Sacked chief of Goa unit of Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh (RSS) Subhash Velingkar on Thursday formed an independent state unit and appointed all office bearers who had resigned from the saffron organisation in the protest of his removal.
Velingkar asserted that the Sangh unit in the coastal state will function independently of the parent body, at least till the Assembly polls next year.
On Wednesday, over 400 volunteers of the RSS had resigned from the organisation in protest against the unceremonious sacking of Subhash Velingkar earlier.
The members who announced their resignation included district, sub-district and shakha heads of the RSS.
The mass resignations followed a marathon six-hour meeting held at a school complex near Panaji, in which over 100 local RSS members and office bearers accused senior RSS and BJP leadership, including Defence Minister Manohar Parrikar, of conspiring to sack Mr Velingkar.
Velingkar today blamed Union ministers Manohar Parrikar and Nitin Gadkari for the action against him.
"I was not shocked. I was anticipating it (the ouster). (Manohar) Parrikar and Nitin Gadkari are powerful at the Centre. They have (been) strongly lobbying there. They must have tried for it. They must have wrongly fed the RSS high command," Velingkar told PTI, earlier today.
“Velingkar, who was heading the RSS's state unit, was "relived of his responsibilities" by the Sangh headquarters, for stridently taking on the BJP over the medium of instruction issue through Bharatiya Bhasha Suraksha Manch (BBSM) floated by him.
In the recent past, Velingkar had accused successive BJP-led coalition governments in Goa under Manohar Parrikar and Laxmikant Parsekar of "cheating" people on the issue of medium of instruction.
"There is a possibility of Gadkari and Parrikar misreporting to the RSS headquarter on the issue. Parrikar is very much behind this. For them, I was the only focal point and they tried to break the (Medium of Instruction) movement. Later they will repent for doing it," said Velingkar.
He also said that RSS in Goa will detach itself from the main unit (parent body headquartered in Nagpur) till the State Legislative Assembly elections (due in March 2017), and after that they will request to get associated with the Sangh.
"We feel that higher-ups faced problem because of our agitation (led by BBSM). But that is not correct. Their (his detractors') stand is not in consonance with the resolution adopted at All India level (to protect mother tongue in their respective states," Velingkar had said before the meeting of former RSS office-bearers.
"We will continue respecting the Sarsanghchalak. We will continue this arrangement till (Assembly) elections and after that we will request them (main unit) to get us affiliated directly," he said.
On Monday, Velingkar had warned that the BJP may lose the upcoming assembly elections, because of this reason and had participated in a protest, which showed black flags to BJP President Amit Shah during his visit to the state on August 20.
As BBSM convenor, Velingkar has also threatened to mentor another political party, with the purpose to defeat the BJP in the upcoming elections, because of the latter's lack of support to regional languages.
