MARGAO
Nationalist Congress Party (NCP) Benaulim MLA Churchill Alemao and daughter Valanka on Saturday called on the Parish priest, Fr Jose of the Little Flower Church in New Delhi as well as its parishioners and pledged full support to fight the grave injustice of the demolition of the Church by the Delhi authorities.
In a press release issued from Delhi after visiting the place, Churchill said it was shocking to see that the statues of saints were broken and venerable articles destroyed which only provoked outrage with the Christian parishioners since it deeply affected their sentiments.
“It was heartbreaking to listen to those who were unjustly affected”, Churchill said, and hoped that that truth will prevail and justice delivered with the Government not only punishing those involved in the uncalled for illegal and uncalled for demolition but also restoring the church with the official responsible for the unjust demolition being taken to task even terminated from the job for the arbitrary orders which sadly affected the minority community”, he said, adding “I fully stand with the church as well as the parishioners in this hour of uncalled for persecution”.
Valanka said this is a clear case of intimidating the Christian community, done deliberately to suppress the fundamental rights as enshrined in the Constitution. “This act on the part of the authorities needs to be condemned in the strongest terms as it is a clear signal of instilling fear among the minorities. The way they went about the demolition is simply not acceptable in a democratic set up and as such the Government has to not only tender a public apology but also restore the church to its original position immediately, remarked Valanka. It is a premediated act of vandalism”, she added.
