The rising ABVP factor in BJP and RSS
Madhya Pradesh, Mohan Yadav was in the national capital to attend the 75th anniversary of the foundation day of Akhil Bharatiya Vidyarthi Parishad (ABVP), a solid starting base of present day top BJP and RSS leaders.
From Union home minister Amit Shah and BJP president JP Nadda to chief ministers of several states, including Revanth Reddy of Congress-ruled Telangana, most of these leaders have cut their teeth during their younger days with ABVP, the student wing of Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh (RSS).
The list of ABVP student activists who are in prominent positions in BJP includes around a dozen Union ministers like Rajnath Singh, Nitin Gadkari, Dharmendra Pradhan, Bhupender Yadav, G Kishen Reddy, Gajendra Shekhawat, Kiren Rijiju, V Muraleedharan, among others. Similarly, with the BJP's organisation, its general secretaries Sunil Bansal (a full-time RSS pracharak), Vinod Tawde, and national secretaries — Asha Lakhra and OP Dhankhar — started their political journey from ABVP.
State heads, including Pushkar Dhami as Uttarakhand CM, Devendra Fadnavis as deputy CM of Maharashtra and the recently appointed three CMs — Bhajan Lal Sharma in Rajasthan, Yadav in MP, and Vishnu Deo Sai in Chhattisgarh, all owe their political beginnings to ABVP.
Several former CMs, including Shivraj Chouhan, Jairam Thakur, Vijay Rupani and Tirath Singh Rawat, and Bihar's deputy CM Sushil Modi are also from ABVP. The rise of ABVP activists is also visible within Sangh as well — its executive head Dattatreya Hosabale spent 30 years in the student organisation before rising within RSS.
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