The on-going controversy over DSE’s (not the Church) invitation to Catholic MLAs is a mischievous ploy of the sectarian forces to distract the people from the real issue. There can be many opinions on how DSE should have acted, but being a Catholic institution, to first apprise the Catholic MLAs about the problem is also a rightful option. Should actions about lobbying for justice and equality with government now be decided based on how MLAs of various faiths will react? It would also be a lie to deny that the refusal of permissions to Church institutions in education is not about politicization of education, or even communalization. Would a similar application to the Education department from a non-minority institution favorable to the local MLA and the party in power have received the same response is a valid question? One could also claim that a political party chooses to shoot at the Church from the shoulders of individuals with Christian names while all other ‘get well’ spokespersons of that party are non-Christians. If the DSE could have done things differently, so also can those attempting to give a communal twist to this action for deriving political mileage.
Soter D’Souza, Porvorim
