Former Akhil Bharatiya Boudhik Pramukh of the Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh (RSS) and Hindutva ideologue Ranga Hari passed away at Amrita Hospital in Kochi on Sunday morning. He was 93.
R Hari, as he was popularly referred to, was born on December 5, 1930. Son of TJ Ranga Shenoy and Padmavati, a native of Tripunithura, R Hari was the second of eight children. Schooled at St. Albert's High School and graduated from Maharajas College at Kochi, he got admission in BSc Chemistry but could not continue as he served as satyagrahi in Kannur jail during ban on RSS in December 1948. He then graduated in Economics and learned Sanskrit separately.
After graduation, R Hari became a full-time Pracharak of the RSS and started working in North Paravur, a place near to Kochi. Many sangh assignments came to him later. He took the helm of clandestine operations during the Emergency Period. From 1983 to 1993, he held the title of Kerala Pranta Pracharak. In 1990 a larger role came to him as Akhil Bharatiya Saha Boudhik Pramukh. He was Akhil Bharatiya Boudhik Pramukh from 1991 to 2005. He also shaped the Hindu Swayamsevak Sangh (HSS) work in Asia and Australia from 1994 to 2005 as Sampark Karyakartha of the HSS. He was a member of the Akhil Bharatiya Karyakari Mandal of the RSS between 2005 and 2006.
He authored around fifty books in different languages like Sanskrit, Konkani, Malayalam, Hindi, Marathi, Tamil and English languages. He was proficient in Gujarati, Bengali and Assamese languages also. He edited and compiled Second RSS Sarsanghchalak M S Golwalkar's complete works 'Guruji Samagra' which was published in 12 volumes. His last work was a book named "Prithvi Sukta: An Ode to Mother Earth" which was released recently by Sarsanghachalak Mohan Bhagwat.
R Hari travelled to five continents with the message of Sangh. He worked with five Sarsanghchalaks viz. M S Golwalkar, M D Devares, Dr Rajendra Singh, K S Sudarshan and Mohan Bhagwat.
While paying tributes to R Hari, Sarsanghachalak Dr. Mohan Bhagwat and Sarkaryavah Dattatreya Hosabale said, "The sad demise of our Shri Ranga Hari ji had robbed us of a profound thinker, practical worker and ideal of behaviour and most of all a loving and encouraging elder. Ranga Hariji had lived his life fully and meaningfully. Many workers who came into his acquaintance when he was Akhil Bharatiya Baudhik Pramukh of RSS will be mourning his loss today all over the Bharat. Even on his sick days, In his last days he was fully aware of his failing strength but he did not seize his activities of reading, writing and pleasantly counselling Swayamsevaks who came to see him. On 11th October, only his commentary on Prithvi Sukta was published in Delhi. Even after his speech failed him, he used to hear the visitors and respond by his facial expressions. We personally and on behalf of RSS offer our respectful condolences to his inspiring memory and pray for enlightenment and peace on the part of the departed soul."
