AAP Goa Convenor Elvis Gomes’ outburst against few priests, who have allegedly asked the people to vote for Congress in Goa, was avoidable.
The Archdiocese has made it amply clear that priests are not supposed to ask the faithful to vote for a particular Party or candidate but only provide general guidelines. Priests could, however, in their individual capacity, ask people to vote for a particular candidate. But, surely, not from the altar or the lectern. And, if this was done, it was against the directives from their superiors.
But such aberrations do happen and they put the hierarchical authority in an embarrassing situation.
There might have been some strong reasons for some priests to advise the faithful, not from the altar, to vote for the Congress, but to accuse them of being “commercial agents for the Congress” is surely objectionable and does not behoove a good catholic gentleman like Elvis Gomes.
I know of at least one priest who accompanied by a Minister, went round asking people to vote for BJP. So also, there might have been some who similarly asked people to vote for Congress or AAP, though one may wonder what made this priest move to many parishes canvassing for BJP.
At the time of last Assembly elections, some staunch supporters of AAP distanced themselves from the party, due to some misunderstandings. Even during the recent Lok Sabha campaign, a few leaders of AAP antagonised some people for no good reasons. Many adherents of AAP sincerely felt that the Party, not having made enough dent in Goa, could not win a LS seat on its own.
In their view, anti-BJP forces needed to come together to ensure defeat of BJP, particularly in South Goa. The inclination towards the Congress was not out of love for it, but solely to avoid split of votes.
It is unfortunate that to keep the worst out, we also often need to vote out the best for lack of sufficient support for him/her. Elvis Gomes would surely be an asset for us in the LA rather than in LS. Unfortunately, divergent views even from AAP sympathisers were aggressively countered by the diehard supporters of the Party.
A few went even to the extent of openly showing preference for BJP rather than to Congress. AAP supporters hopefully understand that Elvis left a successful bureaucratic career to lead the Party. It is to be hoped that they will continue to support Elvis and not abandon him to his fate, should he fail to make it to LS, holding him responsible for AAP’s defeat. Time will tell what happens
Now, that elections are over, let us join hands for a better Goa and staunchly oppose the forces of destruction and communalism, instead of wasting our energies on avoidable bickering.
