Thursday 28 Mar 2024

Another cross desecrated, now at Calconda

There’s no let up in the desecration of crosses in Salcete with miscreants vandalising a cross at Calconda, Margao just meters away from the Lord Krishna Temple, where a Nandi and Tulsi Vrundavan were desecrated earlier this month.

| JULY 15, 2017, 03:10 AM IST
the goan I networkrMARGAOrr The cross is believed to have been vandalised at around 2.20 am on Friday taking advantage of the power outage and heavy rains. A local resident Abdul Latif, who had come out of the house at around 2.20 am, said he had noticed a white colour Tata Indica car near the cross. “I woke up at around 2.20 am when there was a power outage in the area. When I came out, I noticed a white colour Indica car near the cross. When I came outside again, the vehicle was missing,” Abdul said. rMargao Police station-incharge, PI C L Patil said the police had made their presence felt in and around the Lord Krishna Temple twice, but the miscreants are believed to have taken advantage of the power outage and the rains to desecrate the religious structure. rThe cross was built way back in 1994 in memory of late PSI Simon Fernandes, who was murdered by anti-social elements. Simon’s brother Irineu wondered why the miscreants are targeting the religious structures in the State. “Few days ago, the miscreants had targeted a Nandi and Tulsi Vrundavan and now they have targeted the cross built in memory of my brother. This is nothing but to create division amongst the people,” he said. rIrineu said he has a strong feeling that all this is happening only after the visit of Sadhvi and her hate speech delivered in the State, while lamenting that nobody had deemed fit to register a case against the Sadhvi till date. rrDesecrations aimed at destabilising govt: VijairrMARGAO: TCP Minister and Goa Forward party supremo Vijai Sardesai on Friday suspected a conspiracy behind the spate of desecrations aimed at destabilising the government and to target him personally since most of the cases have been reported from South Goa.r “I think there’s a conspiracy to destablise what is happening in Goa when disparate parties have come together for the sake of Goemkarponn. By indulging in desecrations, the miscreants want to disturb Goemkarponn. They just want to disturb the government. This is not rocket science. Otherwise, just explain why are these desecrations taking place only in South Goa,” he said, adding that he has strong reasons to believe that the desecrations are aimed at him.r Saying that the desecrations are an act of terror, the TCP Minister, while commending the people of Goa, however, said that the police should take the ongoing investigations to the logical conclusion. r Replying to a question, Sardesai said he does not want to point fingers at any group or political party, saying that the ongoing desecrations are the handiwork of people and fundamentalists aimed at achieving something.rSaluting the people of Goa for foiling the attempts of the miscreants to create a fear psychosis in their minds, the TCP Minister said the government will push the police to take the cases to its logical conclusion. rOn his statement that Goa Forward will re-build the religious structures desecrated by the vandals, he clarified that the party only wants to convey a message to the people that together Goans can rebuild the damaged structures.r and foil attempts by the anti-socials to inject poison of communal disharmony in the State. rrrAct to create rmistrust among rcommunities: rDigambar KamatrMARGAO: The spate of ongoing desecrations in South Goa has reminded Margao MLA Digambar Kamat of how the miscreants had tried rto create an environment of mistrust amongst the religious communities.r “When I was the Chief Minister, the miscreants had resorted to a similar plan of desecrating temples across the State. They had vandalised the Mahavir and Ambedkar statues, besides temples. The plan was to create mistrust amongst the religious communities,” he said. r He said it is indeed unfortunate that the miscreants are targeting the religious structures again with the same motive. “What is happening in Goa is bad. Crosses are being desecrated almost every day. Few days ago, the miscreants had desecrated the Nandi and Tulsi Vrundavan at the nearby Lord Krishna Temple,” he said. r Replying to a question, he said the police are on the job to nab the culprits, hoping that the men-in-uniform will achieve a breakthrough in these cases.r Asked to comment on the general feeling that the desecration cases have started only after the visit of Sadhvi to Goa, Kamat said “I do not want to comment on the question. I feel that no one should bring politics in religion. What is happening is bad and is against the tenets of religion.”
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