Carmel Christy The Christmas star was hung on top of the mango tree in front of Metilda’s house. It was made of white paper and nine edges of narrow plywood pieces carved from bamboo trees, pasted together by a mix of maida flour boiled in water. Manuel, Metilda’s father worked on the star everyday after …
The Other Silences to the Marginalisation of Catholics in Goa
Jason Keith Fernandes Bosco de Sousa Eremita’s article, “The Silent Ethnic Cleansing of Catholics in Goa,” published earlier this month was widely shared on social media. At about the same time that I read a Hindu friend informed me that he is often accosted thus when he extends professional services to Catholics in Goa: “Arrey! …
‘Ghar Wapsi’: Owner of the house or servant?
Dale Luis Menezes and Amita Kanekar With the BJP coming to power in the last Lok Sabha elections, we have witnessed increasing violence against religious minorities and their places of worship. There has been no action to curb the violence, nor even a statement of condemnation from the Centre. Instead, in the last few months, …
No ghar, so no ghar wapsi
Kancha Ilaiah The Sangh Parivar is conducting the so-called “ghar wapsi” programmes all over the country. According to a newspaper report, about 8,000 people have been brought back to “ghar” from Christianity in newly formed Telangana and Andhra Pradesh. The reconversion of some dalit Christians in Kerala is also widely reported. Nobody knows when …
The Battle of the Konkanis: Separating Wolves from the Lambs
Jason Keith FernandesDale Luis Menezes Context In 1987 subsequent to mass demonstrations composed overwhelmingly of bahujan Catholics the legislature of the Union Territory of Goa, Daman and Diu recognised Konkani in the Nagari script as the official language of Goa. This recognition of script was used to privilege a brahmanical project of fixing the …
Common Sense and Hindu Nationalism: Why the Catholics in Goa are not Hindu
Albertina AlmeidaAmita KanekarDale Luis MenezesJason Keith FernandesR. Benedito Ferrão Can a Goan Catholic be Hindu? Can Catholics professing a tradition of Catholicism that is over five centuries old be considered Hindu in culture? This is what the Chief Minister of Goa, Manohar Parrikar, sought to suggest in a recent interview with Sambuddha Mitra Mustafi of …
Muslim-Catholic dialogue in India: Is caste the main problem?
Jason Keith Fernandes Introduction Sharing his experiences on Christian-Muslim dialogue in the March ’09 issue of Jivan, Fr Paul Jackson was unusually reticent on the challenges that face the Catholic aspirant on this route. To say that this route is a path of thorns would not be an exaggeration, since there are quite a …