The makings of a Mahabharat

Goa Chief Minister Laxmikant Parsekar loves to share a 30-year-old anecdote. With wistful eyes, Parsekar would recall how his parents banished him from home because of his loyalty to a short-statured man, who would traipse around Goa with a ‘jhola’ (bag) slung from his shoulders, coaxing youngsters to join RSS shakhas. “I chose Velingkar sir over my family at that time, and it changed my life,” Parsekar said, referring to Subhash Velingkar, who three decades later has, ironically, emerged as the proverbial thorn in the Goa BJP’s flesh.

Velingkar was sacked as state RSS chief last year for his criticism of the BJP and its state leadership with regard to alleged pandering to minority educational institutions and moral corruption. Velingkar (65) has spent over 50 years in moulding the RSS in Goa and careers of several generations of BJP leaders, including Defence Minister Manohar Parrikar, Parsekar and Union Minister of State for AYUSH Shripad Naik, among others. A highlight of the February 4 Assembly election is whether Velingkar will succeed in outwitting his illustrious pupils, especially Parrikar.

Anand Shirodkar, president of the Velingkar-mentored Goa Suraksha Manch, which is contesting five Assembly seats and is part of the Shiv Sena-Maharashtrawadi Gomantak Party alliance, explains illustratively, using the Mahabharata as context. “Velingkar’s five Pandavas are taking on the BJP’s Kauravas in these elections. And you know who eventually won the battle of righteousness,” Shirodkar told DH.

Velingkar, his Manch and the alliance are emerging as a threat to the BJP because it questions the saffron party’s own Hindu conservative vote bank.  The key issues raised by the Manch and alliance partners include doing away with financial grants to English-medium primary schools, nearly 90% of which are operated by the Roman Catholic Church-endorsed Diocesan Society of Education.

“The BJP, when it was in the Opposition, was with us on this issue. But power has corrupted them. They are basically urinating on our culture and have to be dethroned,” Velingkar said, addressing a public meeting a few days ago.  While Velingkar’s campaign has rankled the BJP, which is already facing anti-incumbency, the party claims that the former RSS leader’s “rant” will have no impact on its performance.