Goa Archbishop urges govt to revoke 'divisive' CAA

Archbishop of Goa and Daman, Rev Filipe Neri Ferrao, has urged the Central government to "immediately and unconditionally" revoke the "divisive and discriminatory" Citizenship Amendment Act and stop quashing the "right to dissent", drawing criticism from the BJP.

He also appealed to the government not to implement the proposed countrywide National Register of Citizens (NRC) and the National Population Register (NPR).

However, Goa BJP's general secretary Narendra Sawaikar asked why the Archbishop was opposing CAA when "crores of people including Goans" were supporting the new law.

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."