List of Sarsanghchalaks of the Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh

The Sarsanghchalak (IAST: Sarasaṅghacālaka) is the head of the Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh (RSS), an Indian right-wing, Hindu nationalist organisation that is widely regarded as the parent organisation of the Bharatiya Janata Party.^[1][2][3][4] The RSS is one of the principal organizations of the Sangh Parivar group. The organisation is the world's largest voluntary organization.^[5] The position is decided through nomination by the predecessor. Since the organisation was established in 1925 six people have served as Sarsanghchalak. The first, Keshav Baliram Hedgewar, founded the organisation served as Sarsanghchalak from 1925–1930 and then again from 1931–1940. The current Sarsanghchalak of Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh is Mohan Bhagwat.^[6]

Sarsanghchalak of the Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh
Incumbent Mohan Bhagwat since 21 March 2009
Member of	Sangh Parivar and Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh
Residence	Hedgewar Bhavan, Sangh Building Road, Nagpur, Maharashtra, India
Appointer	Outgoing Sarsanghchalak
Term length	no term limit
Formation	27 September 1925
First holder	K. B. Hedgewar (1925–1930)
Deputy	Dattatreya Hosabale (Sarkaryavah)
Website	www.rss.org

List of Sarsanghchalak

•   Acting

No.	Name	Portrait	Term	Ref.
1	K. B. Hedgewar		27 September 1925–1930	[7]
-	Laxman Vasudev Paranjape		1930–1931	[8]
(1)	K. B. Hedgewar		1931–21 June 1940
2	M. S. Golwalkar		21 June 1940–5 June 1973	[9]
3	Madhukar Dattatraya Deoras		5 June 1973–March 1994	[10]
4	Rajendra Singh		March 1994–10 March 2000	[11]
5	K. S. Sudarshan		10 March 2000–21 March 2009	[12]
6	Mohan Bhagwat		21 March 2009–Incumbent	[13]

See also

• List of presidents of the Bharatiya Janata Party
• Swayamsevak

References

1. McLeod, John (2002). The history of India. Greenwood Publishing Group. pp. 209–. ISBN 978-0-313-31459-9. Retrieved 11 June 2010.
2. Andersen, Walter K.; Damle, Shridhar D. (1987), The Brotherhood in Saffron: The Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh and Hindu Revivalism, Delhi: Vistaar Publications, p. 111, ISBN 9788170360537
3. Horowitz, Donald L. (2001). The Deadly Ethnic Riot. University of California Press. p. 244. ISBN 978-0520224476.
4. Jeff Haynes (2 September 2003). Democracy and Political Change in the Third World. Routledge. pp. 168–. ISBN 978-1-134-54184-3.
5. Chitkara, M. G. (2004). Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh: National Upsurge. ISBN 9788176484657.
6. Kanugo, Pralay (2002). RSS's tryst with politics: from Hedgewar to Sudarshan. p. 76. ISBN 9788173043987.
7. Puniyani, Ram (2005-07-21). Religion, Power and Violence: Expression of Politics in Contemporary Times. p. 125. ISBN 0761933387.
8. Mohta, Tanmay. "Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh (RSS)". Blog. Archived from the original on 25 August 2018. Retrieved 18 August 2018.
9. Jaffrelot, Christophe. The Hindu Nationalist Movement and Indian Politics. C. Hurst & Co. Publishers. p. 39.
10. Banerjee, Sumanta. Shrinking space: minority rights in South Asia. South Asia Forum for Human Rights, 1999. p. 171.
11. Islam, Shamsul (2006). Religious Dimensions of Indian Nationalism: A Study of RSS. Anamika Pub & Distributors. p. 36. ISBN 9788174952363. Retrieved 18 August 2018.
12. Jaffrelot, Christophe (2010). Religion, Caste, and Politics in India. Primus Books. p. 205. ISBN 9789380607047.
13. "RSS chief Mohan Bhagwat urges youth to follow path shown by leaders". Times Now. Archived from the original on 13 August 2018. Retrieved 18 August 2018.