Karnataka Sangh leader Dattatreya Hosabale’s ascent to ‘Sarkaryavah’ post – the second most prominent position in the RSS after Sarsanghachalak Mohan Bhagwat – indicates a paradigm shift within the Sangh as Bharatiya Janata Party’s (BJP) influence on its parent organisation has become apparent with the move.
Hosabale is known as a “moderate voice” within the Sangh, even though he is very much rooted in the RSS ideology.
The Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh (RSS)’s Akhil Bharatiya Pratinidhi Sabha (ABPS) elected Hosabale as its general secretary or the executive head of the organisation in Bengaluru on Saturday, 20 March. Hosabale, who is 66-years, succeeded 74-years-old Suresh ‘Bhaiyyaji’ Joshi, who had been the general secretary for four terms, or 12 years.
Hosabale will be incharge of the 100-year anniversary celebrations of the RSS and the upcoming Lok Sabha election in 2024.
The Sangh’s ABVP Leader
In 2018, the ABPS could have elected Hosabale to the general secretary’s post. At the time, Joshi was ailing and had expressed his wish to step down. Even as a section of the Sangh’s leaders close to Hosabale supported his candidature, Joshi was re-elected for another term. A source close to the Sangh told The Quint that the 2018 decision to re-elect Joshi was “taken unanimously as the Sangh felt that his services were further required”.
However, it was widely accepted within the Sangh that Hosabale’s promotion was kept in abeyance because he had not climbed up the Sangh’s ranks like its other leaders had done.
Hosabale was a leader of Akhil Bharatiya Vidyarthi Parishad (ABVP) in Karnataka from 1972 to 1990. According to the Sangh’s records, “He was arrested during the Emergency when he was in the ABVP”.
He re-entered the RSS only in the 1990s. However, his political ties with the ABVP got him close to the political wing of the Sangh, the BJP. Growing steadily within the Sangh, he became Baudhik Pramukh in 2004.
Hosabale has since been having close relations with the BJP, especially with Prime Minister Narendra Modi, since he was elected chief minister of Gujarat in 2001. When the RSS local units or the shakhas campaigned for the BJP for the first time in 2014 Lok Sabha elections, Hosabale was the man behind the Sangh’s door-to-door outreach. He had already become the joint general secretary or ‘Sah-Sarkaryavah’ of the Sangh in 2009.
Dattatreya Hosabale’s ties with Modi and the BJP only strengthened as the party won two consecutive terms in 2014 and 2019 in the Parliament.
Now, with him climbing to the helm of the Sangh, the RSS which tries to maintain its stature as a cultural outfit devoid of politics, is expected to support BJP’s interests more often, especially during elections.
In the past, RSS had opposed the BJP on labour and farm laws. In 2020, with the onset of the COVID-19 pandemic, the Bharatiya Mazdoor Sangh (BMS) – the labour union affiliated to the RSS – opposed the BJP government’s decision to suspend labour laws in states ruled by the party.
In its latest annual report, the RSS has taken an ambivalent stand on the Centre’s new farm laws even though its farmer’s union has not supported the ongoing farmers’ protests. The report which deplores presence of “anti-national elements” among farmers’ agitation also reads: “We believe there are no unsolvable problems. What is needed is sincere efforts.”
Dattaji of the RSS
An RSS leader who attended the ABPS, which was held in Bengaluru between 19 and 20 March, told The Quint, “He is a people’s person. He can even remember the names of local-level leaders of the Sangh.” What’s more striking about Hosabale, who is popularly known within the Sangh as Dattaji, is his influence in north and northeast Indian wings of the RSS, he added.
“Though he is a south Indian by birth, he has worked in north India for long, and this has made him a pan-Indian leader who is accepted by different regional wings,”the RSS leader said.
Hosabale had worked in Uttar Pradesh and in Assam. “He was instrumental in setting up a youth development centre in Guwahati,” the leader said.
An ideologue who is also a post graduate in English literature has been writing in several right-wing publications. He is also the founding editor of Aseema magazine in Kannada. Hosabale could bring in a “generational change” within the Sangh, the organisation thinks. This may prove to be good for the Sangh as about 90 percent of RSS units cater to people below 40 years of age, Joint General Secretary Manmohan Vaidya had said in an ABPS press briefing held on 19 March.
Known as a soft-spoken, well-mannered person, Hosabale is one of the most efficient Sangh leaders in the country, the organisation thinks.
“His growth within the RSS, which is his foster organisation, shows that he is one of the most liked members of the group. When you grow higher up in the Sangh the more responsibility you get and only a capable person can take up the responsibility[sic.],” a source in the RSS said.
As the RSS works towards spreading its reach to every mandal of the country, will the presence of Hosabale orient the Sangh towards politics?
‘RSS Will Continue to Be Apolitical’
On 19 March, while addressing a media briefing, Vaidya had said, “The RSS is not a political organisation. No politics will be discussed during the ABPS”.
While this has been the Sangh’s stand when it comes to active electoral politics, of late, the organisation has been taking stands on populist trends in society. For instance, the annual report of the Sangh included the details of a webinar on Black Lives Matter, a political campaign which had started in the United States after incidents of alleged police brutality against people of colour surfaced in the country.
The RSS, however, does not think that Hosabale’s political tryst with the BJP will matter much. The organisation will forever remain away from political inclinations even as the BJP contests elections, the Sangh is clear.
“The RSS can support or oppose the BJP. Even now we have the legacy of KS Sudarshan, the Sanghachalak who was at loggerheads with the then Prime Minister Atal Bihari Vajpayee on many matters,” an RSS leader said.
However, ever since the BJP ascended to power in the Lok Sabha, the RSS has been actively engaging with the party. In 2015, the Prime Minister had even attended the RSS meet where he had reportedly said, “I am proud to be a Swayamsevak”.
When asked whether the RSS would express its differences of opinion with the BJP, Hosabale told The Quint, “We cannot predict these things. Our first priority is the nation, and we will support anything which supports the national progress. If there are differences we will express, if need be”.
However, Hosabale was evasive when asked about his relationship with the Prime Minister. “The Prime Minister talks to everyone through ‘Mann Ki Baat’. He talks to everyone, including me,” Hosabale laughed off.
Will the RSS-BJP equation evolve as the new leadership takes over?
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