Intolerance, polarisation increasing in Goa: Archbishop

Increasing intolerance and polarisation were creating an unpleasant and alarming situation in Goa, Archbishop Filipe Neri Ferrao said on Monday, calling for an urgent need for mercy and compassion.

"But what do we see today, new and ever greater forms of intolerance," Ferrao said at a civic reception organised at the Bishop's Palace in Panaji, which was attended by Defence Minister Manohar Parrikar, Governor Mridula Sinha, Chief Minister Laxmikant Parsekar and ministers of the Bharatiya Janata Party-led government.

"It has become quite frequent to read in our newspapers, stories of wives and kids being hacked to death... of gruesome murders caused by petty quarrels and of fiery speeches made in public platforms, trying to incite hatred between communities and polarising the majority against the minorities in this state.

"This is obviously an unpleasant and alarming situation," Ferrao said.

He said the present situation was a contrast to the Goa of the past which was "an island of peace".

Ferrao is the religious and spiritual leader of Goa's Roman Catholic community which accounts for more than a quarter of the state's population of 1.5 million.