the goan I network
VASCO
Two days after the Archbishop Filipe Neri Ferrao appealed to the Government to revoke the Citizenship Amendment Act (CAA ) and desist from implementing the National Population Register (NPR) and National Registry of Citizens (NRC), Cortalim MLA Alina Saldanha said there should be a dialogue between representatives of the Church and the Government.
However, Vasco BJP MLA Carlos Almeida said that he being a BJP MLA will have to go by what the party decides.
Saldanha said, “From times immemorial, the Church in Goa has always taken a stand on various issues related to the state, the people of Goa and the country at large. CAA is an issue that is presently being debated upon at all levels of the country, for a long time now.”.
She said finally the Church in Goa has publicly stated its stand on the CAA and NPR. “Freedom of speech is a democratic right. Since the Government feels that all is not right with the Church’s stand vis a vis CAA, there is an urgent need for dialogue between the representatives of the Church and the Government,” she added. “This dialogue is vital to find a solution which is so important to save the secular fabric of the state. There has to be more dialogue and more clarity and if there are any questions that require answers, then those questions need to be answered,” Saldanha said.
When contacted, Vasco MLA Carlos Almeida said that he was a BJP MLA and hence had to go by what the party decided on the matter. “Whatever my senior colleague Mauvin Godinho has said is partially right, but not fully. Even the Archbishop has got the right to guide his people. I am a BJP MLA and I have to go with what the party decides. However, the issue has to be discussed and has to be clarified by the Government,” he stated. It may be recalled that the Panchayat Minister Mauvin Godinho had on Sunday said that it was wrong for a religious body to make a statement that could create a communal divide.
