Dattatreya Hosabale elected Sarkaryavah of RSS

Bengaluru: Dattatreya Hosabale was elected new Sarkaryavah of the Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh (RSS) at the Akhil Bharatiya Pratinidhi Sabha (ABPS) here on Saturday. He was holding the responsibility of Sah Sarkaryavah of RSS till now.

Dattatreya Hosabale, popularly known as Datta ji in RSS, is from a small village Hosabale of Soraba taluk in Shivamogga district of Karnataka. Hailing from a family of RSS activists, he joined the organisation in 1968 and then the student organization ABVP in 1972.

He became a full-time worker of ABVP in 1978. He was the National Organising Secretary of ABVP for 15 years. Born on December 1, 1954, Dattatreya did his schooling in Hosabale and Sagar. He moved to Bengaluru to pursue his college education and joined the famous National College. Later, Hosabale took to literature and obtained his masters in English Literature from Bengaluru University.

During his days as a student, he was active in academics and literary activities. He enjoyed proximity with almost all writers and journalists of Karnataka, notable among them being Y. N. Krishnamurthy and Gopal Krishna Adiga. Hosabale was imprisoned for more than a year under the Maintenance of Internal Security Act (MISA) during the Emergency. He was the founding editor of Aseema, a Kannada monthly.

He became Sah-Baudhik Pramukh (second in command of the intellectual wing of RSS) in 2004. He is fluent in Kannada, Hindi, English, Tamil and Sanskrit. Widely travelled, Hosabale was also mentor of organizational activities of Hindu Swayamsevak Sangh in USA and UK. Hosabale will be Sarkaryavah of RSS for the term of three years.