The recent decision of the BJP government in Goa to grant pension to freedom fighters affiliated to the RSS has sparked angry questions from citizens’ groups on the Sangh’s contribution to the liberation movement.In a letter to the Prime Minister, some freedom fighters have described the decision to sanction Swatantra Sainik Samman Pension to 4,000 people from neighbouring Maharashtra as ‘‘arbitrary’’. Goan freedom fighters say many newly-recognised beneficiaries had courted arrest for just a day and their contribution was purely symbolic and marginal.Freedom fighters Nagesh Karmali and Prabhakar Sinari believe it is an injustice to the real freedom fighters if they are treated on par with those who had not even participated for a single day in the struggle.The government has decided to grant pension following a demand by Ram Tupe, president of Akhil Bharatiya Goa Swatantra Sangram Sangh, who claimed that apart from these 4,000 freedom fighters from Maharashtra, there were 6,000 others whose cases are pending. The Sangh is affiliated to the RSS.The petition says the satyagrahis from Maharashtra and other states were prevented from entering Goa due to the ban imposed by the then Bombay state government on the instructions of then Prime Minister Jawaharlal Nehru. None of the selected 4,000 is eligible as they did not undergo extraordinary suffering or make sacrifices, says the petition.Records show that local underground organisations liberated the Portuguese enclaves. Only around 20 volunteers from the RSS had joined for a week or two but they were removed from Nagar Haveli following an incident in which a priest of a local church was assaulted, the signatories said.Historian Manohar Hirba Sardesai, however, says the RSS did participate in the struggle and some of its leaders led the movement at different stages.
