Speaking to Herald on Friday, Silva alleged that Rodrigues, being the MLA and a minister at the time, influenced the Congress government to send police to the church. He stressed that the issue began 21 days before the church attack and that the matter would have been resolved soon if Rodrigues had taken it seriously.
He questioned the motive for the raid and the involvement of government machinery, like the police and District Collector. He also blamed Rodrigues for the fallout, in which innocent people who rushed to protect their parish priest had been charged.
Silva pointed out that he could not call on the police as he was not an MLA, and since the day of the incident, he tried to resolve the issue. He stated that the matter had taken more time as the police had been assaulted and that the chargesheet was just procedure that did not take away from the assurance given by former Chief Minister Manohar Parrikar that the case would be dropped.
He added that the current Chief Minister Laxmikant Parsekar was also looking into the matter and that the CM was sympathetic and fully supported the demands of the accused.
He also pointed out that when the case was just filed, an FIR was registered against seven persons and over 1,000 unknown persons. He had taken up the demands of the villagers affected by the case, and thus, Parrikar had assured to get the case dropped. Due procedure was being followed since then.
Silva further questioned the timing of Rodrigues’ recent statement that he had written to the Chief Minister. He sought to know what Rodrigues had done since the incident and why the latter chose to speak up only when the elections were close.
While demanding better police infrastructure for Velim in the Assembly, Silva also criticized Rodrigues’ behavior in a recent accident case in the constituency.
