Why is the Church not opposing Article 30, asks Goa BJP leader

BJP leader and former Lok Sabha MP Narendra Sawaikar on Monday called Goa Archbishop Filipe Neri Ferrao's statement against the Citizenship Amendment Act as "divisive" and asked why the latter was not objecting to Article 30 of the Constitution which gives minorities the right to establish educational institutions.

Ferrao on Saturday had asked the Centre to scrap CAA and drop any plans of carrying out the National Population Register and National Register of Citizens exercises.

"They (minorities) claim all benefits under Article 30. They run educational institutions with the money I pay as tax," Sawaikar, the Goa BJP's general secretary, said.

Article 30(1) lays down that religious and linguistic minorities have the right to establish and administer educational institutions.

"The archbishop should also demand that Article 30 of the Constitution be scrapped," Sawaikar said, and went on to claim Ferrao's statement was "divisive", had no "logic or rationale" and was based on "ifs and buts".

The archbishop's representatives or the spokesperson of the Centre for Social Justice and Peace (CSJP) were not available for comment.