Subhash Bhaskar Velingkar (born 7 October 1948) is an Indian politician and teacher who is a former member of the

Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh The Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh (RSS,, ) is an Indian right-wing politics, right-wing, Hindutva, Hindu nationalist volunteer paramilitary organisation. It is the progenitor and leader of a large body of organisations called the Sangh Parivar ( ...

(RSS), a

Hindu nationalist Hindu nationalism has been collectively referred to as the expression of political thought, based on the native social and cultural traditions of the Indian subcontinent. "Hindu nationalism" is a simplistic translation of . It is better descri ...

organization based in India. He belongs to the

Gomantak Maratha Samaj Gomantak Maratha Samaj is a Hindu community found in the Indian state of Goa. They are known as ''Nutan Maratha Samaj'' in the Sindhudurg district of Maharashtra and ''Naik Maratha Samaj'' in Maharashtra, Uttara Kannada district of Karnataka, ...

community from

Goa Goa (; ; ) is a state on the southwestern coast of India within the Konkan region, geographically separated from the Deccan highlands by the Western Ghats. It is bound by the Indian states of Maharashtra to the north, and Karnataka to the ...

. It was under his leadership, Goa Prant of the Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh was formed.

Career

Velingkar launched Bharatiya Bhasha Suraksha Manch an organization which promoted

Konkani __NOTOC__ Konkani may refer to: Language * Konkani language is an Indo-Aryan language spoken in the Konkan region of India. * Konkani alphabets, different scripts used to write the language **Konkani in the Roman script, one of the scripts used to ...

and

Marathi Marathi may refer to: *Marathi people, an Indo-Aryan ethnolinguistic group of Maharashtra, India **Marathi people (Uttar Pradesh), the Marathi people in the Indian state of Uttar Pradesh *Marathi language, the Indo-Aryan language spoken by the Mar ...

in schools and the withdrawal of grants to English medium schools in the state of the

. He opposed the decision of then-

Chief Minister of Goa The chief minister of Goa is chief executive of the Indian state of Goa. As per the Constitution of India, the governor is a state's ''de jure'' head, but '' de facto'' executive authority rests with the chief minister. Following elections to ...

Digambar Kamat Digamber Kamat (born 8 March 1954) is an Indian politician who served as the Chief Minister of Goa from 2007 to 2012. He won the seventh term as a MLA from Margao Assembly constituency in 2022. From 2006 to 2019, he was the president of Swim ...

-led government to provide grants to primary level English schools which was opposed by fellow politician

Manohar Parrikar Manohar Gopalkrishna Prabhu Parrikar (13 December 1955 – 17 March 2019) was an Indian politician and a member of the Bharatiya Janata Party who was the Chief Minister of Goa for three terms. He also served as the Union Minister of Defence ...

and other opposition leaders. After

Bharatiya Janata Party The Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP; , ) is a political party in India and one of the two major List of political parties in India, Indian political parties alongside the Indian National Congress. BJP emerged out from Syama Prasad Mukherjee's ...

Maharashtrawadi Gomantak Party Maharashtrawadi Gomantak Party ( MGP) is a political party in India. It was Goa's first ruling party after the end of Portuguese rule in Goa in 1961. The party has its base amongst non-Brahmin Hindu migrants from Maharashtra and their desce ...

alliance emerged victorious in the

2012 Goa Legislative Assembly election The Goa legislative assembly election was held on 3 March 2012, to select the 40 members of the Sixth Goa Legislative Assembly, as the term of 5th Goa Legislative Assembly ended in March 2012. The result was announced on 6 March. The Bharatiya ...

, they continued the grants which Velingkar opposed and subsequently dropped from the

(RSS) as the

chief due to his decision to float a political party. In protest 400 volunteers of the RSS resigned. On 2 October 2016, Velingkar officially launched

Goa Suraksha Manch Goa Suraksha Manch is a political party in Goa, a political outfit of the ''Bharatiya Bhasha Suraksha Manch'' which was launched by Subhash Velingkar, a rebel Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh leader. The party was formed on 2 October 2016. The main a ...

but neither held any post and did not contest

2017 Goa Legislative Assembly election The 2017 Goa Legislative Assembly election was held on 4 February 2017 to elect the 40 members of the Seventh Goa Legislative Assembly, as the term of Sixth Legislative Assembly ended on 18 March 2017. VVPAT-fitted EVMs was used in entire Goa ...

. He contested the

Panaji Assembly constituency Panaji Assembly constituency is one of the 40 Legislative Assembly constituencies of Goa state in India. It is part of North Goa district. Members of Legislative Assembly ^by-election Election results Assembly Election 2022 Ass ...

in the by-election in 2019 as a member of the

(GSM) and received 516 votes only.

Culture war of "Goencho Saib"

The controversy was initiated by Velingkar, the Hindu Raksha Maha Aghadi chief. He stated that

Saint Francis Xavier Francis Xavier, SJ (born Francisco de Jasso y Azpilicueta; ; ; ; ; ; 7 April 15063 December 1552), venerated as Saint Francis Xavier, was a Navarrese cleric and missionary. He co-founded the Society of Jesus and, as a representative o ...

was instrumental in bringing in the

Goa Inquisition The Goa Inquisition (, ) was an extension of the Portuguese Inquisition in Portuguese India. Its objective was to enforce Catholic orthodoxy and allegiance to the Apostolic See of the Pontifex. The inquisition primarily focused on the New Chr ...

during

colonial rule Colonialism is the control of another territory, natural resources and people by a foreign group. Colonizers control the political and tribal power of the colonised territory. While frequently an imperialist project, colonialism can also take ...

. "''Goencho Saib''" can be translated into English from

as, "''Goencho''" from

Goan Goans ( Romi Konkani: , ) is the demonym used to describe the people native to Goa, India, formerly part of Portuguese India (''Estado Português da Índia''). They form an ethno-linguistic group resulting from the assimilation of Indo-Aryan, ...

origin whereas "'' Saib''" means "patron", thus means Goan

patron Patronage is the support, encouragement, privilege, or financial aid that an organization or individual bestows on another. In the history of art, art patronage refers to the support that princes, popes, and other wealthy and influential people ...

for

Goan Catholic Goan Catholics () are an ethno-religious community adhering to the Latin Rite of the Catholic Church from the Goa state, in the southern part of the Konkan region along the west coast of India. They are Konkani people and speak the Konkani l ...

s. Velingkar continued that, instead of Saint Francis Xavier being known as ''Goencho Saib'', the

Hindu Hindus (; ; also known as Sanātanīs) are people who religiously adhere to Hinduism, also known by its endonym Sanātana Dharma. Jeffery D. Long (2007), A Vision for Hinduism, IB Tauris, , pp. 35–37 Historically, the term has also be ...

sage

Parashurama Parashurama (), also referred to as Rama Jamadagnya, Rama Bhargava and Virarama, is the sixth avatar among the Dashavatara of the preserver god Vishnu in Hinduism. Hindu tradition holds him to be the destroyer of the evil on Earth. According t ...

deserved the title. The reaction to this synthetic narrative was swift.

Viresh Borkar Viresh Mukesh Borkar (born 29 June 1993) is an Indian politician and businessman who serves as a member of the Goa Legislative Assembly and an executive member of the Revolutionary Goans Party (RGP), of which he was a founding member during its ...

, newly elected MLA of

Revolutionary Goans Party The Revolutionary Goans Party ( RGP) is a regional party in the Indian state of Goa. First registered as a non-governmental organization when founded in March 2017, it received recognition as a political party from the Election Commission of ...

(RGP), accused the

Bhartiya Janata Party The Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP; , ) is a political party in India and one of the two major Indian political parties alongside the Indian National Congress. BJP emerged out from Syama Prasad Mukherjee's Bharatiya Jana Sangh. Since 2014, ...

(BJP) of being involved with Velingkar in creating the controversy. The

Pramod Sawant Pramod Sawant (born 24 April 1973) is an Indian politician and ayurveda medical practitioner who has served as the 11th Chief Minister of Goa since March 2019. He represents the Sanquelim constituency in the Goa Legislative Assembly as a memb ...

added, his government is focused on keeping harmony and equality, which is characteristic to Goa.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Velingkar, Subhash 1948 births Living people People from Panaji Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh pracharaks Goa Suraksha Manch politicians