FRIDAY, APRIL 26, 2024
The recent remarks by Subhash Velingkar with reference to the Revered “Goencho-Saib” (Herald, April 29, 2022) smack of a strong desire by many of his kind during the last few years, to get into the limelight of political mileage by way of spreading hatred and communal division. It must be remembered that people believe what they want to believe and by trying to spread one’s ideas that are antithetical to love and peace can only lead to disharmony among the gullible and division between the communities that have lived in total co-operation and friendly relations during the last many centuries. It is not only the case with St Francis Xavier or with St Teresa of Kolkata. In recent times, there have been umpteen instances of people trying to downplay the great sacrifices made by our founding fathers and leaders like Mahatma Gandhi, Pt. Jawaharlal Nehru, Indira Gandhi, Fr Stan Swamy of recent memory and even some of our Goan leaders like Tristão de Bragança Cunha and Dr Jack Sequeira but not with any success. At best these attempts can be called aberrations towards the cheap conveniences of politics.
If Goa today is considered as one of the best places to live in India, where people from all over our country mainly from places like Karnataka, Andhra, UP, Bihar, Jharkhand, Chattisgarh, etc, want to come and work or have a home here, if Goa is one of the most literate States in the country, if we are having a higher per capita income than most other States in India, if our youngsters are prepared to go to any part of the world and take up challenging jobs and send their hard earned foreign currency home, we owe a lot of it to St Francis Xavier. Some of the best schools and colleges in the world and no less in India including a Premier Hospital and Medical College –St John’s of Bangalore are run by the Society of Jesus of which St Francis Xavier was a pioneer. By all means we are free and one should try to promote one’s ideas and beliefs but not at the cost of spreading communalism in a society that is living in harmony with one another. It is said that when religion becomes an ideology, it ceases to be faith and a way of life. Basically religion is supposed to help us to live better life, a life full of understanding and love. If religion and ideologies based on religion are used for spreading hatred and communal divides then we are damaging not only our society but the very religion which we think we are promoting. Many wrongs may have been created by some religious fanatics in the medieval ages in all parts of the world, but today we are living in an age of a scientific temper where literacy, better communications, mobility and migration of communities are the norm. Churchill once wrote “People who sit in judgment of the past will miss the future”.
Goa is a land which has produced luminaries such as Gen Sunith Rodrigues, Chief of the Indian Army, Julio Ribeiro the Supercop, Charles Correia the Architect, Tony Fernandes the CEO of Air asia, Francisco D’Souza CEO of Cognizant, Ivan Menezes the CEO of Diageo, Glen Saldanha CEO of Glenmark, Karl Rodrigues a billionaire in Canada, Reita Faria the Miss world of 1968, Dinesh D’Souza author of several best selling books (NYT), Pio Gama Pinto a freedom fighter and parliamentarian in Kenya, Aquino de Braganca Freedom fighter and principal advisor to President Machel of Mozambique, Leander Paes tennis player & Olympic Medalist, Kenneth Pereira Hockey player for Canada at 2008 Olympics, Zeno Rodrigues – Captain of the Mexican Hockey team at the 1968 Olympics, Selma Fernandes – Boxer for New Zealand team at the 2016 Olympics, Troy D’Costa, Fashion designer for PM Narendra Modi, Antonio Costa the Prime Minister of Portugal, Keith & Valerie Vaz and Suela Fernandes Members of House of Commons (UK), Governor Dias of Bengal, several top ranking officers in the Defence services, and many others both at National and International levels. They have brought laurels to our country. Now some people trying to achieve recognition by dividing our people on the lines of religion in the name of culture, is not only unwarranted but is also anti national.
The not too distant utterances by the CM before elections, with regard to the rebuilding of temples supposed to be destroyed during the Portuguese regime and then allotting Rs 20 crores after elections from the tax payers money for the purpose in this age and time where more urgent needs are begging for attention, may not augur well for the state. On the contrary such talks and actions give a false sense of strength to right wing elements. It was President Roosevelt who said “The liberty of a democracy is not safe if the people tolerated the growth of private power to a point where it becomes stronger than the democratic state itself. That in its essence is fascism: ownership of government by an individual, by a group, or any controlling private power.” The Government who has been elected by the people has the duty to work for the people and stop any individuals or organisations that tend to cause communal disharmony in a country where diversity has been our strongpoint.
