Panaji: Members of the breakaway faction led by sacked Goa unit RSS chief Subhash Velingkar on Monday unanimously dissolved the rebel unit and announced their collective re-entry into the parent body.
Addressing a press conference here , Mr. Velingkar, however said, that their re-entry into the RSS fold did not mean he and the local RSS cadre, had mended bridges with the Goa BJP, and warned BJP leaders not to deviate from the core values and principles of the RSS.
Mr. Velingkar also said that all members of the RSS, who had stepped out of the organisation with him, would rejoin the shakhas and continue their work as volunteers of Sangh under the aegis of the Nagpur-based organisation.
Message to BJP
“The BJP cannot take all RSS rank and file for granted on the matters of ideology, core values and principles, for they know to en mass stand against it and teach BJP a lesson. This is the message which has gone on an all-India level. This is the biggest takeaway from this six-month exercise,” asserted Mr. Velingkar replying to a question about the achievement of the rebellion.
RSS publicity division chief Manmohan Vaidya later told presspersons that the re-entry of Mr. Velingkar and other swayamsevaks back into the RSS fold was expected.
“This was bound to happen. We had initially said that Mr. Velingkar would join back,” said Mr. Vaidya.
Earlier, Mr. Velingkar said that the Goa RSS leaders and volunteers had shown immense respect towards the ideals and teachings of the RSS, despite their exit from the organisation in September last year.
Mission complete
“When we stepped out of the RSS hierarchy, our objective was to teach the Goa BJP, which was destroying the core of RSS teachings, a lesson in the Assembly elections. We have succeeded in doing that. Our mission in that sense is complete. The BJP leaders should realise that they should never take the RSS for granted,” Mr. Velingkar said.
Mr. Velingkar was sacked from the RSS in August last year after he incessantly attacked Defence Minister and former Chief Minister Manohar Parrikar, and the Goa BJP for “deviating from RSS teachings and betraying the cause of regional languages by declining to stop the government grants to English medium primary schools, most of which are run by Arch Diocese”.
After he was sacked, Mr. Velingkar formed a rebel Sangh outfit in September with the backing of thousands of local volunteers as well as several State unit office bearers.
In a bid to defeat the BJP, Mr. Velingkar and the Bharatiya Bhasha Suraksha Manch(BBSM), the movement spearheading the cause of regional languages in primary education, went on to form a regional party — Goa Suraksha Manch — which contested the February 4 elections in alliance with the Shiv Sena, and the MGP, one of Goa’s oldest regional political party, which broke its alliance with BJP just ahead of elections.
During his tenure as CM, Mr. Parrikar through a Cabinet decision in 2012, had allowed continuation of State financial grants to English medium primary schools as against RSS and BJP’s direct participation in the BBSM agitation in the run up to the 2012 Assembly elections, opposing grants to English schools granted by the previous Congress government.
Mr. Velingkar, who is also the convenor of the BBSM had responded by accusing Mr. Parrikar and the State unit BJP of betrayal and had unleashed a stringent public campaign across the State which led to his eventual ouster as state RSS chief and the appointment of Laxman Behare as his replacement.
On Monday, Mr. Velingkar insisted that their stand over opposition to English medium primary school grants and involvement in BBSM movement and GSM as political party will continue.
When asked what was the hurry to merge with the RSS ahead of election results as their own party, the GSM, is in the fray, Mr. Kiran Nayak, vice-president of GSM and senior member of Velingkar group recalled their earlier announcement that they would merge on February4. However,it was delayed because some time was needed to convince everyone for a collective and unanimous decision.
“To work as RSS we don’t need to wait for results of the election. We are sure BJP will be defeated. Imagine if we were to join after the results and on the background of BJP defeat, we would have been accused of being selfish and opportunists,” said Mr. Nayak.
“The Sangh constitution is such that RSS members can join any party. Only he cannot be an office bearer in the Sangh if he joins a party,” Mr. Vaidya said over the issue of continuation of the Velingkar-led Sangh members in the political outfit.
