The controversy over the surprising notification issued by the Primary Health Centre Aldona, prohibiting ‘Christian preachers” from entering the hospital to ‘lure’ innocent patients with financial help; couldn’t have come at a more inappropriate time, and at a more inappropriate place.
It was an isolated notice and it read “The public is hereby informed that the Christian preachers are hereby prohibited from entering the hospital premises and luring innocent patients with financial help. It is a punishable offence and liable for further action.”
Issued by the obviously very hyperactive health officer Maria Sequeira, the trigger for the notice which was bound to – and did – evoke strong reactions and send worry lines increasingly among the minorities; is still unknown.
While the Directorate of Health Services was quick to put a lid on this by saying that there was no directive to issue such a notice, which apparently went unnoticed till someone uploaded it on social media, the damage hit home. The news of the notice spurred Facebook discussions and an outpouring of angst on Goa centric groups. This was further fuelled by reports of attacks on Churches in Delhi. By this time a steady momentum had gathered, and none other than the Archbishop himself, normally a reticent man, issued a statement “expressing deep shock” over the Church attacks. But the Aldona PHC notice actively played on the minds of people and parties, including the almost defunct NCP, which called for an inquiry.
For the BJP though, apart from the sensitive nature of the incident which will stymie its efforts to fight the perception battle of losing ground among the minorities, is the fact that the incident happened in Aldona. Aldona, which has a sizeable minority population, also has a Glenn Ticlo as an MLA. Ticlo with virtually no political background managed to win against a heavyweight like Dayanand Narvekar, riding on the Parrikar wave in 2012. But since then Ticlo, unlike other minority MLAs in South Goa, has worked to win the affection of his constituents. The party membership drive has actually seen a chunk of the minorities enrolling. Ticlo’s twice a week visit to his constituency office also draws continuous crowds.
Therefore a notice asking Christian preachers not to lure patients with money in the hospital premises, pre-supposes that Christian preachers enter the hospital and then lure people with money. The underlying insinuation here is that these preachers then coerce non Christians to get in to the faith.
The BJP must realise that it doesn’t matter what the genesis of this notice or who the perpetrators are. Even if they are not from the BJP – assuming that it would not kick itself in the foot by doing so – the impact will affect places like Nuvem, Velim, Benaulim, Curtorim and a host of other Salcete constituencies. The minorities there are looking for a valve to release their frustration, anger and suffocation and though the Congress isn’t quite ready to do the rescue act and liberate the minorities, any other formation can move into that space.
As the ruling party moves into the business end of its term, with a Chief Minister who is just beginning his own term, there needs to be a very fine balance between the organisation, the party and the government in ensuring that the development card has to be played with giving people, especially the minorities a sense of security. If having Manohar Parrikar was a trump card, the Goa BJP has to contend with the anti minority baggage that Narendra Modi carries. It must understand that incidents that hurt Christians across the country, will be felt much more in Goa and the brunt of the peoples hurt will have to be faced by the BJP government in Goa. The BJP can argue till the cows come home that this isn’t fair, but since when has politics been about fair deals. Or about calibrated and politically correct public reactions?
Above all, the BJP in Goa has to decide if it wants to go the extra mile to rebuild bridges so that people look beyond welfare schemes to become party members and supporters, or carry on the way it is now hoping that the good governance plank will find favour. The problem is – and the BJP doesn’t quite get it – is that the political wind doesn’t blow according to science but a far more complex discipline called sentiment. If that sentiment knocks off even six seats in Salcete, its Goa bastion will be impossible to defend.
