List of leaders of the Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh

The article lists the leaders of the Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh (RSS). The RSS is an Indian right-wing Hindutva paramilitary organisation, which is widely regarded as the ideological parent of the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP), India's ruling political party. ^{[1] [2] [3] [4]} In the 21st century, it is the world's largest far-right organisation by membership. ^[5]

Sarsanghchalak

Sarsanghchalak of the Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh
Incumbent Mohan Bhagwat since 21 March 2009
Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh
Type	Chief of a paramilitary organisation
Member of	Sangh Parivar
Appointer	Outgoing Sarsanghchalak
Term length	No term limit
Formation	27 September 1925;99 years ago (27 September 1925)
First holder	K. B. Hedgewar

The Sarsanghchalak (Chief) serves as the head of the RSS. The position is decided, through nomination, by the predecessor. Since the formation of the RSS in 1925, six individuals have served as the Sarsanghchalak. K. B. Hedgewar, the founder of the RSS, also served as its first Sarsanghchalak. The sixth and current Sarsanghchalak of the organisation is Mohan Bhagwat. ^[6]

List of officeholders

No.	Portrait	Name (Birth–Death)	Term of office			Ref.
			Took office	Left office	Time in office
1		K. B. Hedgewar (1889–1940)	27 September 1925	21 June 1940	14 years, 268 days	[7]
2		M. S. Golwalkar (1906–1973)	21 June 1940	5 June 1973	32 years, 349 days	[8]
3		Madhukar Dattatraya Deoras (1915–1996)	5 June 1973	11 March 1994	20 years, 279 days	[9] [10]
4		Rajendra Singh (1922–2003)	11 March 1994	10 March 2000	5 years, 365 days	[10] [11]
5		K. S. Sudarshan (1931–2012)	10 March 2000	21 March 2009	9 years, 11 days	[12]
6		Mohan Bhagwat (born 1950)	21 March 2009	Incumbent	16 years, 166 days	[13]

Sarkaryavah

Sarkaryavah of the Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh
Incumbent Dattatreya Hosabale since 20 March 2021
Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh
Type	General Secretary of a paramilitary organisation
Member of	Sangh Parivar
Appointer	Elected by members of the Akhil Bharatiya Pratinidhi Sabha
Term length	No term limit
Formation	27 September 1925;99 years ago (27 September 1925)
First holder	Gopal Mukund Huddar

The Sarkaryavah (General Secretary) serves as the operational head of the RSS. The position is elected by members of the Akhil Bharatiya Pratinidhi Sabha, in elections that occur once every three years. Gopal Mukund Huddar served as the first Sarkaryavah of the organisation. Dattatreya Hosabale is the current Sarkaryavah, who has been serving since 2021. ^[14]

List of officeholders

No.	Portrait	Name (Birth–Death)	Term of office			Ref.
			Took office	Left office	Time in office
1		Gopal Mukund Huddar (1902–1981)	27 September 1925	–	–	[15] [16]
–		Suresh Joshi (born 1947)	c. March 2009	20 March 2021	c. 12 years	[17]
–		Dattatreya Hosabale (born 1954)	20 March 2021	Incumbent	4 years, 166 days	[17]

See also

• List of members of the Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh
• List of national presidents of the Bharatiya Janata Party

References

1. McLeod, John (2002). The history of India. Greenwood Publishing Group. pp. 209–. ISBN   978-0-313-31459-9 . Retrieved 11 June 2010.
2. Andersen, Walter K.; Damle, Shridhar D. (1987), The Brotherhood in Saffron: The Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh and Hindu Revivalism, Delhi: Vistaar Publications, p. 111, ISBN   9788170360537
3. Horowitz, Donald L. (2001). The Deadly Ethnic Riot . University of California Press. p.  244. ISBN   978-0520224476.
4. Haynes, Jeff (2 September 2003). Democracy and Political Change in the Third World. Routledge. pp. 168–. ISBN   978-1-134-54184-3.
5. Pal, Felix; Chaudhary, Neha (4 March 2023). "Leaving the Hindu Far Right". South Asia: Journal of South Asian Studies. 46 (2): 425–444. doi: 10.1080/00856401.2023.2179817 . ISSN   0085-6401. S2CID   257565310.
6. Kanugo, Pralay (2002). RSS's tryst with politics: from Hedgewar to Sudarshan. p. 76. ISBN   9788173043987.
7. Puniyani, Ram (21 July 2005). Religion, Power and Violence: Expression of Politics in Contemporary Times. p. 125. ISBN   0761933387.
8. Jaffrelot, Christophe. The Hindu Nationalist Movement and Indian Politics. C. Hurst & Co. Publishers. p. 39.
9. Banerjee, Sumanta. Shrinking space: minority rights in South Asia. South Asia Forum for Human Rights. p. 171.
10. Anand, Arun (11 December 2021). "3rd RSS chief Balasaheb Deoras: Organiser, strategic thinker who made swayamsevaks 'introspect'". ThePrint .
11. Islam, Shamsul (2006). Religious Dimensions of Indian Nationalism: A Study of RSS. Anamika Pub & Distributors. p. 36. ISBN   9788174952363.
12. Jaffrelot, Christophe (2010). Religion, Caste, and Politics in India. Primus Books. p. 205. ISBN   9789380607047.
13. "RSS chief Mohan Bhagwat urges youth to follow path shown by leaders". Times Now. Archived from the original on 13 August 2018.
14. Pandey, Neelam (7 February 2024). "Dattatreya Hosabale likely to be re-elected RSS general secretary at apex body meet in Nagpur". ThePrint .
15. Jha, Dhirendra K. (30 June 2023). "The Great Betrayal: How Hedgewar spurned Bose and his own protégé's call to join the freedom struggle". The Caravan . Archived from the original on 24 May 2024.
16. Sonwalkar, Prasun (25 September 2019). "From saffron to red: MI5 closely tracked Nagpur journalist studying in London". Hindustan Times . Archived from the original on 25 September 2019.
17. Yadav, Shyamlal (20 March 2021). "Explained: Who is Dattatreya Hosabale, the new RSS sarkaryawah?". The Indian Express . Archived from the original on 20 March 2021.