MG Vaidya, the Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh (RSS) ideologue and former spokesman of the organisation, died of age-related complications at a private hospital in Nagpur. He was 97.
His son Manmohan Vaidya is the joint general secretary of the RSS, while his second son Dr Shriram Vaidya is a senior official of foreign cell of the organisation.
“MG Vaidya, my father breathed his last today at 3.35 pm at Nagpur after completing 97 years of active, meaningful and inspiring life. He was a veteran journalist, a Hindutva “Bhashyakar” and active Sangh Swayamsevak for 9 decades,” tweeted MG Vaidya.
A former Sanskrit professor of a local Christian missionary college, MG Vaidya also served the RSS as Akhil Bharatiya Bouddhikh Pramukh (chief of intellectual cell of RSS) and the spokesman of the organisation for over eight decades. He also worked as the chief editor of Tarun Bharat, a mouthpiece of the Sangh Parivar.
Vaidya, who was one of the oldest living swayamsevaks of the RSS, had seen it all over the nine-decade-old history of the organisation — the three bans, isolation, internal conflicts over joining politics, ferment and resurgence. He was also a witness to the evolving power equations within the BJP, and its rise to power with an overwhelming majority in 2014 and 2019.
A close confidant of former RSS chief, late Balasaheb Deoras, Vaidya was in jail during the Emergency and later became the member of the legislative council of Maharashtra in the late ’70s.
{{/usCountry}}A close confidant of former RSS chief, late Balasaheb Deoras, Vaidya was in jail during the Emergency and later became the member of the legislative council of Maharashtra in the late ’70s.
{{/usCountry}}Union minister Nitin Gadkari mourned the loss of the RSS veteran.
“My humble tribute to Baburao Vaidya. Baburao was fortunate enough to work with all Sarsanghchalaks. It was a firm belief that Baburaoji would be a centenarian, but destiny had something different in mind. It is sad that a pious and sage-like personality has passed away,” Gadkari said in his condolence message.
Vaidya is survived by his wife, Sunanda, three daughters, five sons.