The turmoil within the Sangh Parivar, over the sacking of Subhash Velingkar is a nightmare which is played out with chilling reality for the members of the saffron parivar.
Subhash Velingkar has been castigated, and we would say very correctly, for the manner in which he has sought to actually snatch away the rights of parents wanting their children to study in the English medium. But to his constituency of hardliners, Velingkar is a hero because he has not budged from his consistent stand of settling for nothing less than the complete withdrawal of grants to English schools. Free from the compulsions that governance traps you in, Velingkar now plans to play that card of absolute honesty and consistency as he plans to take his conviction and test it at the altar of the polling booth.
But this does not take anything away from the only just approach towards solving what is known as the MoI issue, which is formalizing the decision to give grants and include all schools that are eligible. Velingkar’s social, religious and now political constituency may completely back his means and methods but irrespective of how big a star Velingkar becomes, his my way or the high way approach cannot solve the MoI issue for the whole of Goa. Thus his ability to cause a crack down on the parivar and seriously worry the BJP, cannot be a reason to support what Velingkar stands for – alienation and discrimination in a sensitive area like education when parents are desperate for the state to back their dreams for their children.
The political fallout of Velingkar’s sacking will be significant. But what is of far more serious concern is accepting and conforming to the Velingkar and the BBSM view that Goa will not allow a single child in a school which gets grants from the government to study English at the primary level. The BJP government realised this and hoped that by dragging the issue, it might die down. That was the BJP’s biggest miscalculation and what was in 2012 a large boil has turned cancerous. But to give this government credit where it is due, it did not withdraw grants to English schools, even though it did not pass a legislation to make these grants payable under law. The government has got it from both sides. The BBSM of course which now charges the government of having betrayed them and FORCE whose leaders went on a hunger strike demanding that their grants for English schools be formally notified.
If the government buckles now, Goa will be the loser and should be responsible for the betrayal of hopes of countless parents, who saw the birth of a new era when grants to English primary schools were sanctioned.
The way forward lies in all groups actually sitting together and as many times as needed to hammer this out. The BBSM and the RSS will say principles come first. The response to that should be people come first and that should be the first principle. What good are principles if they are not people-friendly? What good are principles if they can’t be applied or modified to suit the needs to the needy who want a better future for their children in this very own land.
In the buzz about Velingkar, let us not forget or give up the good fight for parents across caste and religious lines who see English opening, just a few more doors.
