Goa: Over 400 RSS members resign over Velingkar's sacking; demand his reinstatement

Hours after Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh (RSS) removed Subhash Velingkar, over 400 Sangh workers including district shakha heads in Goa, on Wednesday resigned from the organisation, demanding that the state Goa chief be reinstated.

Velingkar, the convener of Bharatiya Bhasha Suraksha Manch (BBSM) which is fighting for withdrawal of grants to English medium schools and for the cause of promoting regional languages as Medium of Instruction (MOI) in the coastal state, has been at loggerheads with the saffron party as well as Chief Minister Laxmikant Parsekar.

In a meeting that was held after state chief sacking, over 100 local RSS members and office bearers accused senior RSS and BJP leadership, including Defence Minister Manohar Parrikar, of conspiring to sack Velingkar, reported IANS.

"All office bearers from the district units, sub district units and shakhas along with hundreds of others have decided quit from the RSS, until Velingkar Sir is reinstated," said Ramdas Saraf, south district pramukh of the RSS. "We will not work for RSS until the decision to strip him as Goa Vibhag Sangh Chalak is revoked," Saraf said.

Velingkar courted controversy earlier this week by reportedly saying that BJP may not win the election in Goa since it had "betrayed" people's trust by going back on its promise of making regional languages the medium of instruction in schools.

BBSM had waived black flags during Amit Shah's visit to Goa on August 20 to launch the party's campaign for state polls.

Shah had reportedly raised the issue with RSS top brass at a meeting last week in Bhopal which was attended by the RSS second-in-command Bhaiyaji Joshi and joint general secretary Krishna Gopal.