The CMApologises to Cardinal for Cross Demolition ThousandsofCatholics led by Cardinal Oswald Gracias, Archbishop and President, Catholic BishopsConference of Indiaprayed at Cross Maidan,andthenprotested at arally against the demolition of 3 Crosses, onebelieved to bein existencesince 1936 in Byculla-Mazagaon area ofthe city. This despite the chief minister and the municipal commissioner givingChristians a 15 day time frame to producedocumentation on the crosses. Cardinal Gracias informed that thechief minister had called him and apologised for the acts of desecration, evenas yet anotherCross was demolished and since notices were pasted on theCrosses themselves. Cardinalsaid he was hurt, embarrassedand angry at the developments and would meet the state chief minister on theissue. He said that such disrespectful behaviour by the municipal corporationwas shocking and had given the BMC a bad name internationally, as it was notexpected from Mumbai. Bishop Percival Fernandez said he shared thestrong sentiments and concern of the Cardinal at the developments in themetropolis. "Variousstate governmentsare demolishing religious structures, following aSupreme Court directive, whichseems giving a communal colour to thedemolition drive, with Christians being selectively targetted", saidJoseph Dias, general secretary, TheCSF, which organised theprotest. He added that there wasno political will to deal with the issue and there was a strong possibility ofit being a ploy to polarise votes on communal lines before the municipalpollsdue in a year. He also pointed out that the behaviour of themunicipal and police officers, who did not spare women, children and seniorcitizens, gave the impression that communal Hindutva forces had infiltratedthese administrative areastoo, besides the bureaucracy. JosephDias saidthat "the West Bengal government had filed an affidavitthat action to remove them may have adverse impact on law and order situationand hurt the religious sentiments of the people. No State government has givenany time bound framework to manage the structures. From the affidavits, itappears that none of the state secretaries have taken solid measures to abideby the Supreme Court order.Only states of UP, MP, Assam, PunjabandGujarathave filed their affidavits. Further, Delhi had reported at 52 onlyreported the least ofsuch objectionable religious structures. Sikkim,Mizoram and Nagaland had no such religious structures in public places." TheCSF called fora policy from the Union and State Governments, afterseeking SC clarifications and announced as part of their future plans,aninter-religious rally at Azad Maidan - if the State Government did notact on its demands. Seen in the pics above are H.E. Cardinal Oswald Gracias &H.G. Percival Fernandez, besides Dr. A. Mathai, vice-chairman, MaharashtraMinorities Commission and community leaders, besidessections of thecrowds that thronged the rally. NOTE: This e-mail message is subject to the Dubai World Group disclaimer see http://www.dubaiworld.ae/email_disclaimer
