Poll war in national capital, Delhi

Poll war in national capital, Delhi

Reporters Name | CAMIL PARKHE | Tuesday, 27 January 2015 AT 09:10 PM IST

    

Delhi Assembly polls, AAP, Arvind Kejriwal, Kiran Bedi

The war for wresting power in Delhi state has finally began. In the earlier Delhi polls held last year, it was a triangular fight between the Congress, Aam Aadmi Party and the BJP. Now it seems the AAP and the BJP are the main contestants and Congress has been relegated to the third position. What is most interesting is that two former comrades in the civic activists movement are now pitted each other. The BJP which had been attempting to put off the Delhi polls as long as possible has received a shot in the arm with Kiran Bedi joining its camp. The party will now have to contain the dissent among its senior leaders who fear they will have to play a second fiddle to the newcomer in the party.

I have had close association with Bedi when she was Deputy Superintendent of Police in Goa, looking after the traffic arrangement for the Commonwealth Heads of Government Meeting (CHOGM) retreat in Goa in 1983. Nearly 40 heads of Commonwealth states including Indira Gandhi, Margaret Thatcher and Bob Hawke and others were to attend the retreat. As a reporter with the local daily 'The Navhind Times', I used to accompany her in a police Gypsy vehicle from Panaji to Fort Aquada for her rehearsals with she constantly instructing her subordinates on the walkie-talkie. That was the beginning of her career but that time too she was known as an upright and no-nonsense officer.

There has been indeed a strong reaction to Bedi's decision to join the BJP. Bedi was a forefront leader in the Anna Hazare Team and with her entry, BJP has dealt a heavy blow to the AAP. Bedi's past record as a dynamic IPS officer and her role in the Team Anna will be put to test in this political battle.

BJP's decision to declare her as the chief ministerial candidate has also exposed the party's lack of confidence in winning the prestigious polls with its own leaders.

The BJP and the Sangh Parivar will have to use all its strength and resources to do well in Delhi polls. Teams of civic activists from all parts of the nation have also been working for the AAP in Delhi much before the poll schedule was announced. It is a prestigious battle for both the camps.

It will be yet another test to check whether the Modi wave still exists. The previous year Delhi state polls were fought when there was an anti- incumbency wave against the 15-year-old Congress regime led by Sheila Dixit. Now it will be a fight between the charisma of Prime Minister Narendra Modi and AAP leader Arvind Kejriwal with Bedi and BJP president Amit Shah leading BJP from the front. It will be one of the most interesting and bitterly fought contest in the national capital.

Goa celebrates canonisation of St Joseph Vaz

Goa celebrates canonisation of St Joseph Vaz

Reporters Name | CAMIL PARKHE | Friday, 16 January 2015 AT 12:05 AM IST

    

Joseph Vaz

Panaji: The excitement at the ancestral house and sanctuary of St Joseph Vaz at Sancoale is palpable. Sancoale will celebrate the feast of St Joseph Vaz on Friday, for the first time after the son of the soil became the first Goan to be declared a saint.

Hundreds of people have been visiting the oratory of St Joseph Vaz and his sanctuary at Sancoale during the ongoing novena of the new saint.

The feast mass will be celebrated at St Joseph Vaz Sanctuary at 10 am on Friday, January 16. Goa, Daman and Diu Archbishop Filipe Neri Ferrao who attended the canonisation ceremony in Sri Lanka on Wednesday will be the main celebrant at the feast mass.

The feast day is celebrated on the death anniversary of the saint who had died at Kandy in Sri Lanka on January 16, 1711. St Joseph Vaz’ oratory room, the only remaining portion of his ancestral house in the village, is maintained by the nuns belonging to a local congregation, Holy Family of Nazareth. The nuns said that a large number of devotees have been visiting their convent to pray at the oratory room of the new saint.

Holy Family of Nazareth congregation’s Mother General Alivita along with a team of a nuns had gone to Sri Lanka to witness canonisation of Joseph Vaz.

The nun’s congregation also runs a school in Sancoale which is named after the new saint.

‘Canonisation of St Joseph Vaz a memorable event’

‘Canonisation of St Vaz a memorable event’

Reporters Name | CAMIL PARKHE | Sunday, 18 January 2015 AT 11:36 PM IST

    

St Joseph Vaz, Canonisation of St Vaz

Pune: For Fr Denis Joseph, who was among the group of 15 Puneites who recently flew to Colombo, witnessing the canonisation of St Joseph Vaz and watching Pope Francis from up close was an exciting and memorable experience.

“At the canonisations ceremony, I was hardly two feet away from the Holy Father. He is so humble and has an infectious smile,” says Fr Joseph, Principal of St Joseph School in Ghorpadi. The canonisation ceremony of Goa-born missionary Joseph Vaz was held on January 14.

Fr Joseph said that over a million people from Sri Lanka, India and other parts of the world had assembled to witness the ceremony, presided over by the pope.

“The flags of Vatican City and Sri Lanka greeted the visitors on a nearly 100-km stretch of road leading to Colombo. It was such a wonderful experience,” he says.

“St Joseph Vaz, the only Goan to be declared a saint, has done tremendous work in Sri Lanka. During our short visit there, we could see the fruits of his hard work in the island nation,” Fr Joseph told Sakal Times.  “That is why St Joseph Vaz, the pride of Goa, was also described at the ceremony as a gem of Sri Lanka,” the  priest added.

No Indians among new cardinals

No Indians among new cardinals

Sakal Times Reporters Name | CAMIL PARKHE | Friday, 9 January 2015 AT 01:37 PM IST

    

Pune, Pope Francis, no Indians, 20 church officials , 15 archbishops , Camil Parkhe

Pune: There are no Indians among the 20 church officials whom Pope Francis elevated to the rank of cardinals on Sunday. This has certainly disappointed the local clergy and also the laity who expect a bigger share for the country in the international church hierarchy. 

Pope Francis announced names of 15 archbishops and bishops whom he will consecrate as cardinals on February 14. The pontiff  will also elevate five retired archbishops and bishops as cardinals in recognition of  their  “service of the Holy See and of the Church.”

Incidentally, 15 of the 20 new cardinals are below 80 years and thus eligible to join the conclave who will elect the pope’s successor.  They are from 14 countries and from every continent, symbolising the universal nature of the Church. Nonetheless, as in the past, among the 20 new ‘princes of the Church’, Europeans are the single largest group with seven including three Italians.

Pune Bishop Thomas Dabre said that India already has four cardinals at Mumbai, Thiruvananthapuram, Ranchi and Ernakulam. The Holy See appoints cardinals as per the Catholic population proportion of the respective country and this may have been the main factor why no new cardinals have been appointed in India, he said.  

Diago Almeida, Chairman of the  Catholic Association of Poona, said that the Vatican should have elevated an Indian  bishop or archbishop as cardinal in view of the large Catholic population in the country. “Catholic population in India may be hardly 2.5 per cent but the Catholic Church has been doing impressive work in the country,” he said.

Disappointed-

Diago Almeida, Chairman of the  Catholic Association of Poona said, “The Vatican should have elevated an Indian  bishop or archbishop as cardinal in view of the large Catholic population in the country.”