Mohan Bhagwat
मोहन मधुकरराव भागवत
Bhagwat at an RSS event
6th Sarsanghchalak of the Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh
Assumed office
21 March 2009 (2009-03-21)
Preceded byK. S. Sudarshan
Personal details
Born
Mohan Madhukarrao Bhagwat

(1950-09-11) 11 September 1950
Chandrapur, Bombay State (present-day Maharashtra), India[1]
RelationsMadhukar Rao Bhagwat (father)
Alma materNagpur Veterinary College (B.V.Sc.)
OccupationSarasanghachalak (RSS)

Mohan Madhukar Rao Bhagwat (IAST: Mohan Madhukarrao Bhāgvat, Marathi pronunciation: [moːɦən bʱaːɡʋət̪]; born 11 September 1950) is a political activist and veterinarian who is currently serving as the 6th and current Sarsanghchalak of the Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh in India since 2009.

Early life

Mohan Madhukar Bhagwat was born in a Marathi Karhade Brahmin family in Chandrapur, then Bombay State of India.[2][1][3] He comes from a family of RSS activists.[1] His father Madhukar Rao Bhagwat was the Karyavah (secretary) for the Chandrapur zone and later a Prant Pracharak (provincial promoter) for Gujarat.[1] His mother Malati was a member of the RSS Women's Wing.[4]

Bhagwat completed his schooling from 'Lokmanya Tilak Vidyalaya' and then the first year of his BSc from the Janata College in Chandrapur. He graduated in Veterinary Sciences and Animal Husbandry from Government Veterinary College, Nagpur. He dropped out of his postgraduate course in Veterinary Sciences and became a pracharak (full-time promoter/worker) of the RSS towards the end of 1975.[1]

Association with RSS

After working underground during the Emergency, Bhagwat became the 'Pracharak' of Akola in Maharashtra in 1977 and rose within the organisation responsible for Nagpur and Vidarbha regions.[1]

He became 'Akhil Bharatiya Sharirik Pramukh', (in-charge of physical training) for India, 1991 to 1999. He was further promoted as 'Akhil Bharatiya Pracharak Pramukh,' (in-charge of RSS volunteers working full-time for India).

In 2000, when Rajendra Singh and H. V. Sheshadri decided to step down as RSS Chief and general secretary respectively due to poor health, K. S. Sudarshan was nominated as the new chief and Bhagwat became 'Sarkaryavah,' (general secretary).

Bhagwat was chosen as the Sarsanghchalak (Chief Executive) of the RSS on 21 March 2009. He is one of the youngest leaders to head the Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh after K. B. Hedgewar and M. S. Golwalkar.[1]

In June 2015, due to a high threat perception from various Islamist terrorist organisations,[5] the government of India ordered the Central Industrial Security Force (CISF) to provide Bhagwat with round-the-clock protection. At Z+ VVIP security cover, Bhagwat is one of the most protected Indians today.[6]

In 2017, Bhagwat became the first RSS Chief to be officially invited to the Rashtrapati Bhawan by then President Pranab Mukherjee.[7] In September 2018, Mohan Bhagwat presided over a three-day session at Vigyan Bhawan in Delhi as part of reaching out to wider public. That time, he said that RSS has discarded some parts of M. S. Golwalkar's "Bunch of Thoughts" which are no longer relevant to the current circumstances.[8]

Opinions

In November 2016, while addressing a 'Prerna Shibir' on the 80th anniversary of Rashtra Sevika Samiti, the women's wing of the RSS, Mohan Bhagwat said that Homo sapiens ate into the space of other species of genus Homo, like Homo floresiensis and Neanderthals, in the past, but even Homo sapiens could go extinct in the next thousand years.[9]

Bhagwat was quoted in September 2017 for saying "Hinduism was the only true religion in the world and other religions were just sects which emerged from Hinduism."[10]

In November 2021, Mohan Bhagwat expressed opposition to the partition of India and advocacy for Indian reunification, declaring "The only solution to the pain of Partition lies in undoing it."[11][12]

In October 2022, during a speech on the occasion of Vijayadashami, Bhagwat stressed on the need for family planning, and imbalance in population across the country. He urged the government to bring in suitable reforms on the same issue.[13]

In January 2023, Bhagwat advocated support towards the LGBT community in India. He stated that "People with such proclivities have always been there; for as long as humans have existed ... This is biological, a mode of life."[14][15]

Awards and recognition

In 2017, the state-run Animal and Fishery Sciences University awarded Mohan Bhagwat with an honorary doctor of science (DSc) degree during its convocation ceremony in Nagpur.[16]

Further reading

  • Yashaswi Bharat. Prabhat Prakashan, 2021,[17] (with a preface by M. G. Vaidya).[18]
  • Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh chief Mohan Bhagwat launched a mobile app developed to make more accessible works of "national" thinkers called Audio Kumbh.[19][20][21]

References

  1. 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 IANS (21 March 2009). "Mohan Bhagwat: A vet, RSS pracharak for over 30 years". Hindustan Times. Archived from the original on 17 April 2018. Retrieved 16 April 2018.
  2. ↑ India Today, Volume 34, Issues 9-17. Thomson Living Media India Limited. 2009. p. 21. Born on September 11, 1950, in a Karhade Brahmin family in Chandrapur, Maharashtra, he began his career as a veterinary officer. His father, Madhukar Rao Bhagwat, was a close associate of Hedgewar and M.S. Golwalkar
  3. ↑ Naqvi, Saba (26 November 2012). "A Thread That Holds". Outlook. Archived from the original on 24 September 2018. Retrieved 23 November 2018.
  4. ↑ Dahat, Pavan (29 April 2017). "Who is Mohan Bhagwat?". The Hindu. Archived from the original on 20 April 2020. Retrieved 23 November 2018.
  5. ↑ "RSS chief Mohan Bhagwat gets 'Z+' VVIP security cover". The Economic Times. 8 June 2015. Archived from the original on 23 September 2018. Retrieved 23 November 2018.
  6. ↑ "RSS chief Mohan Bhagwat gets Z+ VVIP security cover". Hindustan Times. 8 June 2015. Archived from the original on 8 June 2015. Retrieved 16 April 2018.
  7. ↑ Singh, Sanjay (16 June 2017). "Mohan Bhagwat's presidential lunch reaffirms rise of RSS; no second term for Pranab Mukherjee". Firstpost. Archived from the original on 2 January 2020. Retrieved 25 August 2020.
  8. ↑ "Mohan Bhagwat: RSS has discarded chunks of Golwalkar's thoughts". The Times of India. 20 September 2018. Archived from the original on 13 August 2019. Retrieved 7 February 2021.
  9. ↑ Agha, Eram (11 November 2016). Beg, Mirza Arif (ed.). "Indian Way of Life Only Option Left for World: RSS Chief Mohan Bhagwat". News18. Archived from the original on 26 November 2018. Retrieved 7 February 2021.
  10. ↑ Singh, Kautilya (11 September 2017). "Hinduism only true religion in world, those who want to return to its fold are welcome: Mohan Bhagwat". The Times of India. Archived from the original on 25 July 2021. Retrieved 21 November 2020.
  11. ↑ "Solution to pain of Partition is undoing it: Mohan Bhagwat". The Indian Express. 26 November 2021. Archived from the original on 9 December 2021. Retrieved 9 December 2021.
  12. ↑ Naqvi, Jawed (30 November 2021). "The fuss about 'reunification'". Dawn. Archived from the original on 9 December 2021. Retrieved 9 December 2021.
  13. ↑ "Mohan Bhagwat's remarks on population 'balanced', he didn't point fingers at particular community: S Y Quraishi". The Indian Express. 5 October 2022. Archived from the original on 10 October 2022. Retrieved 10 October 2022.
  14. ↑ Mahajan, Shruti (12 January 2023). "Powerful India Hindu Group Hints at Support for LGBTQ Couples". Bloomberg News. Archived from the original on 13 January 2023. Retrieved 13 January 2023.
  15. ↑ Staff. "Mohan Bhagwat, chief of influential Hindu group RSS, expresses support to LGBTQ community". WION. Archived from the original on 12 January 2023. Retrieved 12 January 2023.
  16. ↑ Maitra, Pradip Kumar (7 March 2017). "RSS chief Mohan Bhagwat to get honorary doctorate in veterinary sciences". Hindustan Times. Archived from the original on 16 April 2018. Retrieved 16 April 2018.
  17. ↑ Anand, Arun (13 December 2020). "Know what RSS under Mohan Bhagwat stands for and how it's changing in this new book". ThePrint. Archived from the original on 26 November 2021. Retrieved 26 November 2021.
  18. ↑ "'Yashasvi Bharat' talks about Hindu as worshippers of unity in diversity". The Sentinel. Assam. IANS. 14 December 2020. Archived from the original on 26 November 2021. Retrieved 26 November 2021.
  19. ↑ NDTV, NDTV (9 September 2021). "RSS Chief Mohan Bhagwat Launches Mobile App On "National" Thinkers". NDTV. Archived from the original on 31 May 2022. Retrieved 31 May 2022.
  20. ↑ "आरएसएस प्रमुख मोहन भागवत ने 'ऑडियो कुंभ' मोबाइल ऐप का लोकार्पण किया". Archived from the original on 17 October 2022. Retrieved 17 October 2022.
  21. ↑ "आरएसएस प्रमुख मोहन भागवत ने 'ऑडियो कुंभ' मोबाइल ऐप का लोकार्पण किया". Archived from the original on 17 October 2022. Retrieved 17 October 2022.
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