It was an alarming sight to witness the frightening spectacle of the villagers of Raia, Curtorim vociferously protesting the setting up of a burial ground for Muslims at Salcete. In Goa, we have decided not to spare even the dead Muslim by denying him / her a decent burial space. This must be a record of sorts.
We need to join hands with ordinary, regular, law abiding Muslims and desist from demonising them as the Sonsoddo kabrastan issue clearly seeks to do. Hence, the courageous and evidently Christian stand of Fr Maverick Fernandes of CSJP, of accepting that Muslims deserve a decent burial ground, and for which he was hounded out of a meeting recently at Sonsoddo deserves to be wholeheartedly applauded. Of course, the legendary "Goenkar" Vijai Sardesai and Reginald Lourenco, played to the gallery with customary elan. Goans have had a historic trait of settling and prospering in every corner of the globe including the United Arab Emirates, where there are churches for them to pray and cemeteries to bury their dead. Creating this unnecessary targeting of the Muslim community will be a death knell to the legendary and evidently hollow "secularism" that Goa is supposedly so famous for.
So take a bow Fr Maverick for standing up for the rights of another, much beleaguered community. You have truly demonstrated the magical beauty and the genuine luminosity of Goem, Goenkar and Goenkarponn.
Dr.Oscar Rebello, Panaji
