Subhash Velingkar, once upon a time head of the RSS in Goa, actually believed that he could do the unthinkable, not once but twice and yet have an organisation like the RSS still back him, forgive him and rally behind him. This can come either from extreme confidence or extreme foolhardiness, unless there is a third option. And the third option, which many are increasingly whispering, is that this was all fixed, with both the parent RSS with the BJP with it, and Velingkar, doing what was politically convenient to them before the elections, with a subtle knowledge that they will come together post polls.
But for the moment let us look at the two unthinkables and wonder how Velignkar could think of pulling off both, and will he come out of it smelling of roses or of muck. In 91 years of the RSS, no one has broken off from an RSS “vibhag”, a larger regional unit (Goa is a part of the Konkan ‘vibhag’), and become a head of a rebel pranth (a state) unit. He did this by taking the state organisation with him and by vowing to defeat the political party of the same parivar – the BJP.
His rebel RSS group’s support of the Goa Suraksha Manch, the political arm of the Bharatiya Bhasha Suraksha Manch, (a Velingkar created outfit) with the sole objective to the defeat the BJP, flies completely in the face of his next unthinkable act. Days before the results of the Goa elections, Velingkar has decided to disband his rebel outfit and go back into the arms of the RSS, which he had ditched a couple of months back. But will the arms of the RSS be waiting?
The reaction of the Goa Vibhag (regions) RSS Sanghchalak Laxman Behre is interesting. There is no clear statement that Velingkar will get back his pride of place or position. “Anyone can join sangh at anytime, it is a voluntary service. I welcome the decision of Velingkar, they should attend the prayers and shakhas,” he said.
While the word welcome can be interpreted as the sangh having forgiven Velingkar and ready to carry on from where he left off, Behre’s tone has a hint of sarcasm, reducing Velingkar to “anyone”.
The Nagpur sangh is least likely to give Velingkar back his former glory. It doesn’t do it to anyone. Remember the power that someone like UP Chief Minister Kalyan Singh had at the peak of the Ram Janmbhoomi movement, when RSS members walked for miles to listen to Kalyan Singh’s address at the prabhat shakha in Chennai when a meeting of the BJP national executive held there. After Singh left the party and returned to the fold, the present Rajasthan Governor, became a pale shadow of his former self.
Similarly in Goa, Manohar Parrikar and Subhash Velingkar were the inseparable power houses of the party and organisation in the early 2000’s onwards, built on a decade of grass-root work earlier. It is the deep connect with the grass-root RSS or BJP worker which gave them that standing. Old timers recall when Parrikar bought his first car, a, grey colour Maruti 800 bearing the number plate of GGG 120, the car was borrowed by anyone who needed it, for weddings, trips to hospitals, family outings. It is these little stories that workers recall.
The big question that Velingkar, and probably Mr Parrikar himself may need to ask, is if they can still build on those connects or have they lost them. March 11 will give many answers to these questions.
But Mr Velingkar needs to ask some even bigger questions. What justification or explanation will he give to his workers who decided to take that giant leap of faith and ditch the RSS and join him en-masse? And if they have forced him to go back to the parent organisation, then this is Velingkar’s biggest failure, loss of face and defeat not just as a politician but as an organisation man.
And most importantly, will the BJP or the parent RSS forgive Velingkar, who according to them, hobnobbed with Dayanand Sobte of the Congress in Mandrem and asked MGP supports to transfer votes to him, to damage Laxmikant Parsekar, or for that matter back an independent Pratap Gaonkar in Sanguem, to try and defeat the BJP’s Subhash Phaldesai.
As he winds up his newly formed sangh and traces his steps back, he won’t be taken back as the prodigal son who returns, and if the GSM doesn’t make much headway and Velingkar’s people lose, the once powerful RSS boss of Goa, will have to eat humble pie as his staple food for quite some time to come.
