Bengaluru: The RSS Saturday rehabilitated BJP leader Ram Madhav, who had fallen out of favour in the party, by appointing him to its central executive council.
It is a homecoming for Madhav, who began his career in the RSS; he has now been appointed as the Akhil Bharatiya Karyakarini Sadasya, a role that will require him to initiate meetings with think-tanks, be in touch with thinkers, writers and intelligensia to promote the initiatives of the organisation.
Madhav’s appointment was among the changes that the RSS made in its organisational set-up during the Akhil Bharatiya Pratinidhi Sabha’s (ABPS) annual meeting held in Bengaluru Saturday. The sabha is the RSS’s top decision-making body.
Chief among the changes is the appointment of Dattatreya Hosabale as the general secretary, the outfit’s top post, while Arun Kumar and Ram Dutt Chakradhar have been appointed as joint general secretaries or Sah Sarkaryavahs. They join Dr. Manmohan Vaidya, Krishna Gopal and C. R. Mukunda in these posts.
Other significant changes include the appointment of RSS veteran Ramlal as Sampark Pramukh or public relations head. Ramlal had spent 10 years in the BJP, as a general secretary (organisation), before he returned to the RSS in 2019. He had been serving as the Sah Sampark Pramukh or deputy incharge of public relations before his elevation Saturday.
The former ABVP national organising secretary, Sunil Ambekar, has now been appointed as the Prachar Pramukh or incharge of media relations.
The comeback for Ram Madhav
Once synonymous with Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s foreign trips, Ram Madhav slowly began falling out of favour in the BJP. He was instrumental in the PM’s presence at Madison Square in New York, Wembley in London and Sydney in 2014.
Madhav’s star was on the ascendant then, with the then BJP general secretary tasked with stitching alliances in the Northeast and Jammu and Kashmir.
But by 2018, he began falling off the radar — no longer part of the Prime Minister’s foreign tours by then, while the party also delegated the Northeast and J&K to other leaders.
The final straw came in September 2020, when the BJP removed him as national general secretary, along with other leaders such as Uma Bharti and P. Muralidhar Rao.
“He is a very ambitious leader but may have been asked to return as he had apparently fallen out with Amit Shahji,” a Karnataka BJP leader said. “Having said that, one cannot deny he is a very strong leader and pracharak.”
A senior RSS leader said Madhav, who was overseeing the party activities in the Northeast, had often clashed with Assam’s Himanta Biswa Sarma, a man known to be very close to Amit Shah.
“Not only did they have several differences of opinions on issues related to the party affairs in the northeastern states. Sarma is said to have complained to the BJP high command about receiving complaints from partymen,” he said.
The functionary said that Madhav will now work in Delhi for the RSS. “He will work on intellectual activities of the RSS based out of Delhi,” he added.
(Edited by Arun Prashanth)
Also read: How proximity to Modi, RSS’ south ambitions are behind Hosabale’s elevation as general secy