National   

PM, Advani to attend Rajju Bhaiyya's funeral

By Our Special Correspondent

NEW DELHI JULY 14. The Prime Minister, Atal Behari Vajpayee, the Deputy Prime Minister, L.K. Advani, and the Bharatiya Janata Party president, Venkaiah Naidu, will be among those who will attend the funeral of the former Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh Sarsanghchalak, Rajendra Singh, scheduled for 5 p.m. tomorrow in Pune.

Tomorrow morning, a condolence meeting is being organised at the BJP central office.

Mr. Singh, who was 81, became the fourth Sarsanghchalak (leader) of the RSS in 1994 and his tenure lasted till 2000 when he stepped down due to ill-health and nominated the present chief, K.S. Sudershan. He was a diabetic and had Parkinson's disease. Recently, he suffered fractures and was bed-ridden.

Born in Uttar Pradesh's Buland district, Rajju Bhaiyya as he was popularly known, was attracted to the RSS after coming into contact with the late Bapurao Moghe. Starting off as a RSS `pracharak' for Uttar Pradesh, he became a general secretary in the 1980s when Balasaheb Deoras was the Sarsanghchalak. Like all `pracharaks' he was a bachelor and is survived by two younger brothers.

It was during his tenure as RSS general secretary or `Sarkaryavah' that the Ayodhya issue was taken up with full vigour by the BJP and the Vishwa Hindu Parishad and the Hindutva ideology spread rapidly. The BJP attained the position of the single largest party in the Lok Sabha during his term as the Sarsanghchalak.

After he was nominated to the top RSS position by Deoras — the first non-Brahmin and non-Maharashtrian to attain that position — that the BJP adopted coalition politics as a way to achieve power at the Centre. He was known for adapting to the changing political situations. He belonged to the same generation as Mr. Vajpayee and Mr. Advani, and enjoyed a close rapport with them.

Mr. Singh was a professor of physics at the Allahabad University before becoming a full-time RSS `pracharak' in the 1960s. In the last several years since he gave up the office of Sarsanghchalak, Mr. Singh had mostly been at the Kaushik Ashram in Pune.

"Rajju Bhaiyya was a great nationalist, soft-spoken and a most affectionate person," Mr. Naidu said in a tribute today. "His word used to be final," for all those working in RSS organisations. He was a "friend, philosopher and guide for all of us and his death is a great loss for the nationalist movement", Mr. Naidu added. "His ideals, principles and values" will always be a source of inspiration for future generations and millions of RSS workers," he said.

The Prime Minister's Office indicated that Mr. Vajpayee would go to Bhubaneswar tomorrow morning to keep previous engagements, attend Rajju Bhaiyya's funeral in Pune and from there go on to Kolkata.

Printer friendly page  
Send this article to Friends by E-Mail

National

News: Front Page | National | Southern States | Other States | International | Opinion | Business | Sport | Miscellaneous |
Advts: Classifieds | Employment | Obituary |

Stories in this Section

• Old-age pension scheme launched
• RSS was apprised of BJP's inability to bring in legislation
• Look into graft in BJP-ruled States, Amarinder tells Venkaiah
• Dissolve coordination panel, says Tarigami
• Shabir Shah ready to join Hurriyat
• PM, Advani to attend Rajju Bhaiyya's funeral
• Only sensible option: Cong.
• Ratan Tata, Dravid on Gates' AIDS board
• Cong. plans Gujarat stir
• PM to lay stone for AIIMS branch
• AERB team to visit U.S.
• SC concern over Taj heritage project
• Fire safety system in Tirumala to be revamped
• Minister seeks cooperation of States to expedite highway projects
• Srinagar, venue for next Inter-State Council meet
• Delhi HC hears plea against death sentence

Copyright © 2003, The Hindu. Republication or redissemination of the contents of this screen are expressly prohibited without the written consent of The Hindu