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Religious places are for worship,not to create communal violence' HERALD NEWS DESK PANJIM, JULY 2 – Panelists in a debate titled 'Is communal violence rising in Goa?' organised by HCN, Goa's top news and entertainment channel were unanimous in their views that maintaining communal harmony is the need of the hour and that all religious places are meant for prayer and worship, and not to discuss or plan issues that can create communal violence. When pointed out that it happens all the time with all communities and fiery speeches are made to incite by members of the Hindu majority who gather in temples, while the Muslim minority use the mosques and many times the church bells are rung to alert villagers when things go wrong, the panelist agreed that such activity should be banned. Illegal shrines mushrooming along the roadside also cause communal tension and government must take action to demolish them immediately, they said. Superintendent of Police (North), Bosco George said that although communal violence is not rising, but communal tension is there and has always been there and people are aware about it, but it is not a regular feature. When asked to comment about police efficiency regarding the Margao incident of violence over eve teasing, he said that if an assembly of people takes place without any permission and specific intention, then it can be declared as unlawful and when the police were confident about sufficient force they took action and cleared the commotion. When questioned whether police have sufficient manpower to tackle incidents of sudden communal violence, he said 'we have recruited more policemen and are capable of taking quick action'. After the Margao incident, I have instructed the police in my district to identify potential criminals who can be a source of nuisance so that preventive action can be taken in the event of occurrence of communal tension, he said. BJP General Secretary and spokesperson, Govind Parvatkar stated that Goans have lived for centuries in peace without any problem, but the heavy influx of Muslims from neighbouring states is causing communal tension. He castigated the police for not being efficient in controlling the situation at Pimpalkatta and said that they brutally attacked without sounding any warning and this should not have happened. Social Activist, Shridhar Kamat while disagreeing with Parvatkar said that the bulk of the migrants flooding Goa are Hindus. He congratulated the police for taking action timely by ordering a lathi charge and said that Pimpalkatta is a religious place for Hindus and fiery speeches were being made and the crowd had started to stone the shops and any delay would have had disastrous consequences. Social Worker, Fr Simon Fernandes SJ said that people take advantage of small issues and give it a communal colour. There is always a threat of power and many times communal violence is politically motivated for vote-bank politics. There is need for an inter-religious dialogue on a continuous basis to foster communal harmony, he said. Social worker and Headmaster of Anjuman Islam School, Abdul Aziz Mullah said that even before liberation the Muslims were present in Goa, but there was no communal tension as we have now. The migrants come with one small bag and they are our need. We meet in the mosque five times a day to pray and not to discuss political issues. Every state has a minority commission to protect the interest of minorities, he said and called for immediate setting up of a minority commission in Goa. Juino De Souza initiated and moderated the debate.
