Will continue to boycott government functions: Goa RSS chief

Goa RSS chief Subhash Velingkar, who also heads a regional languages front, on Wednesday said the boycott of state government functions will continue in protest against the alliance government's "pro-English" policy.

Addressing a press conference here late on Wednesday, the convenor of the Bharatiya Bhasha Suraksha Manch said apart from heckling government functionaries, a series of meetings will be held in 14 assembly constituencies to make people aware of the "betrayal" by the Laxmikant Parsekar government over the issue of medium of instruction in Goa's primary schools.

"The government continues to betray the cause of regional languages of Konkani and Marathi by not withdrawing the financial grants to some English medium schools. Our boycott of government functions and protests outside these events will continue," Velingkar said.

The Forum for Rights of Children to Education (FORCE) backed by the influential Roman Catholic church and the Bharatiya Bhasha Suraksha Manch supported by the Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh, have been at loggerheads in Goa over the last few years over the medium of instruction in junior schools.

While the former group backs English, the RSS-led group prefers varnacular languages.

Velingkar did not rule out meeting new Union Human Resource Development Minister Prakash Javadekar on the issue.

With assembly polls likely in early 2017, Velingkar said the Manch is in the process of becoming a political alternative to the BJP.

"We are in the process of tapping candidates with similar ideology and who will defeat the sitting BJP MLAs who have betrayed the cause of regional languages and those opposed to the development of Konkani and Marathi," he said.

--IANS

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