Sampark se Samarthan: Goa BJP to meet Archbishop

Panaji, June 7: The BJP will soon formally seek an appointment with Goa Archbishop Filipe Neri Ferrao as part of its ‘Sampark se Samarthan’ outreach programme to inform social influencers about achievements of the ruling party, an official said on Thursday. “As part of the ‘Sampark se Samarthan’ programme, we will be seeking an appointment with the Archbishop this week. We will be briefing him about the achievements of the Narendra Modi government,” a state BJP officer said on condition of anonymity.

This is expected to be the first interaction of the Archbishop with BJP office-bearers after the former’s pastoral letter earlier this week in which he claimed that India’s Constitution was in danger, triggered controversy. The BJP has refrained from commenting on the observations made by Ferrao, who also said that “mono-culturalism” and threats over food habits, freedom of expressions were infringements of human rights.

Premanand Mahambre, state spokesperson of the BJP, told reporters that party office-bearers on Thursday met Swami Brahmanand of the influential Kundaim tapobhumi ashram in south Goa and presented him a booklet of achievements. The Swami has a large following among Goa’s ‘bahujan samaj’ which includes a majority of the castes, barring Brahmins.

“Our office-bearers including the state BJP president Vinay Tendulkar and General Secretary Sadanand Shet Tanavde met Swami Brahmanand and apprised him about the various development programmes launched by the BJP government in the country and explained to him about the benefits received by Goa for development,” Mahambre said. (IANS)