Goa Church magazine likens contemporary India to Nazi Germany

Panaji, Aug 17 (IANS) An article published in a magazine run by the Goa Church has likened the National Democratic Alliance (NDA) rule in India to Nazi Germany and claimed that a state of "constitutional holocaust" prevails in the country.

The article, written by a city lawyer Dr. F.E. Noronha, which appeared in "Renovacao" -- a pastoral bulletin of the Archdiocese of Goa and Daman -- urged Goa voters to vote against communal forces in order to halt the march of "nationwide fascism".

It also takes indirect potshots at Chief Minister Manohar Parrikar while imploring the voters not to vote for those who "show no sign of distinct backbone or character and evidently agree with the nationwide fascism".

"In 2012, everyone thought in terms of having a corruption-free Goa; this thinking continued till 2014, but from then and increasingly everyday what we are witnessing in India is nothing but a constitutional holocaust. Corruption is very bad, communalism is worse, but Nazism is worse than both," the article reads.

"Anybody who read William Shirer's 'The Rise and Fall of the Third Reich' or Allan Bullocks' 'A study of tyranny' or Hitler's own 'Mein Kampf' will find an extraordinary identity between the growth and rampage, of Nazism in Germany in 1933 onwards and India in 2014," it further says.

The magazine, which is edited by Fr. Aleixo Menezes and is published from the Bishop's House in Panaji, also goes on to say that the biggest issue in India today is no longer corruption, or even secularism, but of freedom and implores voters not to cast their ballot in favour of a candidate who agrees with fascism.

"The country is being ruled by one or two men and the rest are mere henchmen and running dogs. Please don't vote for a person who is a mere subaltern of such individuals. We should not vote for persons who show no sign of distinct backbone or character and evidently agree with the nationwide fascism," the article states.

"Freedom, democracy and secularism are more important than corruption. Corruption was better. Let the corrupt rule if they allow us to talk, to eat and to be politically free."

Catholics, who look to the Church in Goa as their religious and spiritual guide, account for more than a quarter of the state's population and also a sizeable chunk of the Panaji's votebank.

The article also describes the Panaji by-poll on August 23 as an opportunity to stem the downside of Indian democracy by voting against Parrikar, who in the past has been criticised by the opposition for U-turns in matters of policy.

"Let us not vote for persons who hurriedly make dozens of promises every day with dates and deadlines and violate them at leisure. This seems to be the speciality of some people. Also, people with innumerable U-turns do not carry any credit," it says.

When asked to react to the contents of the article, Parrikar said: "I do not want to say anything."

However, the former Defence Minister said there were inherent contradictions in the article, but refused to elaborate.

"If someone studies the history of Germany, you will realise (the) contradiction," Parrikar said.