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Catholics cry foul over demolition of crosses
MUMBAI - Thousands of Catholics led by cardinal Oswald Gracias, archbishop and president of Catholic Bishops Conference of India, participated in a march here on Friday, protesting against the demolition of three crosses by the Bombay Municipal Corporation (BMC).
Angry protestors demanded an apology from BMC officials for demolishing the crosses, despite the Maharashtra government — and even the municipal commissioner — having granted a temporary stay against the demolition.
“I suspect it was the work of some over-zealous officials of the BMC,” Abraham Mathai, vice-chairman, State Minorities Commission, told Khaleej Times, referring to the demolition of a cross in Mazagaon that was believed to have been there since 1936.
But Joseph Dias, general secretary, Catholic Secular Forum (CSF), was more blunt, telling this correspondent that the Hindutva parties — the Shiv Sena and the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) — were responsible for the demolition.
According to Dias, these forces are once again trying to polarise Hindu votes in the run-up to elections to the BMC, the country’s richest civic body, which has been under the control of the Sena-BJP for several years.
Many state governments have started initiating action against illegal religious structures that hinder the free movement of traffic and pedestrians. This follows a Supreme Court order in a public interest litigation on illegal religious structures, directing local authorities across India to demolish such structures that were built after 1964.
“Various state governments are demolishing religious structures following the Supreme Court directive, which is giving a communal colour to the demolition drive, with Christians being selectively targetted,” accused Dias of the CSF. The prayer protest organised on Friday was to oppose such a policy and to urge federal government to seek a clarification from the apex court.
Mathai said that Maharashtra chief minister Prithviraj Chavan, who called the cardinal on Friday, apologised to the Christian community for the demolition of the cross in Mazagaon. “We are not against the demolition of religious structures. In fact, we have offered to help the local authorities in shifting and relocating such structures if they are a hindrance to traffic,” noted Mathai.
On Thursday, a BMC squad demolished a cross, a grotto and two temples in Mazagaon, leading to unrest in the locality. One of the temples is claimed to be more than a hundred years old. Many residents claim the cross has been there since 1936. Mathai said the cross was located at the end of a passage and did not really cause any obstacle.
Just two days earlier, the Maharashtra government had stated that it would formulate a policy relating to religious structures built before 1964. It had also asked the BMC to stay all action and had urged various communities to produce documentation relating to the existence of the structures.
Maharashtra’s minorities welfare minister, Arif Naseem Khan, had also asked the municipal commissioner to handle the issue tactfully, without hurting any religious sentiments.
According to estimates, there are nearly 200 crosses in public places in Mumbai.
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