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RSS ideologue P Parameswaran was a scholar, writer and orator
Parameswaran was attracted to Sangh ideology at a young age and later became a ‘pracharak,’ full-time worker of the RSS in 1951 and devoted his life to it.
Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh (RSS) ideologue, P Parameswaran (93), died in Mayannur in Palakkad district in the early hours of Sunday. A thinker, writer and orator he was the recipient of Padma Shri and Padma Vibushan and many other awards.
Born in 1927 in Muhamma in Alappuzha district he studied in SB College Changanassery and University College in Thiruvananthapuram.
He was attracted to Sangh ideology at a young age and later became a ‘pracharak,’ full-time worker of the RSS in 1951 and devoted his life to it.
Respected by all including his political opponents he was offered many posts during his long innings in public life but he declined all of them. Known as ‘Parameswarji’ he remained was a colossus in political and social spheres of the state for many decades.
Parameswaran was also a freedom fighter and served as all India general secretary of the Jan Sangh in 1960s. He was jailed six months during emergency.
In 1982, he founded the Bharatheeya Vichara Kendram, an intellectual and research body of the RSS situated in Kanyakumari that aimed at “national reconstruction through study and research”. He was the director of the organisation till his death.
Prime Minsiter Narendra Modi often called him ‘guru.’ He was also a member of the Jawaharlal Nehru University (JNU) senate.
Parameswaran remained a bachelor. He wrote more than two dozen books. He also played a key role in creating a disciplined cadre of the RSS in Kerala which boasts of the highest number of RSS ‘shakhas’ in the country.
His body will be kept at the RSS office in Kochi and later it will be taken to his native village in Muhamma for cremation. Many leaders have condoled his death. “I have lost my role model and guide,” said Mizoram Governor P S Sreedharan Pillai. Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan and Governor Arif Mohammad Khan also condoled his death.
