WEDNESDAY, APRIL 24, 2024
Team Herald
PANJIM: Congress in Goa has extended support to Archbishop Filipe Neri Ferrao’s statement on the Citizenship Amendment Act (CAA).
“Archbishop has the right to express his opinion. CAA is a part of an amendment to the Indian Constitution. Archbishop has conveyed the message at a time when the nation wants its withdrawal,” Opposition Leader Digambar Kamat said.
The Archbishop had urged the government to revoke the Act, which has led to widespread protest in the country, and to also desist from implementing the National Register of Citizens (NRC) and National Population Register (NPR).
A statement issued by Diocesan Centre for Social Communications Media, had stated, “Archbishop and the Catholic community of Goa would like to appeal to the government to listen to the voice of millions in India, to stop quashing the right to dissent and, above all, to immediately and unconditionally revoke the CAA and desist from implementing the NRC and the NPR.”
Asked for the party reaction to the CAA, Kamat maintained that their ‘stand is clear’. “We have expressed from time to time, it is an amendment to the Constitution. Ours (Indian Constitution) is the best in the world, we are opposed to CAA. We state that divisive things cannot work in this country,” he said.
The BJP, on the other hand, has disagreed with the Archbishop’s statement on the CAA. Two days after the Archbishop urged for the revocation of the CAA, State BJP general secretary Narendra Sawaikar urged him to stop claiming benefits under Article 30 of the Indian Constitution, which protects minority educational institutions from government discrimination.
Reacting to this, the Congress shot back at the BJP stating that Article 30 is enshrined in the Indian Constitution. It has called Sawaikar’s condemnation of the Archbishop’s views as “autocratic”.
