'Goa RSS chief Subhash Velingkar should not have been sacked'

Panaj: Goa Chief Minister Laxmikant Parsekar on Wednesday expressed regret over the unceremonious removal of Subhash Velingkar as the state RSS chief.

The Chief Minister initially refused to comment on the sacking of Velingkar, the state's seniormost swayamsevak by the Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sang (RSS). But when pressed to comment as a swayamsevak himself, Parsekar said: "As a swayamsevak I would say it should not have happened."

Earlier, RSS publicity head Manmohan Vaidya said in New Delhi that Velingkar had been sacked for working against the BJP-led government in Goa.

"Velingkar has been removed from his post with immediate effect for floating a political outfit and working against the Goa government," RSS said.

Former Speaker and Environment and Forest minister Rajendra Arlekar said that Velingkar was a guru and an idol for BJP leaders in Goa, but refused to comment, when asked if he was disappointed with the state RSS chief removal.

"See I have said again and again. RSS is an organisation which is competent to take their own decisionsa To all of us he is a (Guru). There is no other guru in RSS (in Goa). He has been our idol," Arlekar said.

Velingkar, who heads a regional language front, has been critical of the state government's medium of instruction policy in primary schools, which he claims promotes English language over regional languages like Konkani and Marathi.

Velingkar in the recent past had said that the state BJP governments under Manohar Parrikar and Parsekar had cheated the people on the issue of medium of instruction.

He had also warned that the BJP may lose the 2017 assembly elections because of this reason.

Velingkar was also accused of showing black flags to BJP President Amit Shah during the latter's visit to the state on August 20.