In Bhagwat, RSS gets its youngest head

The Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh (RSS), ideological core of the Hindutva organisations including the opposition Bhartiya Janata Party (BJP), today went through a generational change with the appointment of Mohan Rao Bhagwat, 58, as its youngest head.

Bhagwat, who was been hand-picked by KS Sudarshan to succeed as the Sarsanghachalak took charge at the ongoing RSS conclave — Akhil Bharatiya Pratinidhi Sabha — at Nagpur today. He is the sixth head of the RSS, ever since it was founded by KB Hedgewar in 1925.

A veterinary doctor by profession, within the RSS and the sangh parivar, Bhagwat is seen as a youth icon and an energetic pracharak, who managed to recruit hordes of youth into the RSS in the recent years.

Bhagwat’s appointment also comes at a time when BJP is trying to project the 81-year old L K Advani as a pro-youth Prime Ministerial candidate for the Lok Sabha elections. His rapport with BJP leaders across the board is seen helpful in “bridging the communication gap’’ that had existed in the past between the Sangh and the BJP during the times of his predecessor — K Sudershan.

BJP sources said that Bhagwat’s affable nature and communicative skills would serve as a great link between the sangh and the BJP at a time when the party needs all the support for winning the Lok Sabha elections.

Before becoming a pracharak, Bhagwat had worked clandestinely in Akola, Maharashtra, during emergency and later in 1977 he was given the charge of this district. RSS leaders remember him as “energetic leader who had mobilised the young people of the area on all fronts.’’

He has held several organisational position in the RSS as also the BJP. Till recently, when he as chosen to head the RSS, he had been the elected Sar karyawah — the general secretary — for nine years.

Sudershan, who had apparently followed his predecessors — Balasaheb Deoras and Rajju Bhaiya, and stepped down on health reasons, would be known for his dubious distinction as an endorser of a new militant face of the Hindu activism — be it the Graham Steins’ murder in Orissa or the recent Sadhvi Pragya controversy.

However, from the sangh point’s of view Sudershan is a master strategist, who had worked on infiltration of the Sangh into the tribal areas of the central and eastern states.

During his tenure the sangh established schools and started social projects in these areas to keep the Christian missionaries away. “The social projects of the sangh had increased from 40,000 to 1,00,000 during his time,’’ said an RSS source.