Sarsanghchalak can be wrong but the Sangh cannot: sacked RSS Goa Chief Subhash Velingkar

Panaji: Sacked RSS Goa unit head Subhash Velingkar on Sunday held a convention of rebels wherein he invoked Sangh founder K B Hedgewar to take a swipe at top leadership, saying "Sarsanghchalak can be wrong but the Sangh cannot" and stressed that only ideology is considered as "guru" in Sangh and not any individual. Addressing the meeting at Bambolim, attended by his supporters, Velingkar defended his move to float the RSS Goa 'prant' and said, in an apparent reference to RSS, that some leaders wanted to "dictate terms" to them and that they could not compromise on ideology. Asserting that "we will remain Swayamsevaks till our last breath", Velingkar quoted from Hedgewar's autobiography wherein the latter had stated that "Sarsanghchalak can be wrong, but the Sangh cannot". "Sangh is the only organisation which has its ideology as its guru. We consider saffron flag as guru and not any individual. This is because a human can err, ideologies will always remain a guiding force," Velingkar said. The convention resolved to continue support to BBSM (Bhartiya Bhasha Suraksha Manch), fighting for primacy to Marathi and Konkani languages as the medium of instruction (MoI), of which Velingkar is convener. The office-bearers of 'Konkan prant' of Sangh who had split to join Goa RSS prant floated by Velingkar were appointed on same positions they were holding earlier, in the new "system". In a snub to rebels, RSS yesterday named Laxman Behre as 'Goa Vibhag Sangh Chalak', in place of Velingkar who was given the marching orders on August 31, apparently over his anti-BJP stand on the language issue. "You will not find a single swayamsevak who agrees with the BJP's move to support English language," the former Goa RSS chief said while underlining BBSM's opposition to government grants for English medium schools. He said, "during the BBSM stir, some leaders wanted to dictate terms to us which was not acceptable to us, due to which we created this parallel system." He also stressed that he and other Swayamsewaks never rebelled against Sangh. In a separate development, Defence Minister Manohar Parrikar called upon Velingkar at the latter's residence here. Interestingly, Velingkar had publicly blamed Parrikar and another BJP stalwart Nitin Gadkari for his ouster. "When Parrikar came to my place to seek blessing of Lord Ganesh during Chaturthi, I did not see him in different angle. The entire atmosphere was friendly," Velingkar told reporters. However, the duo did not discuss the contentious MOI issue.