Catholics in Daman, India, fight against the demolition of a 400-year-old Portuguese chapel

The Catholic community in Daman, India, is trying to prevent the demolition of a 400+ year old chapel, still an active place of worship, which the Provincial Administrator, Praful Patel, wants to turn into a soccer field.

“We are preparing for the eventuality of taking the case to the decision of the Supreme Court in Bombay,” the priest Brian Rodrigues, who provides religious services at the Chapel of Nossa Senhora das Angústias, in Damão, a target of the interests, told Lusa. . of the district administrator, Praful Kodhabai Pratel, a member of the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP, Indian People’s Party, a conservative Hindu nationalist, in power since 2014).

The intention to acquire the Capela da Nossa Senhora das Angústias — framed in the Law of Acquisition, Rehabilitation and Reinstallation of Indigenous Assets of 2013 — is intended to expand a soccer field adjacent to the monument and the “beautification” of the place.

“Buy intent is supported by very fragile fundamentals. There is no legal basis for acquiring the chapel and demolishing it in order to expand a small soccer field. And you also don’t understand the argument that everything is to beautify the place. What does that mean? Shall we beautify a place by destroying a church?” said Lusa Mário Lopes, the lawyer who defends the interests of the Catholic Church in this process.

According to Lopes, “the chapel is more than 400 years old, has great architectural, historical and cultural value, and is a place of worship, revered not only by the Catholic community, but also by non-Catholics in Daman, without interruption, for a long time.” time, more than four centuries.

On the other hand, even if the demolition progresses, the lawyer pointed out, the soccer field in question is “surrounded by public roads on all four sides, there is no possibility of expansion, and the chapel is located in one of the corners.” of the field”.

In the opinion of Noel Gama, a businessman and member of local Catholic civil society, the interest in the demolition of the small chapel in Daman should not be seen in isolation. “They are systematically demolishing our sites, the Portuguese historical heritage with a Christian theme, such as churches and chapels,” he told Lusa.

The priest of the chapel has a different opinion. Brian Rodrigues even considers that the decision of the municipality “should not be seen from a religious angle.”

“For them, the church is a corner of the soccer field. If they want to expand the field, if they want to make a stadium, the chapel becomes an obstacle, ”he said.

But the priest is convinced that nothing will be done “at this point.” Brian Rodrigues met this week with the president of the municipal councillors’ group, to whom he delivered a letter with the Church’s objection to the acquisition, and from whom he received a “positive response, naturally not formal, but [segundo a qual] the chapel would not be touched”.

“He gave us a message of hope,” the cleric said. “But we don’t know,” he added.

For this reason, Brian Rodrigues and the Catholic community of Daman are “preparing” to “deliver letters of objection to the president of the provincial government and the councilors of the municipality, and then to the administrator”, following the various legal procedures provided. to challenge the government’s intention to acquire the chapel.

“But I don’t think they’re going to play in the chapel right now. The chapel is located in the heart of the city, next to the walls of Fort Daman. Drawing crowds to such a small venue would cause a lot of problems,” said Brian Rodrigues.

“There are other places to build a stadium, but the governor has no love for God or men, as we say. Therefore, he is not interested in ancient structures. This man does not recognize the value of the chapel. For him, this has to be done, and anything that interferes with his will is for demolition. That’s how it’s done,” the priest said.

“I’m hopeful, but you never know with this man,” he added.

The procedures for the acquisition of the chapel were initiated by the municipality of Daman in mid-December, but who is “behind the decision, without appearing in the photograph”, according to Noel Gama, is Praful Kodhabai Pratel, administrator of the municipalities of Daman. Dadra and Nagar Haveli and Damão and Diu, merged since 2020.

Pratel, a civil engineer by training, was responsible between 2010 and 2012 for various portfolios in the area of ​​Security in the Indian state of Gujarat, led at that time by the country’s current Prime Minister, Narendra Modi.

Today, as an administrator, he presents himself as an agent of “a radical transformation of the physical infrastructure of the region, paving the way for world-class projects,” according to the administration portal of Dadra and Nagar Haveli and Daman and Diu.

In Daman, Praful Pratel’s “impetus for radical transformation” confronts a small chapel and an increasingly aging Catholic community, and the administrator “knows it,” Brian Rodrigues stresses.

“We are a smaller and smaller community. There were more than 3,000 Catholics in Daman, today we are reduced to about 400. And the government knows it. Many people have emigrated, the government is very aware of all this”, laments the priest.

On the other hand, of the approximately 400 remaining Catholics, more than 65 percent are senior citizens. “Few children are born. Whole families often migrate. Those who stay in Daman are the oldest. We can say that it is a dying community”, describes the clergyman.

The law remains to defend the hermitage. The defense arguments in the letters sent to political leaders are based on the facts summarized by Lopes. The chapel has been used for prayer and worship for more than four centuries, without interruption, and has and houses significant heritage value, according to the Church’s letter challenging the demolition, which translates the meaning of the word into English ” Distress”.

“People are in sadness and anguish praying for solace and consolation to Our Lady of Sorrows, believing that she has made this chapel her home,” the letter says.

The duration of the “anguish” on the two battlefields, which has some reminiscences of the battle fought in 1581, on the land where the chapel would be built a few years later to celebrate the Portuguese victory, cannot yet be determined.

But if the process does not stop, according to Mário Lopes, it should take a year to reach the Bombay Supreme Court, which will finally decide whether the Catholic community wins, which believes it has a “very good” chance of winning the chapel. standing, or Praful Patel, the governor who “feels no love for God or for men.”