To Goanet - In response to JC-bab's remark below:
In an ideal world, politics and religion wouldn't mix, but we are nowhere close to achieving that state of nirvana. My proposal wasn't referring to a handout, or a special consideration favouring one group over the other (that can be a slippery slope, and I appreciate JC's implicit point here). There is some recent unpleasant history here that, if left unaddressed, will keep bubbling up now and then. I left any such "gesture" unspecified because I wasn't sure. A better idea would be for Manohar to seek counsel from Catholic leaders who are part of his own team and/or from prominent members of the community. r ________________________________ From: "J. Colaco < jc>" <cola...@gmail.com> To: Rajan P. Parrikar <parri...@yahoo.com>; "Goa's premiere mailing list, estb. 1994!" <goanet@lists.goanet.org> Cc: "goa...@goanet.org" <goa...@goanet.org> Sent: Tuesday, March 6, 2012 4:31 PM Subject: Re: [Goanet] A steep mountain to climb Rajan P. Parrikar <parri...@yahoo.com> wrote: Finally - Manohar should begin his tenure with a gesture to the Catholic community. It must be something meaningful, and not perceived as a political gimmick. Some believed that his apology before the election was insincere and calculated only for electoral advantage. Well, he has a chance now to prove them wrong. There is a large number of Catholics who are skeptical about him but have decided to give him another chance, as the verdict suggests. It is these people that he needs to address COMMENT: I omitted the first several paras of what Rajan wrote because I agree with them and also because they are self explanatory. I am not sure that any 'gesture' or apology is needed to assuage the Goan Catholic community. All that is needed IMHO is fair governance. The best thing that MP can do is organise to keep religion OUT of government. Once that is done, religion will stop (gradually) being a divisive force in Goan politics. jc --------------------------------------------------------------------------- Protect Goa's natural beauty Support Goa's first Tiger Reserve Sign the petition at: http://www.goanet.org/petition/petition.php ---------------------------------------------------------------------------