Goa RSS chief sacked for taking on BJP, waving black flag at Amit Shah

Panaji: RSS Goa chief Subhash Velingkar, who has taken a strident stance against the ruling BJP over the issue of medium of instruction and even showed black flag to the party chief Amit Shah recently, has been removed from the post by the Sangh.

Velingkar had also announced his plans to float a new political outfit, ahead of the Assembly polls in the coastal state to take forward the cause of regional languages like Konkani and Marathi as Medium of Instruction (MOI) and against the state Government's policy of supporting English medium schools.

The communication regarding removal of Velingkar as Goa Vibhag Sangh Chalak was received by him on Tuesday from the RSS headquarters in Nagpur.

"He has been relieved from his responsibilities. He wanted to get into some political activity. Being a Sangh leader he can't do that," RSS All India Prachar Pramukh Manmohan Vaidya said.

Vaidya said the decision on new organisational head for the coastal state is yet to be taken.

Velingkar is leading Bharatiya Bhasha Suraksha Manch (BBSM), a front which has been demonstrating across the state against the decision of the BJP-led government in the state to give grants to English medium Schools.

As a part of the demonstration, the BBSM had showed black flags to Shah at Bambolim during his visit here on August 20.

Once a staunch supporter of Defence Minister Manohar Parrikar, Velingkar had also fell out with him recently for "taking a u-turn" on the MOI issue.

Reacting to the development, Chief Minister Laxmikant Parsekar said it is an internal matter of the Sangh and we (BJP) have nothing to it.

"I came to know about it through media," Parsekar added.