Mohan Bhagwat (, Marathi pronunciation: oːɦən bʱaːɡʋət̪ born 11 September 1950) is an activist currently serving as the 6th and current

Sarsanghchalak The Sarsanghchalak (IAST: Sarasanghacālaka) is the head of the Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh (RSS), an Indian right-wing, Hindu nationalist organisation that is widely regarded as the parent organisation of the Bharatiya Janata Party. The RSS is o ...

of 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" ...

in India. He was chosen as the successor to

K. S. Sudarshan Kuppahalli Sitaramayya Sudarshan (18 June 1931 – 15 September 2012) was the fifth '' Sarsanghachalak'' of the Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh (RSS), a Hindu nationalist organisation from 2000 to 2009. __TOC__ Biography Sudarshan was born in a San ...

in March 2009.

Early life

Mohan Madhukar Bhagwat was born in a

Marathi Marathi may refer to: *Marathi people, an Indo-Aryan ethnolinguistic group of Maharashtra, India *Marathi language, the Indo-Aryan language spoken by the Marathi people *Palaiosouda, also known as Marathi, a small island in Greece See also * * ...

family in

Chandrapur Chandrapur (earlier known as ''Chanda'', the official name until 1964) is a city and a municipal corporation in Chandrapur district, Maharashtra state, India. It is the district headquarters of Chandrapur district. Chandrapur is a fort city ...

, then

Bombay State Bombay State was a large Indian state created at the time of India's Independence, with other regions being added to it in the succeeding years. Bombay Presidency (roughly equating to the present-day Indian state of Maharashtra, excluding Sou ...

of India. He comes from a family of

RSS RSS ( RDF Site Summary or Really Simple Syndication) is a web feed that allows users and applications to access updates to websites in a standardized, computer-readable format. Subscribing to RSS feeds can allow a user to keep track of many di ...

activists. His father Madhukar Rao Bhagwat, was the ''Karyavah'' (secretary) for the Chandrapur zone and later a ''Prant Pracharak'' (provincial promoter) for

Gujarat Gujarat (, ) is a state along the western coast of India. Its coastline of about is the longest in the country, most of which lies on the Kathiawar peninsula. Gujarat is the fifth-largest Indian state by area, covering some ; and the ninth ...

. His mother Malati was a member of the RSS Women's Wing. 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 Science Veterinary medicine is the branch of medicine that deals with the prevention, management, diagnosis, and treatment of disease, disorder, and injury in animals. Along with this, it deals with animal rearing, husbandry, breeding, research on nutri ...

s and

Animal Husbandry Animal husbandry is the branch of agriculture concerned with animals that are raised for meat, fibre, milk, or other products. It includes day-to-day care, selective breeding, and the raising of livestock. Husbandry has a long history, starti ...

from Government Veterinary College, Nagpur. He dropped out of his postgraduate course in Veterinary Sciences and became a ''

pracharak 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") ...

'' (full-time promoter/worker) of the RSS towards the end of 1975.

Association with RSS

After working underground during the

Emergency An emergency is an urgent, unexpected, and usually dangerous situation that poses an immediate risk to health, life, property, or environment and requires immediate action. Most emergencies require urgent intervention to prevent a worsening ...

, Bhagwat became the 'Pracharak' of

Akola Akola () is a municipal corporation and the third largest city in Vidarbha after Nagpur and Amravati and tenth largest city in Maharashtra. is located about east of the state capital, Mumbai, and west of the second capital, Nagpur. Akola ...

in Maharashtra in 1977 and rose within the organisation responsible for

Nagpur Nagpur (pronunciation: Help:IPA/Marathi, aːɡpuːɾ is the third largest city and the winter capital of the Indian state of Maharashtra. It is the 13th largest city in India by population and according to an Oxford's Economics report, Nag ...

and

Vidarbha Vidarbha (Pronunciation: Help:IPA/Marathi, �id̪əɾbʱə is a geographical region in the east of the Indian state of Maharashtra and a Proposed states and union territories of India#Maharashtra, proposed state of central India, comprising th ...

regions. He became '

Akhil Bharatiya Sharirik Pramukh 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") ...

', (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 Rajendra Singh (born 6 August 1959) is an Indian water conservationist and environmentalist from Alwar district, Rajasthan in India. Also known as "waterman of India", he won the Magsaysay Award in 2001 and Stockholm Water Prize in 2015. He ru ...

and decided to step down as RSS Chief and general secretary respectively due to poor health,

was nominated as the new chief and Bhagwat became 'Sarkaryavah,' (general secretary). Bhagwat was chosen as the

(Chief Executive) of the RSS on 21 March 2009. He is one of the youngest leaders to head the

after

K. B. Hedgewar Keshav Baliram Hedgewar (1 April 1889 – 21 June 1940), also known by his moniker Doctorji, was an Indian physician and the founding ''Sarsanghachalak'' (or "Chief") of the Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh (RSS). Hedgewar founded the RSS in Nagpur ...

and

M. S. Golwalkar Madhav Sadashivrao Golwalkar (19 February 1906 – 5 June 1973), popularly known as Guruji was the second ''Sarsanghchalak'' ("Chief") of the Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh (RSS). Golwalkar is considered one of the most influential and prominent fi ...

. In June 2015, due to a high threat perception from various Islamist terrorist organisations, the government of India ordered the

Central Industrial Security Force The Central Industrial Security Force (CISF) is a federal police organisation in India under the Ministry of Home Affairs. It is one among the Central Armed Police Forces (CAPF). CISF provides security to over 356 industrial units (including 1 ...

(CISF) to provide Bhagwat with round-the-clock protection. At

Z+ VVIP In India, security details are provided to some high-risk individuals by the police and local government. Depending on the threat perception to the person, the category is divided into six tiers: SPG, Z+ (highest level), Z, Y+, Y and X. Individua ...

security cover, Bhagwat is one of the most protected Indians today. In 2017, Bhagwat became the first RSS Chief to be officially invited to the

Rashtrapati Bhawan The Rashtrapati Bhavan (, rāsh-truh-puh-ti bha-vun; ; originally Viceroy's House and later Government House) is the official residence of the President of India at the western end of Rajpath, Raisina Hill, New Delhi, India. Rashtrapati Bh ...

by then President

Pranab Mukherjee Dr. Pranab Mukherjee (11 December 193531 August 2020) was an Indian politician and statesman who served as the 13th president of India from 2012 until 2017. In a political career spanning five decades, Mukherjee was a senior leader in the India ...

. In September 2018, Mohan Bhagwat presided over a 3-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

’s "Bunch of Thoughts" which are no longer relevant to the current circumstances.

Opinion

In November 2016, while addressing a 'Prerna Shibir' on the 80th anniversary of

Rashtra Sevika Samiti The Rashtra Sevika Samiti (''National Women Volunteers Committee'') is a Hindu nationalist women's organisation that parallels the Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh (RSS) for men. Even though it is often referred to as the " Sister" of the RSS, the or ...

, the women's wing of the RSS, Mohan Bhagwat said that ''

Homo sapiens Humans (''Homo sapiens'') are the most abundant and widespread species of primate, characterized by bipedalism and exceptional cognitive skills due to a large and complex brain. This has enabled the development of advanced tools, culture, ...

'' ate into the space of other species of genus ''Homo'', like ''

Homo floresiensis ''Homo floresiensis'' also known as "Flores Man"; nicknamed "Hobbit") is an extinct species of small archaic human that inhabited the island of Flores, Indonesia, until the arrival of modern humans about 50,000 years ago. The remains of an i ...

'' and

Neanderthal Neanderthals (, also ''Homo neanderthalensis'' and erroneously ''Homo sapiens neanderthalensis''), also written as Neandertals, are an extinct species or subspecies of archaic humans who lived in Eurasia until about 40,000 years ago. While th ...

s, in the past, but even ''Homo sapiens'' could go extinct in the next thousand years. 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." In November 2021, Mohan Bhagwat expressed

opposition to the partition of India Opposition to the partition of India was widespread in British India in the 20th century and it continues to remain a talking point in South Asian politics. Those who opposed it often adhered to the doctrine of composite nationalism. The Hindu, C ...

and advocacy for

Indian reunification Indian reunification refers to the potential reunification of India (the Republic of India) with Pakistan and Bangladesh, which were partitioned from British India in 1947. Background In 1947, British India was partitioned into the modern ...

, declaring "The only solution to the pain of Partition lies in undoing it." In October 2022, during a speech on the occasion of

Vijayadashami Vijayadashami ( sa, विजयदशमी, Vijayadaśamī, translit-std=IAST), also known as Dussehra, Dasara or Dashain, is a major Hindu festival celebrated at the end of Navaratri every year. It is observed on the tenth day in the Hindu ...

, 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.

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.

Reference

External links