The Bharatiya Bhasha Suraksha Manch (BBSM) on Thursday accused Defence Minister Manohar Parrikar and the Archbishop of Goa and Daman, Filipe Neri Ferrao, of hatching a political conspiracy ahead of 2012 State Assembly polls to field more Catholic candidates. It also accused Goa BJP of indulging in minority appeasement.
BBSM convenor and rebel RSS leader Subhash Velingkar alleged that in 2012 State Assembly elections, five non-BJP Catholics, who had nothing to do with party ideology, were given tickets by the BJP on the advise of the Archbishop.
“Manohar Parrikar and the Archbishop were together in this. Archbishop had given [names of] five candidates and five constituencies from where they should contest. Mr. Parrikar had acted on his instructions,” Mr. Velingkar said.
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Addressing a press conference here on Thursday, Mr. Velingkar criticised the State BJP leaders as well as Union Minister Nitin Gadkari, who is charge of BJP’s Goa election desk, of talking secretly to Father Zeferino D'Souza of Arch Diocese Educational Board — a representative of the Archbishop — in a five-star hotel room during his Goa visit last week.
“Right from 2015, we [BBSM] have alleged that the Goa BJP conducts its politics on the advise of the Goa Archbishop. The appeasement of the minority community is on the advice of the Archbishop,” Mr. Velingkar said.
Reacting sharply to Fr. D’Souza meeting with Mr. Gadkari, Mr. Velingkar said: “This shows that there is a hidden understanding between the Archbishop and the BJP. Interference in a political system and decision-making by any religious body is against the secular polity of this country.”
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BBSM is regional language promotion movement, spearheaded by Mr. Velingkar.