Panaji: Archbishop of Goa and Daman, Rev Filipe Neri Ferrao, has urged the central government to “immediately and unconditionally revoke the Citizenship Amendment Act” and stop quashing the “right to dissent”.
He also appealed to the government not to implement the proposed countrywide National Register of Citizens (NRC) and the National Population Register (NPR).
Diocesan Centre for Social Communications Media, a wing of the Goa Church, in a statement on Saturday said, “The Archbishop and the Catholic community of Goa would like to appeal to the government to listen to the voice of millions in India, to stop quashing the right to dissent and, above all, to immediately and unconditionally revoke the CAA and desist from implementing the NRC and the NPR.”
There has been widespread discontent and open protests throughout the country and even abroad against the CAA, NRC and NPR, which are “forecasting a systematic erosion of values, principles and rights” that have been guaranteed to all citizens in the Constitution, the release said.
Eminent citizens, including top intellectuals and legal luminaries, have taken a studied and unequivocal stand against the CAA, NRC and NPR, it noted.
Goa also witnessed several protests, which transcended the confines of religious and caste affiliation and brought people from all walks of life together on one united platform, said the statement.
It said Christians in India have always been a peace-loving community and deeply committed to the ideals of justice, liberty, equality and fraternity, enshrined in the Constitution.
Source :PTI