Manohar Parrikar Planned My Removal, Says Sacked Goa RSS Chief

Mumbai: Subhash Velingkar, sacked as the Goa chief of the Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh or RSS earlier this week, has accused union Defence Minister Manohar Parrikar of "orchestrating" his removal and has vowed to ensure the defeat of the BJP in next year's assembly election.

Also in his cross hairs is union minster Nitin Gadkari, who is the BJP leader in charge of the Goa elections. Mr Parrikar, Goa's chief minister till last year, is the most prominent BJP leader from the state.

"Nitin Gadkari succumbed to pressure from Parrikar. It was Gadkari's task to remove me," alleged Mr Velingkar, whose sacking has led to a revolt, with 400 RSS workers announcing their resignation in his support.

With such backing, he told NDTV, he will form a parallel Goa unit or prant of the RSS, reporting "directly to Bhayyaji Joshi," RSS general secretary.
 
His sack orders came from Nagpur, where the BJP's ideological mentor the RSS is headquartered, but Subhash Velingkar insists that RSS chief "Mohan Bhagwat is not involved in my removal."

"Parrikar and Gadkari are powerful at the Centre...They must have wrongly fed the RSS high command," he alleged.

The BJP depends on crucial support from RSS cadre in states during elections and the Goa rebellion will be high on the agenda when top RSS and BJP leaders hold talks next week in Surajkund near Delhi. 

"If these allegations are against Parrikar and Gadkari, then they have to react, what do I have to say. If he (Subhash Velingkar) calls me a weak chief minister, he is probably commenting on my health. I'll improve it," said Goa Chief Minister Laxmikant Parsekar. 

Mr Velingkar, who also heads an organisation called the Bharatiya Bhasha Suraksha Manch, has crossed swords with both Mr Parrikar and Mr Parsekar, who succeeded him as Goa chief minister, accusing the state's BJP government of promoting English over regional languages like Konkani and Marathi.

He was sacked after he threatened to mentor a new political party to defeat the BJP. Last week, he was spotted in a protest over language where black flags were waved at BJP President Amit Shah when he visited the state.

Mr Velingkar says he has no apology to offer. "What I did was in line with the principles of the RSS," he asserts.

The Shiv Sena, the BJP's oldest ally, has supported him saying in its magazine Saamna, "Velingkar just reminded the government of their promise and he was punished by Nagpur and Delhi for that."

The political fight centres around government aided schools in Goa and which language children should be taught in up to class 4th. Mr Velingkar says the RSS helped the BJP come to power in 2012, with the promise of institutionalising Marathi and Konkani as the medium of instruction till class 4 in Goa's government aided primary schools. A commitment he claims remains unfulfilled even after being in power for more than four years. A part of this promise was stopping aid to more than 130 schools run by the diocese. Which is no longer politically feasible as Mr Parrikar enjoys the support of the Christian community and has eight legislators who back the government.