TEAM HERALD
PANJIM/VASCO: When Mapusa BJP MLA and newly-inducted minister Francis D’Souza threatened consequences if denied the chief minister’s post on Friday only to take a U-turn and meekly surrender to the elevation of Laxmikant Parsekar as chief minister, the minority communities in the State were left fuming and betrayed.
Dismayed that D’Souza had abruptly and unexpectedly changed his stance, after his group of legislators had openly claimed that D’Souza’s elevation as chief minister would have put an end to BJP’s label as a communal party, people from the Christian and Muslim communities accused D’Souza of betraying their sentiments and aspirations.
Among those dejected members of the Christian community included a number of priests from the Church in Goa, with many of them feeling betrayed and let down by D’Souza.
“D’Souza ought to have shown some self-respect by being true to his words of remaining a MLA if not selected as the chief minister. The BJP has clearly indicated that they need MLAs from other religions only for decoration to make claims of being secular, their true colours now are evident,” remarked a senior priest from Goa.
“The crisis of the BJP of choosing a replacement as chief minister has shown the calibre of parties. It is said that the character of a person is measured in terms of how one performs in a crisis situation. For the BJP, D’Souza should have been a natural choice not as a favour but by merit of being the longest-serving MLA of the party,” the priest added.
Added another priest, who also spoke on condition of anonymity: “In raising the expectations of the Catholic community by forcefully presenting himself as a candidate to the office of chief minister and immediately bowing down and joining the cabinet, Francis D’Souza put his foot in his mouth and stands fallen in eyes of all Goans and Catholics in particular.”
A third senior priest, however, took a moderate stand in the matter. “Changing words, spoken with gusto, and creating a U-turn is the best lesson D’Souza has learnt from Parrikar. Give a centimetre to the minority sentiment and the expectation will be unlimited, as witnessed by the vacancy created to be the next chief minister. In any case, Francis D’Souza staked claim based on competence, rapport with RSS leaders and support from other BJP MLAs,” said the priest.
“This perfect opportunity of politicising religion and ignoring the governance has once again come to haunt the Catholic community.”
“Goa needs a chief minister with a vision to steer the ship in unstable times and a discipline to pursue healthy processes. Rather than creating an issue as why a minority candidate was not made a chief minister, it would benefit the minority community to collaborate and pray that the above qualities reign supreme among politicians,” the priest added.
Similar feelings of disappointment were voiced by people cutting across communities in Vasco as well.
“The BJP should have made D’Souza the next chief minister. By doing a U-turn, D’Souza has betrayed the sentiments of the people who were supporting his candidature as the next chief minister, even though it is finally the decision of the party high command to take a call,” said Basher Khan from Vasco.
Added Jovito Cardozo, a senior citizen from Vasco: “When I heard that D’Souza could be the next chief minister, he was quite happy that an MLA from the minority section would be the chief minister.”
“But it was shocking to see that D’ Souza, who spoke about his double graduation and all the qualities needed to be the next chief minister, had suddenly become silent like a lamb and took oath as a minister.”
“D’Souza has betrayed the sentiments and aspirations of the people cutting across the religion and party affiliation, who had supported his views. Instead keeping up to his words, D’Souza meekly took oath as minister during the swearing-in ceremony of Parsekar,” said Cardozo.
Some BJP workers, who were also in favour of D’Souza as chief minister, claimed they had been let down by the BJP government.
“D’Souza knew the functioning of the government and in the absence of Parrikar; he handled the affairs of the state. As a result, D’Souza should have been made the next chief minister. We feel dejected that D’Souza, instead of keeping to his word that he would not take any ministerial berth if denied the CM’s post, instead took oath as minister during the swearing-in ceremony on Saturday,” said a disappointed BJP worker.
