Parrikar conveniently picks, chooses RSS teachings: Rebel Sangh leader

Panaji, Oct 18: Rebel Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh leader Subash Velingkar on Tuesday accused Defence Minister Manohar Parrikar of picking and choosing RSS teachings according to his convenience and timing.

Velingkar said the former Goa Chief Minister should cancel government grants to English medium primary schools in the state if he really pays heed to the Sangh's values.

"If Parrikar believes in Sangh's teachings, he should first ensure that government grants to English medium schools should be cancelled," Velingkar told IANS.

Parrikar, while addressing an event at the Nirma University in Ahmadabad, on Monday said: "The Prime Minister hails from Mahatma Gandhi's home state and the Defence Minister comes from Goa which never had a 'martial race'. And then take this surgical strike. This was a different kind of combination. May be the RSS teaching was at the core."

Velingkar was sacked from the Sangh in August this year after he repeatedly accused Parrikar and the Goa Bharatiya Janata Party of deviating from the RSS teachings and betraying the cause of regional languages by allowing english medium primary schools, most of which are run by the state's Roman Catholic church, avail financial grants.

Parrikar in a Cabinet decision in 2012 had allowed continuation of the state Education Ministry's financial grants to english medium primary schools.

In the run up to the last assembly elections, Parrikar had opposed grants to the same schools.

Velingkar, who is also the co-convenor of the Bharatiya Bhasha Suraksha Manch, has accused the Defence Minister and the state BJP of betrayal, a campaign which eventually led to his sacking as the state RSS chief.

The Manch has now floated a new political party with Velingkar as one of its mentors, and this according to the rebel RSS leaders, has worried Parrikar ahead of the Goa polls early next year.

"Parrikar is actually worried because of our campaign against the BJP... The timing of his comment about his RSS teachings is therefore a suspect," Velingkar said.