BJP slams fact-finding report on desecrations

PANAJI: The State Unit of Bharatiya Janata Party has taken strong objection to the content published in the Church-run magazine and the fact finding committee report prepared by the Council for Social Justice and Peace (CSJP) on desecration of religious structures. The party also accused the church bodies of attempting to polarise votes during the recently held by-polls. 

Addressing a press conference at the BJP Headquarters in Panaji, party spokesperson and Curchorem MLA Nilesh Cabral said, "CSJP came out with a report that whatever police are doing was not correct. They said that they have formed some fact finding committee. We have a police machinery which is responsible enough. Who are these members of the fact finding committee and who has given them the authority to make statements against the police machinery? If they have any facts, they should have brought it to the notice of the police department instead of coming out with a statement during the election time, which was an attempt to polarise the votes. But, it worked out the other way."
Pointing out that normally BJP is accused of polarising votes, Cabral stated, "But these moves of polarisation like the report of the fact finding committee, publishing of various articles in the magazine 'Renovacao', which is the official magazine of the Church, they are polarising the votes. They are making polarisation more effective towards BJP that is what I feel. This should be avoided in the near future."
Taking strong objection to the fact finding committee report, he said, "CSJP in their report claimed that they came to the place where most of the desecration happened. They met various people and found that he was non-violent. Few years ago, this particular person was in prison for three years for shooting someone with a gun. So where is the non-violence? What is the fact they have found?"
Terming the Archbishop a ‘very good person', Cabral said that when such magazines are published from the Archbishop's House, they should take care about what is published in the magazine.
"What is Nazism? Hitler was part of that. That particular Germany 100 per cent... 90 per cent was Roman Catholic, which is in Goa. Similar Nazism was that time popular in Germany. So what are they trying to say? The Church should take care when they publish such articles. When it is published from Bishop's House, it is considered as reverend document and it is adhered to," he pointed out.
He however stated that Catholic population in Panaji voted sensibly.
"There are certain booths which are Catholic dominated. They have voted for Manohar Parrikar or BJP which shows that this particular magazine failed to polarise votes. I assure them on part of the BJP that we all are secular. The CSJP which claims to be a part of the Church, should take care to see that such things don't happen," he said.
Questioned on whether BJP would file a defamation suit, he said, "We are not bothered about defamation and we don't even care. It has been shown in both - Valpoi and Panaji. There are many magazines circulated in the State but we are only bothered about this magazine as it comes from the heart of the Roman Catholic Church. At least there should be some restriction on anybody writing and publishing it. They should tone down these articles."
"If you go through these articles it boils. As a Roman Catholic MLA I will write a personal letter to the Church stating that the content should be checked before publishing. Elections should be held freely and fairly. They should leave it to the people to decide. They should only tell what is good and what is bad. They should take up issues, but not in this way," he said.