Panaji, Sep 19 (TOI): While describing Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) as secular, chief minister Laxmikant Parsekar on Sunday said the government will construct new schools where primary education will be imparted in the mother tongue and then let parents decide which educational institution they want their wards to attend.
Addressing around 500 BJP mahila morcha workers, Parsekar said BJP believes primary education should be imparted in mother tongue but the party cannot afford to withdraw grants in aid given to 132 church-run English medium schools as demanded by Bharatiya Bhasha Suraksha Manch (BBSM).
"Around 900 teachers are teaching the 127 schools to which Congress had given grant in aid. The government cannot withdraw the grant just becasue demands have been raised to do so. We will build new schools which will impart good quality primary education in mother tongue and then parents can decide where their children should go for education," the chief minister said.
Taking a dig at former Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh (RSS) leader Subhash Velingkar who has recently been stripped off his associations with the right wing group, Parsekar said BJP can in no way be compared with Congress as far as the medium of instruction (MoI) issue is concerned because the party has not granted permission to a single English medium school to begin operations and has in fact promoted schools with the mother tongue as their MoI. The chief minister also appealed to mahila morcha workers present at the venue to rise in protest against Velingkar.
"We are not here to harm anyone. If we want to develop the state and the country then we have to take all stakeholders along with us," he said, further adding that BJP has won elections in constituencies where 50% voters belong to minority communities.
"At one time Bharatiya Janata Party was a party welcomed only by Hindus, but today six out of 21 of our MLAs are from the Catholic community," Parsekar said, adding that people of other faiths who once used to maintain a distance from the party now trust BJP.
"Trust does not build overnight or with one incident. The party has had to struggle over a period. Sometimes when you take decisions, they need to be inclusive -- take all stakeholders into consideration. Only those who wish to create trouble take one-sided decisions," he further added.