Panaji, Mar 10 (IANS): In yet another showdown between officials of the Goa Church and the ruling government ahead of an election, a Church-backed NGO has slammed "verbal assault" and "unruly behaviour" against a parish priest, during the ongoing municipal poll campaign.
In an official statement the Council for Social Justice and Peace, which is an arm of the influential Roman Catholic Church in Goa, on Wednesday said that the threat of violence on March 6 against Fr. Bolmax Pereira, the parish priest of Chicalim, allegedly by the personal assistant (PA) of a Cabinet Minister in the BJP-led coalition government, was unwarranted and intended to create disharmony in the area.
The incident had occurred after Pereira had visited the residence of a woman panchayat member, who was elected unopposed in a local village panchayat ward, when he was confronted by the Minister's PA. Polls to 11 municipal councils, one municipal corporation and bypolls in a few village panchayat wards are scheduled to be held in Goa on March 20.
"The said miscreants earlier used demeaning words and tried to pressurise and bully the youth and her family, thereby creating a sense of fear and intimidation. This evil and cowardly act was distressing and shocking and has caused disharmony in the local area," the Council said in a statement by it's executive secretary Fr. Savio Fernandes.
"The Council condemns the attack and expects the concerned civil authorities to take firm and appropriate action immediately in view of putting an end to such antisocial activities," the statement also said.
The Goa Church and successive BJP-led coalition governments in the state have been on a collision path come election time over the last decade.
In the run-up to the August 2017 state Assembly bypolls, an article in a magazine run by the influential Roman Catholic Church in Goa had liked in the BJP-led coalition government to Nazi rule in Germany, forcing then Chief Minister late Manohar Parrikar to respond saying that an anti-India sentiment on the rise in Goa.
Ahead of the 2019 Lok Sabha polls, a video of a Catholic priest late Fr. Conceicao D'Silva had also gone viral after he urged Catholics attending Sunday mass to not vote for the BJP, triggering controversy.