A Margao court has finally granted anticipatory bail to Fr Bolmax Pereira who was unfortunately booked for allegedly making some objectionable statements through one particular sermon with reference to Chhatrapati Shivaji Maharaj and for hurting the religious sentiments of our Hindu community. Well, Fr Bolmax had said absolutely nothing wrong about Shivaji in that particular sermon. In fact, he had only told his own devotees in a church what is actually written & still taught in our history books about Shivaji through that sermon.
Unfortunately, some belonging to right-wing organisations were simply trying to play their own games by mischievously twisting a few lines from his sermon and trying to spread communal hatred by instigating our peace-loving Hindu community spreading their own fabricated lies against him in Goa.
Being a Catholic priest, doesn't Fr Bolmax have a fundamental right to use examples of our great freedom fighters through his sermons to speak on issues of God and to express his own personal view/opinion over a variety of issues (which include politics) in front of his devotees even in his own designated place of worship in a modern civilised state like Goa?
And why were some ruling politicians (especially CM Sawant) also trying to politicise Fr Bolmax's sermon for no reason by issuing their own statements? Where were they when Subash Velingkar had openly said that St Francis Xavier is not a 'Goencho Saib' whilst speaking at a press conference last year and why they had not bothered to condemn that particular statement as well for hurting the religious sentiments of all Catholics in Goa? I think that some ruling politicians were trying to spread communal hatred in the state by backing the intimidating tactics of some non-Goan trouble makers over Fr Bolmax's sermon.
