'Goa BJP committing atrocities like Pak did in Bangladesh'

Former Goa RSS chief Subhash Velingkar on Saturday said the BJP regime in Goa was as vengeful as the atrocity-ridden regime of Pakistan in erstwhile East Pakistan (Bangladesh).

Panaji: Former Goa RSS chief Subhash Velingkar on Saturday said the BJP regime in Goa was as vengeful as the atrocity-ridden regime of Pakistan in erstwhile East Pakistan (Bangladesh).

Velingkar also said despite his numerous agitations and anti-government campaigns against past Congress regimes in the state, the Congress leadership had not launched a vendetta against its opponents, like the incumbent regime led by Chief Minister Pramod Sawant.

The former Goa RSS chief's comments come two days after his son Shailendra Velingkar was booked and arrested under non-bailable sections, including an attempt to murder, for his participation in protests against an upcoming IIT-Goa campus in North Goa's Melaulim village, which turned violent on Wednesday.

"The current BJP regime takes revenge on people who believe in the same political ideology, simply because they oppose some of the government's decisions. This is just like the atrocities committed by Pakistan on their own people in Bangladesh when it was erstwhile East Pakistan and a part of the same country. This government is similar," Velingkar told reporters.

The former state Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh (RSS) chief's son is one of the more than 20 people who have been booked for attempt to murder, deadly assault, criminal conspiracy, among other non-bailable sections following the violence on Wednesday at the proposed Indian Institute of Technology-Goa campus site in Melaulim, located around 50 km from Panaji.

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Subhash Velingkar has said that top Goa BJP leaders have been running a vendetta campaign against him, ever since he took on former Defence Minister and ex Goa Chief Minister late Manohar Parrikar over policies promoted by the latter's state government from 2012-2019, which the ex-RSS chief has maintained were against state and national interest.

"I can relate from experience. I am against the Congress. I believe that Congress has sold the country outright. I was the RSS chief when the Congress was in power in Goa. We expanded the RSS during the Congress tenure. But the Congress has never targetted us or took revenge despite all kinds of allegations we levelled against them," Velingkar said.

"Even today, I am on good terms with Congress leaders, although they know I am their political opponent. But their regime was not bloodthirsty. They did not exact revenge on their own people as this regime does," Velingkar said.

Chief Minister Pramod Sawant has justified the attempt to murder case filed against all the accused persons who have incited violence.

"So many police personnel including women had to bear injuries because they were attacked by sticks, sharp weapons. Some of them even flung masala-laced water in the eyes of the police. How can you treat police like this?" Sawant said.

IANS