Ram Madhav |
New Delhi
PM Modi has broken the hold of the Maharashtrian Brahmin Club over the Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh (RSS), the ideological fountainhead of the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP), with the election of Dattatreya Hosabale (66), a Kannadiga from Karnataka, in Bengaluru on Saturday as its Sarkaryavah (general secretary), the second highest post after RSS chief Mohan Bhagwat (70).
Hosabale, the seniormost among the third top post of Sah Sarkaryavah or joint general secretary since 2009, has a close proximity to Modi who was trying to hoist him to the general secretary’s post since 2015 and again in 2018 to have his say in the RSS and break the Maharashtrian Brahmin’s nexus at the top in the Akhil Bharatiya Pratinidhi Sabha of the RSS every third year.
Bhagwat, however, postponed his elevation twice, knowing its implications, by opting to continue with Suresh Joshi (73) alias Bhaiyaji Joshi, whose early education was in Indore before he shifted to Maharashtra. Joshi, who remained Sarkaryavah for a record 12 years since 2009, has not been keeping well for a long time and hence Bhagwat proposed the name of Hosabale that was approved by the Pratinidhi Sabha unanimously.
Though the RSS is headed by Bhagwat, the real power in the day-to-day working rests with the general secretary, so it will be Hosabale who will get the responsibility to change the RSS functioning in the days to come.
RAM MADHAV: In another major development in the RSS, BJP national general secretary Ram Madhav (56), who was sacked from the post in September last year after falling out with Modi, has been recalled by the RSS from the BJP and asked to join its All India Executive Wing, considered a big responsibility. He was the man organising Modi’s foreign trips during his government’s first tenure, but he earned Modi’s displeasure on trying to get credits to himself for helping the BJP coalition governments installed in Jammu and Kashmir and in the north-eastern states.
Political observers read the remarks by Union Transport Minister Nitin Gadkari (63) immediately after Hosabale’s elevation the time has come for him to think of retirement as an indication he has lost support of the Maharashtrian Brahmin Club and Modi may evict him because of his harsh remarks in the recent months. Gadkari was trying hard for another term to Bhaiyyaji Joshi to protect himself. The first wicket to fall in the BJP, however, may be that of Karnataka chief minister BS Yediyurappa (78) since Hosabale was opposed to making him the CM again in 2019. As an RSS general secretary, Hosabale will be in charge of coordination with the BJP and ensure closer coordination due to his proximity to PM Modi.
