Bengaluru: The Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh (RSS) on Saturday announced that senior RSS functionary Dattatreya Hosabale will be the new Sarkaryavah (General Secretary) of the organization, replacing septuagenarian Bhaiyyaji Joshi, who has sought retirement.
Announcing this, Arun Kumar, Akhil Bharatiya Prachar Pramukh, said the incumbent Bhaiyyaji Joshi, 74, had expressed the desire to be relieved of the job he was handling for 12 years, and that a younger one is appointed in his place.
Hosabale’s election took place at the two-day meeting of RSS’s highest decision-making body, Akhila Bharatiya Pratinidhi Sabha (ABPS), in Bengaluru.
Joshi had become the General Secretary in 2009 and completed four terms of three years each.
A Post-Graduate in English Literature, Hosbale, 65, had joined the RSS in 1968 and became a full-time organizer in 1978. He hails from a family of RSS workers in Shimoga, Karnataka. In 2004, he became the second-in-command of the intellectual wing of the RSS.
During the Emergency, Hosabale was arrested under the Maintenance of Internal Security Act (MISA) and imprisoned for 16 months.
The annual conclave of the RSS is being held in Bengaluru instead of Nagpur due to the rising Covid-19 cases in Maharashtra.
Though Joshi’s term has been extended in the past, this time it was not feasible due to his age and also because of the upcoming 2024 General Elections and the Centenary Celebrations of the RSS in 2025, Kumar said.
RSS Sah-Sarkaryavah (Joint General-Secretary) Dr. Manmohan Vaidya had on Friday said there is a growing curiosity about RSS among the public. “All may not join the Sangh, but they are ready and eager to work with the Sangh”.
(VP)