The Goa unit of the Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) on Thursday alleged that the State government was providing financial support to the “extremist and dubious” organisation, Sanatan Sanstha, by giving advertisements to its mouthpiece.
The Sanatan Sanstha has come under the scanner after its activist Samir Gaikwad was arrested in connection with the murder of Communist Party of India (CPI) leader and rationalist Govind Pansare.
“It is shocking to note that the Goa government is officially handing over public money to such a radical organisation through its mouthpiece Sanathan Prabhat ,” said Valmiki Naik, ad-hoc secretary of AAP in Goa.
Condemnation
“AAP strongly condemns this financial support given to this extremist organisation under the guise of newspaper advertisements,” he added.
The government should immediately stop releasing a single rupee of public money to such dubious organisations, and also put an immediate ban on the Sanathan Prabhat , while beginning active monitoring of all activities of the Sanstha, Mr. Naik said.
For time-bound NIA-aided probe
“The AAP in Goa also demands that the Home Ministry obtain a copy of the 2011 dossier of the Maharashtra government, and complete a time-bound NIA-assisted probe into the organisation under the Unlawful Activities Prevention Act and submit a fresh request to the Centre to ban the Sanathan Sanstha, without leaving any loopholes in its report for the BJP-led Central government to deny the request,” he said.
The Maharashtra Home Ministry had in 2011 sent a detailed report to the Central government and had requested it to ban the Sanatan Sanstha, though the government did not act upon it, former Maharashtra Chief Minister Prithviraj Chavan had recently said.
Dismay
Mr. Naik further said, “It is with dismay that AAP Goa notes the active support given by the Goa government to the Sanatan Sanstha. While individual support by Goa Ministers such as Sudin Dhavalikar and Deepak Dhavalikar is deplorable, it is not entirely surprising due to their known narrow-minded and regressive opinions on various issues.”
The AAP leader has also alleged that Chief Minister Laxmikant Parsekar remains oblivious, or pretends to be oblivious, of simple facts when conveniently stating that an organisation cannot be banned due to the actions of one person, in reference to the recent arrest of Samir Gaikwad.
