Even as
voting day
grows ever nearer, BJP’s MLAs and ministers from the Catholic community are having a tough time convincing their
minority voters
to elect the
saffron party
. Nine of BJP’s 28 MLAs are Catholic, and the party is also supported by two more independent MLAs from the minority community.
A senior Catholic BJP MLA told TOI that during
campaigning
, voters from minority communities often get agitated and ask them why they should vote for BJP.
Common concerns include the functioning of state govt, fears of major amendments to the Constitution, the Citizenship Amendment Act (CAA), and the party’s secular credentials.
“We try to tell them to vote for BJP based on the work done in their constituency, but the immediate question flung back at us is, ‘How will you oppose your party’s decisions when you have no voice in the party?’” the senior MLA said.
A South Goa MLA who is Catholic said that “we appear to convince voters from minority communities to vote for BJP, but the actual situation will only be known at the time of counting”.
The toughest job is for BJP MLAs in constituencies that have a sizable number of minority votes. “Some just say ok when we explain to them how it is good for the country and the state,” one Catholic MLA, who represents a constituency with minority community voters in big numbers, said.
The MLAs have even been discussing this issue among themselves. “We are continuing to meet our electorates so that BJP gets the maximum number of votes,” one said.
However, another Catholic BJP TOI from North Goa conceded that it was “tough” to provide BJP with a lead in his constituency. “I am working hard to get a lead for the party in my constituency. I hope that even if I don’t get the lead, I will not give a big lead to the opposition candidate,” the MLA said.
Union home minister Amit Shah had recently advised BJP MLAs, ministers, and functionaries to leave no stone unturned to reach out to minority communities to secure Lok Sabha seats.
Chief minister Pramod Sawant had also said that religion and politics should not be mixed, and there should be no division between religions for votes in Goa.
“Why is there division in Goa? Why is there a fight between religion for politics? Don’t we have MLAs and ministers (from the minority community)? Have we never made them ministers and MLAs? We have not done injustice to anyone. Did we shut down anything? We have not spoken against anything,” he told TOI at this newspaper’s office.
Sawant’s statement came in the backdrop of a circular from the Archbishop of Goa and Daman, Filipe Neri Cardinal Ferrao, to all parishes, priests, and Catholics asking them to vote for secular candidates who would uphold values “enshrined in the Constitution”.
English (US) ·