Goa: Parrikar budget cuts wide swath for RSS, Ramdev entry

Panaji: Yoga guru Baba Ramdev and the RSS might as well have taken a joint byline with Goa chief minister Manohar Parrikar for the budget presented in the state legislative assembly on Wednesday. [caption id=“attachment_1421859” align=“alignleft” width=“380”] Goa CM Manohar Parrikar.[/caption] The deficit budget presented by Parrikar, also the finance minister, virtually lays out the red carpet for organisations promoted by Ramdev, now a known Narendra Modi-backer and the controversial Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh ideologue Indresh Kumar to set up camp in the state. Ramdev, whose nationwide anti-corruption movement, now runs parallel to his support for Gujarat chief minister Narendra Modi is perhaps the luckier of the lot. On 29 January, Ramdev, who was on a two-day visit to Goa, had an early morning meeting with the Goa chief minister and subsequently made three announcements at a press conference. First, he said that Yoga teachers from his Haridwar-based Patanjali Yogpeeth institute would soon teach yoga in government schools in Goa. “Our experts from the Patanjali (Yogpeeth) Trust will be soon teaching yoga at the government schools here,” Ramdev had said. The second announcement was about how he would work save Goa’s cattle loitering along Goa’s roads and eventually ban bovine slaughter in the state. “I will try my utmost to ensure that cattle slaughter is banned in Goa. I will certainly convince Parrikar and make sure it happens” Ramdev had said. A part of Parrikar’s budget might as well have been scripted at the iconic Mandovi hotel in Panaij, where the chief minister met the Yoga guru in January. Because the fiscal document, which was presented on Wednesday, almost mirrors the claims made by Ramdev two months before the budget was actually presented. “Sanskrit language and Yoga has been the pillars of Indian culture and education… Yoga an ancient art and science of Indian origin is receiving recognition all over the World. However its benefits are being neglected in our own country. I have received many requests for supporting education in Yoga. I intend to tie up with appropriate qualified yoga Institutions, to provide Yoga education to the schools and colleges, who request for the same. I have provided an amount of 50 lakhs for promotion of yoga education in my budget,” Parrikar told the Goa assembly subtly clearing ground for Ramdev’s Yoga teachers. When it comes to saving Goa’s cattle, Ramdev’s influence on Parrikar’s budget is not even subtle. “As we are all aware, the menace of stray cattle is a larger problem, due to which several other hardships are faced by the general public. I propose to devise a scheme for a five year term to tackle this problem in collaboration with NGO’s working in this field, such as Bharat Swabhiman Kisan Sanstha, and other such NGOs,” Parrikar said in his speech, directly naming Ramdev’s organisation as a potential beneficiary of his announcement. With RSS ideologue Indresh Kumar, who has been interrogated by the government investigating agencies probing the Ajmer Dargah blast case, it was different. While it was Ramdev who spilled the beans on possibly budgetary announcements related to yoga and anti-cow slaughter, Parrikar himself announced his reach out to Kumar at a seminar held in Goa last month. “Sometimes you wonder whether we seriously understand our security problem. Shortly, I am announcing the setting up of an academy which FINS (Forum for Integrated National Security) can operate. The State government will set it up. It can be a college of security or school or whatever word you want to use,” Parrikar told a conference organised by FINS. FINS is an RSS-promoted defence affairs think tank and officially Indresh Kumar, is its chief patron. In his budget speech, Parrikar fulfilled his promise made to Indresh Kumar’s pet organisation. “National security has become a matter of great concern. In order to keep Goa free from terrorism, we need to take immediate steps. The disciplined forces as well as policy makers need to be sensitized and trained. I therefore, intend to setup an Academy for study in national security and strategic planning, in collaboration with the Forum for Integrated National Security,” Parrikar said, adding that an initial budgetary provision of Rs 50 lakh had already been made for the purpose.