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Hosabale is RSS’s new general secretary
Hosbale, who is known for his organising and planning skills, made a mark within the organisation during his stint with RSS’s students’ wing.
New Delhi: Dattatreya Hosabale, 67, was on Saturday named as the Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh (RSS)’s new general secretary replacing Suresh Bhaiyyaji Joshi. The appointment was announced at the ongoing meeting of Akhil Bharatiya Pratinidhi Sabha, the RSS’s highest decision-making body, in Bengaluru.
Hosabale was RSS’s joint general secretary since 2009. In 2018, a section of the cadre pushed for a younger and more articulate Hosable to replace Joshi, 73, who had held RSS’s second-in-command position for three terms. Joshi went on to complete his fourth term.
Hosabale’s elevation comes ahead of RSS’s centenary celebrations that will begin in 2024. Even as RSS’s footprint has grown across the country, the ideological fountainhead of the ruling Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) is in an expansion mode. It has set a target of opening at least one shakha or unit in every mandal, or a cluster of 10-12 villages, ahead of its 100-year celebrations.
Hosbale, who is known for his organising and planning skills, made a mark within the organisation during his stint with RSS’s students’ wing, Akhil Bharatiya Vidyarthi Parishad (ABVP).
He has been given the new crucial position keeping in view the expansion plans and also for the ease with which he balances the Sangh’s ideological position with political pragmatism, said people aware of the reasons for his elevation.
“His ability to straddle the Sangh and the BJP are well known and will be put to good use as the Sangh prepares for its expansion as well as acts as a guiding force for the BJP that will also face a test in 2024 [general elections],” said an RSS functionary, requesting anonymity.
A second functionary said a larger section of RSS volunteers is under 50. Hosable, who is younger than Joshi, is expected to have a better understanding of the “aspirations and the changed thought process” of the cadre, the functionary added.
“While there is no question of diluting the Sangh’s ideology, there is a need to be more inclusive. It was Dattaji who articulated the Sangh’s view on controversial issues such as homosexuality.”
In 2016, Hosable said the Sangh does not consider homosexuality a crime. He added it does not need to be punished but treated as a psychological case. Hosable has also said gay marriages amount to institutionalisation of homosexuality and should be prohibited.
Popularly known as Datta ji, Hosable is from Karnataka’s Shivamogga. He joined RSS in 1968 and became a full-time ABVP worker in 1978. He served as ABVP’s general secretary for 15 years in Mumbai.
Hosable, who has a degree in English literature, was imprisoned for over a year during the state of emergency in the 1970s.
Fluent in Kannada, Hindi, English, Tamil, and Sanskrit, Hosbale played a role in setting up the Youth Development Centre in Guwahati, Assam, and World Organisation of Students and Youth.
