The Karanjal-Marcaim desecration has come at a time when normalcy was returning after a series of such incidents hit South Goa, allegedly by one Francis Pereira. Miscreants are at it again, this time removing around 12 crosses from graves and vandalizing some niches at the cemetery of Our Lady of Fatima Chapel at Karanjal-Marcaim. Two poles of the shed in the cemetery were damaged and the vandals made their way into the cemetery
by breaking the steel gate. The cemetery, which has six graves, is used by the Christian community from Gawane, Dhakone and Karanjal.
There may not be a timeline to this incident as attorney of Fatima Chapel Karanjal and the locals were not aware of the exact date of the incident. The last they can recall is around five days back when nothing unusual was noticed. On Tuesday, one man noticed that crosses and niches were vandalized when he had gone to the cemetery to offer prayers at the grave of his wife. One common refrain that rants the air was that there's more to the desecration saga.
The chief minister intervened swiftly and assured of a breakthrough within four days. The administration finds itself on the back foot days after Francis had admitted that he had single-handedly managed all those desecration cases. Francis had even enacted the Curchorem cemetery vandalisation all by himself, by not only managing to cross over the high compound but also showing how he cut off the CCTV cables. The police now have an even tougher job at hand. Most of the cemeteries are at a distance from the church premises and are unguarded. In Karanjal where the latest desecration happened, it is about 150 metres away from the chapel on the hill with no houses in the vicinity. Cemeteries and crosses at isolated places are easy pickings for the vandals. Police and security forces in the state face a near-impossible task of manning all cemeteries and the countless religious structures dotting the state.
Going by the sequence of desecrations, it's clear that these incidents have nothing to do with religion and are politically inclined. There is no good reason why anyone should disturb the communal peace and target religious places of minorities.The Karanjal-Marcaim incident is a clear case where the objective was to prove the state administration wrong that all desecrations have ended with the arrest of Francis. The Catholic community and the Church should continue to show extraordinary calm which was shown all along. Let dissenting voices not create a communal divide.
