New Delhi: Dattatreya Hosabale has been made the new general secretary of the Rashtriya Swayamsewak Sangh (RSS), a post earlier held by Bhaiyyaji Joshi.
Sangh’s official Twitter handle confirmed the development on Saturday.
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The election was held at the two-day meeting of its highest decision-making body, Akhila Bharatiya Pratinidhi Sabha in Bengaluru.
Who is Dattatreya Hosabale?
Dattatreya Hosabale was born in Karnataka Shimoga and hails from a family of RSS activists in the state. He joined the RSS in 1968 and then Akhil Bharatiya Vidyarthi Parishad (ABVP) in 1972; becoming a full-time organizer in 1978.
He also served as the general secretary for ABVP for 15 years.
He is said to have given a significant contribution in setting up the Youth Development Centre in Guwahati.
In 2004, he became the second in command of the intellectual wing of the RSS.
During the period of Emergency from 1975 to 1977, he was arrested under the Maintenance of Internal Security Act (MISA) and remained in prison for 16 months.
Regarding the matter of Secularism, Hosabale had revealed his views in an interview to Open Magazine back in 2017 saying: “In India secularism has been about minority appeasement and it has been anti-Hindu”, calling out what he termed as “pseudo-secularism” being practised in the country.
73-year-old Bhaiyyaji Joshi had become the general secretary in 2009 and completed four terms of three years each. His replacement is being attributed to his age.
The annual conclave of the RSS is being held in Bengaluru and not in Nagpur where the organization has its headquarter because of the rising Covid-19 cases in Maharashtra.