No sign of patch-up in Sangh’s Goa crack

“He has not spoken with me, but since Sunday he has repeatedly contacted RSS-BBSM leaders to work out a solution. We have not yielded to the request,” Subhash Velingkar, the state RSS chief who was “relieved” of his post by the parent body and later reinstated himself, told The Indian Express on Monday.

Velingkar was “relieved”, as RSS said in a statement soon after removing him on August 31, after his forum, the BBSM, kept challenging the BJP-led state government to withdraw support from English-medium primary schools and make regional languages such as Konkani and Marathi the medium of instruction.

Among various options to patch up the fissure, Parrikar has reportedly requested RSS-BBSM leaders to not oppose BJP in the polls. Velingkar, however, rejected any precondition and demanded that Parrikar should first make the state government withdraw grants to primary schools with English as the medium of instruction. Stating that the BJP, then led by Parrikar as CM, “cheated us” in 2012 on the same promise, Velingkar said, “We know their (work) pattern.”

The BBSM is likely to hold a meeting on September 11, and, along with nearly 2,000 RSS workers, decide on Sangh’s activities as well as the way forward.