Yet another Opinion that remains unpublished in Herald's game of 'Manufacturing
Consent'. But this letter was publised in Gomantak Times on 31/3/2011. Fr.
Romualdo D'souza s.j. has rightly exposed the mischief.
"We get to read of noises from a bunch of misguided priests and nuns blaming
the Church for polarising Goans on the medium of instruction issue at the
behest of politicians. Do they mean to say that noises over other issues taken
up by various groups against corruption, Swiss bank accounts, mining and for
special status to Goa are secular and not influenced by political interests?
When people started agitating against mega projects some elements claimed that
the Church is behind the noise as it fears that christians will be outnumbered
in villages. We convceniently forget that Goans were polarised on religious
grounds during the Opinion Poll and the Konkani agitation. The very same
mergerists are now on the bandwagon for claiming special status to Goa as it
suits their political interests.
Is the demand for grants for primary education with English as the medium of
instruction a concern of only one section of the community? Is it that only
christian children avail of English medium primary education in private
schools? Does every issue raised by the Church in Goa need to be endorsed by
the majority community for it to be secular and non-divisive? Are the various
rights issues of the oppressed and marginalised that are taken up by the Church
also communal?
As to me, there is no doubt that the Church committed a collosal blunder 20
years ago by opting for primary education in Konkani without wide
consultations. Perhaps it sunbscribes to the preconceived notion of the konkani
fundamentalists that Goan Christians are 'denationalised' and need to be
nationalised by imposing the language, that too in devanagiri script. "
-Soter D'Souza
