Bharatiya Bhasha Suraksha Manch (BBSM) today announced it will contest the 2017 Goa Assembly polls in alliance with "like-minded parties", including Shiv Sena.
"We appeal all the like-minded parties to join hands and form a grand alliance with BBSM. Parties like Shiv Sena and Goa Praja Party have already shown willingness to join hands with us. We will be working with them," BBSM convener Subhash Velingkar, head of a breakaway faction of RSS, said.
The core committee of BBSM met for the first time today after RSS relieved Velingkar of his post as the chief of RSS's Goa unit. The committee decided to go ahead with the plan of contesting the Goa polls by forming a political outfit, he told reporters.
BBSM has already offered the Maharashtrawadi Gomantak Party to form an alliance and the latter will have to respond by September 30, he said.
On October 2, formal announcement of the political party will be made, said Velingkar.
"On October 2, we will tell people for whom to vote," he said, adding that BBSM would target 35 out of 40 constituencies in the state.
BBSM has been demanding that mother-tongue (Konkani or Marathi) be declared the language of instruction in elementary education in Goa, and the government should withdraw grants to English medium schools.
It fell out with BJP, the ruling party, and RSS over this issue.
Velingkar said BBSM will launch a more aggressive agitation in the days to come.
"We will be having meetings across Goa and will reach out to every village," he said.
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