RSS+Has+A+New+Chief

RSS Has A New Chief
Maharashtrian Brahmin Again At Helm

Rashtirya Swayamsevak Sangh’s (RSS) Mohan Bhagwat was today elected as the new chief of RSS. He replaces K S Sudarshan who held the top post of Sangh Parivar for nearly nine years. The move is significant as political front of RSS, the Bharatiya Janata Party, is trying hard to regain the power at centre. It is also important because a Maharashtrian Brahmin has returned to this post in the form Bhagwat after about 15 years.

The election of Bhagwat as Sarsanghchalak (RSS chief) came on the second day of the three-day RSS conclave. It is expected to redefine its relationship with the BJP. BJP president Rajnath Singh and Bal Apte, on deputation from RSS, were present on the occasion.

A veterinary doctor by profession, Bhagwat hails from Chandrapur in Maharashtra and became a pracharak (full time volunteer) of RSS from his early years. He is 59-year-old and is the youngest chief of RSS after Guruji Golwalkar who took the mantle in 1940 at the age of 34.

He has good relations with the BJP leadership including L K Advani. His name had recently figured in the ATS chargesheet when one of the accused in the Malegaon blasts had linked him to ISI, a charge he had strongly denied. Before becoming Sarsanghchalak, Bhagwat was the general secretary.He has held various responsibilities including district prachark for Akola, provincial pracharak for Nagpur and zonal prachark for Bihar before being made joint secretary.

Sudarshan's early years as RSS chief were tumultuous with the BJP in power at the Centre at a time when the Sangh Parivar came under attack due to the post-Godhra riots in Gujarat and the Jinnah controversy triggered by Advani during a trip to Pakistan.(Bhagwat, who will be the sixth RSS chief, is the youngest to assume the top post after Guruji Golwalkar. Bhagwat had become general secretary in 2000 when Sudarshan, an electronics and telecommunication engineer, took over the mantle of Sarsanghchalak from Rajendra Singh.

Sudarshan became Sarsanghchalak in 2009 when Rajendra Singh, popularly known as Rajju Bhaiyya stepped down from the post owing to ill health. Before him, it was said that only Chitpawan Brahmin can become the chief of the organisation.

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