PANJIM: In what could be termed as another U-turn on one other promise, the Bharatiya Janata Party on Wednesday said the party’s stand is that the Medium of Instruction (MoI) Bill should not come up in
the Assembly.
BJP’s South Goa MP Narendra Sawaikar said the party feels that primary education should be in the mother tongue. “Although our party has reached an amicable solution on the MoI issue, the party is of the firm opinion that the medium of instruction at the primary level should be in the mother tongue and hence the MoI Bill, which is before the Select Committee, should not come up in the Assembly,” Sawaikar said at a press conference at the State party headquarters.
Sawaikar was reacting to Bharatiya Bhasha Suraksha Manch’s (BBSM) Subash Velingkar, who had said the BBSM has options other than BJP to support at the next election.
Sawaikar said Velingkar’s statements against the party and Defence Minister Manohar Parrikar were not in good taste. “In the Sangh Parivar, which we are affiliated to, we are taught to follow restraint but this time I think Mr Velingkar has crossed his line,” Sawaikar said.
He asked Velingkar to resign from the post of RSS chief in the State and fight elections. “Enough is enough, you can’t take support of the party and talk any rubbish,” he said adding, “If someone has his own axe to grind he should do it in his personal capacity and not use the party’s platform.”
The South MP also said that the BJP has got the best possible solution to the MoI issue. “The solution the BJP has given to the MoI issue is the best which cannot be taken by any party,” he said adding that the party took two years to reach a decision after deliberation and applying its mind.
The BJP in 2014 agreed that the grants being given to 132 English schools will continue but no new English schools will get grants.
He said that to promote Konkani and Marathi the government has announced a one-time grant of Rs 12 lakh to schools and more recently a grant of Rs 400 per student for schools imparting education in the mother tongue.
To a query, Sawaikar said the BJP was never with the BBSM. “We had an amicable solution to the MoI issue and had never sided with any group be it BBSM or anyone else,” he said.
Upset with the BJP-led coalition’s decision granting financial support to Diocesan-backed English schools, Velingkar on Tuesday had said, “When we can manage to dethrone Congress and bring BJP to power, BBSM can lend its support to other parties too.”
