I have been reading Mathany's justifications about supporting the BJP. By all means we should not polarise the communities and every one should live together in unity. But let me tell you that it requires 2 hand to clap. Mathany's great heroism or efforts to avoid polarisation means nothing for fanatics and fascists who have been at work since the opinion poll. I can tell you that the minorities are needed by the BJP as decoration and the same also holds good for the Bahujan samaj who are being used. Filipe Neri's, Monseratte's and Micky's desertion has already been used by these forces to support their earlier claims that christaos and musalmans cannot be trusted. No matter what Mathany or Francis (babush) does, when it comes to politics there is nothing to stop a senior leader of the BJP (who incidentally is Parrikar's favourite) from my village to go around at every election calling christaos 'dukhor khavu' and warning the hindu community that if christians get the majority they will get back the Portuguese. There is nothing to stop many hindus from thinking that if Dr willy becomes the Chief Minister that the Portuguese will come back. Nothing can stop some hindu politician whether at Panchayat level or State Assembly level to polarise the communities saying that a christao sarpanch or CM is not acceptable. And there are many such leaders in the organisational set up of the BJP who are of the opinion that if christians can be used as stepping stones to their ultimate goal of hindu raxttra then why not use them. Talking about communal harmony is one thing and being naive about being used like condoms is another. Sorry for the harsh language but I speak from experience and we should take some clues from the experiences of Digamber Kamat although he has been guarded in his disclosures. But surely that does not mean there are no balanced thinking hindus and by all means we should support them and work together to eradicate the mistrust and misinformation being dished out by fanatics to further their political agenda.
-soter d'souza
