There appears to be widespread apprehension in the minds of the Christian community over the safety of their churches, ever since Chief Minister Pramod Sawant made a budgetary provision of Rs 20 crore for the rebuilding of temples, destroyed during the Portugese rule, and those lying in a dilapidated condition. The fear has arisen after the canard spread by a few fanatical elements that several churches of today stand in places of temples that were destroyed by the Portugese and therefore need to be pulled down, to rebuild the earlier temples. I do not think Sawant had any such thing in his mind of ‘righting the wrongs’ of history with his budget provision of Rs 20 crore for temple restoration. It would therefore be prudent on the part of Sawant to clear the air of such ambiguities and allay the fears of the minority community, so that we continue to live in peace and as one large family of Bharat Mata.
