DR. JOE D’SOUZA
It is time for us to call a spade, a spade. Should we be defensive or evasive about the fact that there is an atmosphere of uneasiness or even fear, about the way the country is being governed for the last few years? Never before, in the history of Independent India, did we see four senior most SC judges openly stating that judiciary and democracy is in danger. In the last 70 years, I never witnessed the sudden and overnight announcement of demonetization of 85% of our currency and bank accounts nearly frozen, leaving us with little or no money, and forcing us to stand in queues to withdraw our own savings. All-around we seemed to be axed by tax. Is it not social turbulence when the rich enjoy at the cost of the suffering general public.
Why is it that members of the Sangh Pariwar verbally attack Catholic bishops as and when they address their flock. In the last few years it is both petrifying and costly to buy and consume bovine meat. What is worse is the reality wherein top-most exporters, traders and promoters of beef trade and bovine slaughter houses are “casteist Hindus” who are the godfathers of cow vigilantes besides being patrons of Hindutva brigades.
The Bajrang Dal, VHP and saffron brigade raise a hue and cry about what minorities eat, dress, worship, speak, preach and behave and have the audacity to set double standards; one for the majority and another for the minority communities.
What is this open call for a “Hindu-Rastra”. What is this call for nationalism in the Hindutva style? What is this Congress-mukt Bharat? Why is the call that if you are not comfortable with the BJP, one is free to go to Portugal? Are the minorities idiotic and oblivious of the fact, as to what would happen to them once the entire Indian sub-continent is painted saffron by the Hindutva brigade?
When Bishop Couto writes about “turbulent times” and asks Catholics to pray for a new secular government, what is so wrong? Is the BJP not a secular party? Is it not a turbulent India we are living in? When young girls are raped from amongst the minorities and murdered too, why lawyers from the majority community are marching in Jammu, demanding not to register the crime? The PM promised to be a chowkidar. Is he protecting the poor? When a Dalit or a Christian is beaten to death, churches vandalized, crosses broken and saffron flags flown atop Christian places of worship, is it sab ka saath, sab ka vikas?
PM Modi can make Sadhu Adityanath the CM or Swami Ramdev a poll campaigner, but when Bishop Couto seeks prayer, it is Church dabbling in politics!
My conscience has enkindled me to express myself now or else suffer ignominy by not raising my voice when it matters most. The Vatican news service has expressed that in India, minority voices seem suffocated if not stifled. The BJP government must remember that there is no smoke without fire!
National TV channels needled and belittled Bishop Couto as well as Bishop Filipe Neri of Goa for speaking the truth and called the Vatican as foreign interference in Indian politics, forgetting that the Church and Vatican are universal in nature, speaking for the common good of humanity at large.
We must remember that Jesus was a reformer, revolutionary and powerful equalizer of society. He stood against suppression and oppression by socio-cultural and religious bigots and the then Roman Empire, which was dictatorial and thus had to die in the process of fighting for truth and justice in his era.
Jesus Christ clearly declared “carry your cross and follow me”. It is time that we move away from ritualism to realism. It is time for giving up body and blood not symbolically but if need be against the forces of oppression and suppression of singular ideology.
Is it alright if a Hindu seer or a Sadhvi declares that those who eat beef must be hanged? Is it right if Ghar Wapsi is practiced and wrong if a missionary indulges in soul conversion? I believe that it is my right and duty to support missionaries involved in conversions because they are reaching justice and dignity to the poor. Those who are unaware of what Christ truly stood for should take a leaf from the works of Mother Teresa. I humbly feel that the mission of Christ was not to perform rituals expecting divine forces to perform miracles and afford justice. Work is worship and God helps those who help themselves was his mantra.
It is time now for Catholics to understand that while seers and sadhus are slowly gaining political power, our priests are told to confine themselves to passive prayers and ritualism which is surely against what Christ commanded of his followers.
It is time for the Goan minority to pull up their socks and fight the inflicted turbulence or else be prepared to suffer ignominy of paid channels running tirade against the Church leaders and forcing us into subservience.
An oppressive new government in 2019 would spell doom for the minorities. Hence our Bishops’ messages are relevant and we must work to usher in a secular government free of monolithic and divisive performances.
Our Bishop Filipe Neri’s call to address the problems of discrimination, disparity, poverty has been the essence of Christ teachings and what Indira Gandhi, our erstwhile PM told the world leaders, at the International Summit on Environment at Stockholm, Sweden in 1974. If the cap of guilt fits anybody in the governance of our country, so be it, for salvation and freedom are best achieved through blood and sacrifices.
(The writer is a retired professor, Goa University and an environmental activist)
