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Goa Chief Minister Manohar Parrikar's statement that he is a staunch swayamsevak of the Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh has evoked protests.
Claiming that the Sangh Parivar outfit is not communal, Parrikar, in an interview to a national daily, said he did not mind being an RSS man and chief minister at the same time.
According to Dr Kumar Saptarshi, the Pune-based president of the recently revived Yuvak Kranti Dal, no person can be both at the same time, as the chief minister has to practice equality, which the RSS never does.
Saptarshi was in Goa to deliver a lecture on the occasion of the birth centenary year of socialist leader Jayaprakash Narayan. He also appealed to all 'secularists' to unite and counter the 'communal designs' of the Sangh Parivar.
According to him, Parrikar is an efficient man and can implement the RSS agenda in Goa. He recalled the way Parrikar had closed 50 primary schools in the state and handed over the buildings to Sangh-sponsored institutions to run new schools.
Parrikar, in the same interview, said that he plans to hand over 69 more schools to the RSS if it comes forward to run them.
Saptarshi feels no man can believe in both the Constitution, which talks of secularism, and the RSS, which believes in Hindu Rashtra. "It means that Parrikar actually does not believe in the Constitution," he said.
Parrikar, however, claims that he is a secular man, and because of that even the Christians voted for him in the recently held assembly election.
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