era.
A Hindu cab driver told me: "All Goans were Hindus before the
Portuguese came here."
He had a simple explanation for why the state's Catholic
population was increasing: "You know, when children are born into Catholic
families, they are converted to Christianity after a week or so."
Father George of Candolim Church in north Goa is worried:
"There is that impression that Catholics are pro-Portuguese and anti-national,
which is not true. We are very much for our motherland. We are not Portuguese.
Nothing should divide us."
It is a defensive plea for calm. And many say it's a vain
attempt to head off the gathering storm.
'Saffronising' the system
Goa's Hindu nationalist Chief Minister, Manohar Parrikar of
the Bharatiya Janata Party, is often accused of marginalising Christians when it
comes to key government jobs.
Rajen Narayan, editor of the English-language Herald
newspaper, believes Mr Parrikar has launched a campaign to promote Hindus to
high places in the state.
"After Parrikar came to office, he's been making systematic
attempts to saffronise the education system, to put people in key areas of
cultural, intellectual penetration, like heads of libraries, heads of
educational institutions, heads of cultural bodies."
Some also allege that the Catholics were ignored during the
recent recruitment of 6,000 policemen - as much as one-third of Goa's police
force.
But Mr Parrikar denies this. He insists that Goan Catholics
traditionally don't apply for low-level jobs in the police force.
He accuses his critics of spreading lies about him. "It's
almost three years now and nothing of what was told to them [Catholics] is
happening. They were told that your churches will be burnt down, crosses will be
burnt. But nothing has happened."
Normal service
Worshippers leaving church in north Goa on a bright Sunday
morning are serene about whether they see the BJP as a threat.
A Catholic woman said: "Everything is quite peaceful here.
Somehow everybody is very strong in their faith here":
Another one added: "We are on our own, we're not interfering
with anybody. They are not interfering with us".
But many, including Goa's best-known cartoonist Mario Miranda,
believe far-reaching changes are underway and the Goan Christian is simply
giving ground.
"I blame the Catholic Goans themselves because most of them
are emigrating. They are leaving Goa," says Mr Miranda.
For the moment though, it is Sunday service as usual in the
hundreds of ancient, white-washed churches dotted across Goa.
Tensions, if any, have yet to break through the tranquil
surface.
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