------------------------------------------------------------------------ August 20 - WORLD GOA DAY Celebrating the inclusion of Konkani in the 8th schedule of the Indian Constitution on August 20, 1992
For a list of World Goa Day events see: http://worldgoaday2009.blogspot.com ------------------------------------------------------------------------ Selma Carvalho: A very similar situation is occurring in Goa. For all the time I have been on Goanet at least, I have been crying hoarse about how the fundamentalist groups in Goa will grow to strangle our very democracy. Some months back I was demonised as being a fear-monger and trying to divide the community along communal lines. Now the chickens have come home to roost. They aren't targeting just Muslims or Christians, their targets have turned to respectable members of the Hindu community themselves. The only problem is how do we fell the giant of distortion that we have created in our midst? Response: *Selma* *History is replete with examples of Frankensteins who devoured their creators. Bhindranwala was a creation of Indira Gandhi to split the Akalis. In the end, he was the cause of her death. Prabhakaran of LTTE was supported clandestinely by the Indian govt. In the end, he was the cause of former PM Rajiv Gandhi’s death. The Shiv Sena was a Congress creation to put down the communists. Today the SS has grown to become a monster whom the govt cannot touch.* *Similarly, the RSS/BJP has spawned a number of organizations like HJS, BD, VHP, Ekal Vidyalaya’s, Vidya Bharati’s, Sri Ram Sene’s etc. to do their dirty work so that their hands can be kept clean. Slowly, but surely, these bodies are now going out of control, and are now becoming monsters in their own right. Witness Praveen Togadia thumbing his nose at his bosses.* *The silence of the large majority has a price to pay. When muslims were butchered in Gujarat, there was silence, when Christians were persecuted in Orissa, there was silence. Emboldened, the chickens are now coming home to roost. What is happening is true to the hindutva ideology. The enemies of hindutva in the words of Golwalkar, RSS chief are muslims, Christians, Marxists and secular minded hindus. The hindutvadis have already tried ethnic cleansing with the muslims and Christians. Thay have been having regular clashes with the Marxists, especially in Kerala. It is now the turn of secular minded hindus.* *I am reminded of the words of Rev *Martin Niemöller<http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Martin_Niem%C3%B6ller>(1892–1984) * who wrote: “ **First they came for the Communists, and I didn’t speak up, because I wasn’t a Communist. Then they came for the Jews, and I didn’t speak up, because I wasn’t a Jew. Then they came for the Catholics, and I didn’t speak up, because I was a Protestant. Then they came for me, and by that time there was no one left to speak up for me."* about the inactivity of German intellectuals <http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Intellectual>following the Nazi <http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nazism> rise to power and the purging of their chosen targets, group after group. Regards, Marshall**