Aam Aadmi Party candidate Captain Venzy Viegas exposed TMC candidate Churchill Alemao of politicising the demolition of Little Flower Church in Delhi for petty political reasons and called for Churchill’s disqualification since he is attempting to defame AAP just ten days before elections.
Viegas asserted that Churchill is using religion in order to score political points. He has been deceiving the public by claiming AAP played a part in the demolition order. Although Church has previously indicated that AAP was not involved in the demolition process, Church does not wish to politicise the issue.
TMC Benaulim candidate Churchill Alemao has filed a writ petition in the Delhi High Court seeking orders to rebuild the Little Flowers Church, which was demolished last year.
The Diocese of Faridabad responded with a press release condemning Churchill’s act and stating that writ petitions filed ahead of an election could be interpreted as attempting to use the Church and religion for political gain.
In addition, they have stated that the Church never wanted to politicize or communalize this issue. In fact, after the demolition of the Church, the diocesan authorities had contacted Arvind Kejriwal, who provided full support and consolation.
Kejriwal assisted in the rebuilding of a temporary church so that the Catholic community in the locality could celebrate Christmas in Little Flower Church under a roof.
Viegas reminded Benaulikars that Churchill is fooling the Goans by using religion as a ruse. He said, “EC should take strict action against Churchill for defaming AAP before ten days of elections and disqualify him as a candidate. EC should take strict action against TMC as well for misleading the Goans”.
“Churchill and his supporters visited the Delhi Church father earlier as well and politicised the issue for the purpose of getting the attention. He has no vision for Benaulim, therefore, he has been bringing it up again”, he added.
Meanwhile, earlier Archbishop Kuriakose Bhalangikuran had made it clear that the Delhi Development Authority (DDA) under the guidance of the Central government demolished the structure without giving proper time to church people to seek legal advice. There were 200 police officials were deployed at the demolition site.
Furthermore, he stated that everyone came to support them at the time of demolition, but then disappeared. Only the Kejriwal government followed up on the matter, promising assistance in facilitating its reconstruction.
