This time it is not the Council For Social Justice and Peace (CSJP) that has put forth its views on the Citizenship Amendment Act (CAA), or the National Register of Citizens (NRC) and the National Population Register (NPR). CSJP is the social arm of the Church in Goa whose task it is to take up issues affecting the people of the State, and not necessarily of just the Christian community. In the past the CSJP has been in the forefront of many battles, in alliance with other organisations. And doing what it is meant to do, there was the meeting in Margao opposing the CAA that was organised by CSJP, but it did have the involvement of other social organisations.
This time it is the Church in Goa, and not an arm, that has stepped forward with an unequivocal statement and with an appeal from the Archbishop and the Catholic community that the CAA be ‘unconditionally revoked’, and that the government ‘desist from implementing the NRC and the NPR’. There can be no amniguity on what the Church in Goa wants in this matter, as this has come in the form of a letter from the Diocesan Centre for Social Communications Media and is titled as Diocesan Statement on the CAA, NRC and NPR. It comes, however, almost two months after the CAA was notified, and after there has been a raucous debate on the issue, with strong protests across the country.
The Goa Church took its time in reacting to the CAA. The Catholics Bishop’s Confernce of India had already spoken out in December over this. The Archbishop of Bombay had then said that ‘there is a danger that there could be a polarisation of our people along religious lines, which is very harmful for the country’ and that ‘religion should never be the criterion for citizenship of a country. Nor is violence a solution when there is a difference of opinion’. The statement of the Goa Church does not shift much from this, so in a manner of speaking, the local Archdiocese is merely repeating the line of the Church in India.
But while what the Church in India says may result in a limited reaction, what the Church in Goa says, creates ripples in the State’s social and political circles. Given that the Church in Goa plays a big role in society, and that the minority community has a substantial population, this statement of the Archdiocese of Goa, may not force any action of backtracking from the government, but will create unease in certain political circles, and give others reason to strengthen their positions on the CAA. This statement of the Church in Goa, could just about change the debate on the issue that has until now not evoked really strong emotions in the State.
But, unlike what is occuring in the rest of India, the debate on this issue has to be kept to within civilised limits. There can be no violence to register a difference of opinion. The entire issue has to be reviewed, especially since it has caused such a major polemical division in the country. The two sides have strong views and getting them to come to an agreement appears, at this juncture, impossible. But, perhaps in Goa, the Church can take the lead to initiate a discussion on the issue that can lead to some solution. In the interest of justice and peace in the country, there is no harm in backtracking.
This is what the entire statement of the Archdiocese of Goa wants to convey. What needs to be done is to convince the government that reining in is not a defeat. That’s a challenge which the Church in India could take up.
