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Minorities are feeling insecure under BJP, says Goa Congress leader

Sandesh Prabhudesai in Panjim

The Congress in Goa holds its own party's government in Madhya Pradesh as responsible as the Bharatiya Janata Party-led coalition at the Centre for the increasing number of attacks on minorities, especially Christians, in parts of central India.

Luizinho Faleiro, leader of the Opposition, announced that the Congress would collect 100,000 signatures from all over Goa condemning the rape of three nuns in Jhabua, Madhya Pradesh, as well as attacks on church property in that state and elsewhere.

Chief Minister Dr Wilfred de Souza, whose coalition government is supported by the BJP, has also written a strong letter to his Madhya Pradesh counterpart Digvijay Singh to demand stern action against the rapists.

Faleiro, however, prefers to focus more on the Sangh Parivar by generalising the issue to the attacks on minorities in different parts of the country. "Over 40 such incidents have been reported against Christians alone in five months, from April to August," he pointed out.

Linking the attacks to the inaction in neighbouring Maharashtra on the report of the B N Srikrishna Commission on the Bombay riots of 1992-93, Faleiro said the religious minorities in the country have been feeling insecure since the BJP-led government came to power at the Centre.

"It pains more when the BJP's frontal organisations like the VHP [Vishwa Hindu Parishad] and the Bajrang Dal justify such incidents in the name of nationalism and patriotism," he said.

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