https://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/city/goa/a-tale-of-two-archbishops-from-aldona/articleshow/64421448.cms
It sounds like the beginning of what might be quite a promising joke. Three men from Aldona hit the national headlines at exactly the same time. One is archbishop of New Delhi. Another is the archbishop of Karachi. The third is the most celebrated “top cop”, octogenarian Julio Ribeiro. But alas, there is no punch line for all of us to laugh about. What has happened over the past few days is instead an object lesson in the fast-converging majoritarian politics of the subcontinent, now threatening to remake India into what Ribeiro – in this very newspaper – aptly termed “a saffron Pakistan.” The first man from Aldona was actually born in neighboring Pomburpa, and attended the seminaries at Saligao and Rachol. Archbishop Anil Couto emphasizes inter-religious dialogue. He is the Chairman of the Conference of the Catholic Bishops of India (for Ecumenism). The 63-year-old triggered an unnecessary maelstrom of criticism and abuse when he wrote to parishes under his jurisdiction recommending a year-long prayer campaign to alleviate the current “turbulent political atmosphere” which “poses a threat to the democratic principles enshrined in our constitution and the secular fabric of the nation.” The ruling party reacted stormily. BJP President Amit Shah and home minister Rajnath Singh both responded with anger. The RSS said the archbishops routine appeal was “direct interference of the Vatican in the affairs of India.” Cross over into Pakistan to Archbishop Joseph Coutts, who got the inspiring news a few days ago that Pope Francis would make him a Cardinal later this month. He was born in Amritsar before Partition, and attended seminary in Karachi, where he has served with distinction throughout much of his career. Soon after getting the good news from Rome, Archbishop Coutts told a German newspaper, “Pakistan's Christians are struggling to be recognized as equal citizens. The country's founder, Muhammad Ali Jinnah, wanted religious minorities to be treated as equal citizens. But some Muslims consider Christians second class citizens. But in a modern democracy, it is not acceptable.” But whatever democracy might imply in theory is now being certainly being sorely tested in reality in India and Pakistan, as the cases of both these archbishops from Aldona have demonstrated on either side of the border. Yet another son of the storied village in Goa (via his mother), Julio Ribeiro put it succinctly and with much passion in his “prayer for secularism” on May 28th. “I, for one, am preparing for the Hindu rashtra!... I should be prepared for second class citizenship that denies top jobs like that of a judge in the Supreme Court, a governor of a state, the chief of defence staff or the intelligence bureau. What I will not accept is being accused falsely of being anti-national and pilloried on that count. If that happens this land of mine will be nothing less than a saffron Pakistan!” Organized religion and politics makes a toxic combination, which has failed disastrously whenever mixed. In highly pluralistic nations like India and Pakistan, any attempts in this regard have been a straightforward recipe for suicide. This can already be seen across the border, where militant extremism has mushroomed to an existential threat. Now an exactly parallel phenomenon is burgeoning to dangerous proportions in India, where a radical Hindu monk (who routinely speaks in hateful terms about minorities) is already chief minister of the largest and most populous state. Yogi Adityanath is often spoken of as the natural successor to Narendra Modi. Even here in relatively tension-free Goa, the cherubic Sadhvi Saraswati was free to traipse in and out of the state while urging Hindus to stockpile arms to “save our women from love jihad” and recommending execution of those who eat beef. Is this already indication the minority population of the state has become the second-class citizens that Julio Ribeiro expects to be the rule? Let’s not jump to hasty conclusions. As yet another great son (and Archbishop) of Aldona, Goa’s own Felipe Neri Ferrao has said, “vested interests” have tried “to provoke communal discord and promote religious hatred.” But they have not succeeded yet.
