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Far from the crowded beaches, as one enters lush, mountainous South Goa, tall churches welcome you. Catholics are 28 percent of the state’s population, and most of them live in the southern part.
However, the alliance is marred by internal differences and is seen as having the narrow agenda of making Marathi language the medium of instruction in schools. Still, it will eat into BJP’s votes and in Goa’s tiny constituencies that average just 25,000 votes, a few hundred votes can turn victory into defeat.
So, the party will need the Catholics if it is to get re-elected. In 2012, Manohar Parrikar managed to stitch an unlikely alliance between the BJP and the Roman Catholic Church. Catholics, who had traditionally voted for the Congress, found an alternative in ‘pro-development’ Parrikar.
But the honeymoon ended after Narendra Modi’s rise in New Delhi. As pro-Hindutva voices got louder in Goa again, the Church grew more and more uncomfortable.
That the Church is political is an open secret. A few days after Conceicao’s endorsement, Archbishop-Patriarch Filipe Neri Ferrao, of Goa, reiterated at a public function that the Church in Goa will guide the people about voting.
Although the “guidelines” which are read out in churches do not mention names of candidates or political parties, a lot is left to be read between the lines. Many priests in local churches clearly endorse a candidate, if not a party, from the pulpit.
Which is why political parties meet these priests and try to win them over. Eyebrows were raised when Union ministers Manohar Parrikar and Nitin Gadkari, who is in-charge of Goa BJP, secretly met Fr Zeferino D’souza at a five-star hotel in Panaji a couple of days before Christmas. However, D’souza said the meeting was about “some issue related to the central government”.
Aam Aadmi Party is accused of being a Catholic party in Goa. Although it has fielded candidates across the state, it clearly focuses on Catholic areas.
It’s chief ministerial candidate is a Catholic. And Kejriwal famously sent a signal to Catholics by participating in the feast of St John by wearing a floral tiara.
So, when BJP leaders met a priest, AAP was quick to react. Party spokesperson Dr Oscar Rebello questioned why D’souza held a secret meeting,
Despite being close to extremist Sikh elements in Punjab and Catholics in Goa, AAP claims it’s a secular party.
Nobody talks about it, but Catholics in Goa too have a caste system. Just like how neo-Buddhists in Maharashtra still check the original Hindu caste before marriage, Catholics in Goa are aware of the Hindu castes of their ancestors.
Similar to Hindus, Catholics in Goa have a threefold caste system – Brahmins (former Saraswats), Charodas (former Kshatriyas) and Sudirs (former lower castes). Their names don’t disclose it, their skin colour doesn’t show it, they don’t have organisations based on these castes, yet they know who is who.
The Catholic vote in South Goa is expected to be split between the Congress and the AAP. Having lost most of Hindu North, Congress depends on South Goa, which also have pockets of Muslims, to retain its tally.
Catholics are necessary for the BJP if it wants to retain power, for Congress if it wants to stay relevant in Goa, and for the AAP to make its presence felt in the Assembly.
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