Dinanath Mishra (or Dina Nath Mishra; 1937–2013) was an Indian journalist and writer belonging to the

Hindu nationalist Hindu nationalism has been collectively referred to as the expression of social and political thought, based on the native spiritual and cultural traditions of the Indian subcontinent. "Hindu nationalism" or the correct term ''Hindū rāṣṭ ...

movement. He authored a seminal work ''RSS: Myth and Reality'' on the

Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh The Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh ( ; , , ) is an Indian right-wing, Hindu nationalist, paramilitary volunteer organisation. The RSS is the progenitor and leader of a large body of organisations called the Sangh Parivar (Hindi for "Sangh family" ...

(RSS) from a nationalist point of view. He was elected to the Upper House of the

Indian Parliament The Parliament of India ( IAST: ) is the supreme legislative body of the Republic of India. It is a bicameral legislature composed of the president of India and two houses: the Rajya Sabha (Council of States) and the Lok Sabha (House of the ...

(Rajya Sabha) and served a five-year term.

Life and career

Mishra was born in 1937 in Gaya (India), Gaya, Bihar. His father was Indranath Mishra. He had to struggle during his early life, working as a child labourer, but would eventually complete his education and earn a Master of Arts degree. He also became a volunteer (''swayamsevak'') of the

(RSS). He served as the editor of the RSS in-house newspaper ''Panchjanya'', from 1971 to 1974. Later, he moved to Navbharat Times, heading its bureau in Delhi and, subsequently, its Patna edition. Having joined the Bharatiya Janata Party, he was elected as a member of the Rajya Sabha from 1998 to 2004, during the Premiership of Atal Bihari Vajpayee. Jointly with Balbir Punj, he founded the India First Foundation, which published the magazine ''Eternal India'' (as well as its Hindi-language version ''Chirantan Bharat''). It also acquired an edited collection titled ''Sonia: The Unknown'' (''Sonia ka sach'' in Hindi), which includes biographical details of Sonia Gandhi and raises questions based on her foreign origin. Mishra died on 12 November 2013. He is survived by his wife, son and three daughters. Senior BJP leader Balbir Punj called him a true swayamsevak dedicated to the cause of Hindutva. Rakesh Sinha of the India Policy Foundation called him a cultural nationalist that served and "survived in a secularist atmosphere."

Publications

English * ''RSS: Myth and Reality'' (Vikas, 1980), . Hindi * ''Hara-hara vyangye'' (Prabhata Prakasana, 1999), . * ''Pāpī vota ke lie'' (in Hindi, Pratibha Pratishthana, 2002), * ''Chaploosi Rekha'' (Prabhat Prakashan), . Mishra's ''RSS: Myth and Reality'' is an early work on RSS and puts forward the RSS point of view. It is often cited in academic sources for this reason. According to Mishra, RSS believes that modernity destroys cultural identity and suffocates dharma and divides the Hindu people. "Signs of disintegration appear in the family, village and communal life" in the words of Dattopant Thengadi. Mishra says, "the ersatz, sloganistic secularism has done great harm to the nation."

References

External links

Books published by India First Foundation at openlibrary.org
{{DEFAULTSORT:Mishra, Dinanath 1937 births 2013 deaths People from Gaya, India Indian male journalists Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh members Bharatiya Janata Party politicians from Bihar Rajya Sabha members from Uttar Pradesh Writers about Hindu nationalism