Mohan Bhagwat

Mohan Madhukar Bhagwat was born in a Marathi Karhade Brahmin family in Chandrapur, then in the state of undivided Madhya Prdesh in present-day Maharashtra.^[2][1][3] He comes from a family of RSS activists.^[1] His father Madhukar Rao Bhagwat was the Karyavah (secretary) for the Chandrapur zone and later a Prant Pracharak (provincial promoter) for Gujarat.^[1] His mother Malati was a member of the RSS Women's Wing.^[4]

Bhagwat completed his schooling from 'Lokmanya Tilak Vidyalaya' and then the first year of his B.Sc. from the Janata College in Chandrapur. He graduated in Veterinary Sciences and Animal Husbandry from Government Veterinary College, Nagpur. He dropped out of his postgraduate course in Veterinary Sciences and became a Pracharak (full-time promoter/worker) of the RSS towards the end of 1975.^[1]

After working underground during the Emergency, Bhagwat became the Pracharak of Akola in Maharashtra in 1977 and rose within the organisation responsible for Nagpur and Vidarbha regions.^[1]

He became Akhil Bharatiya Sharirik Pramukh (in-charge of physical training) for India, 1991 to 1999. He was further promoted as Akhil Bharatiya Pracharak Pramukh (in-charge of RSS volunteers working full-time for India).

In 2000, when Rajendra Singh and H. V. Sheshadri resigned as RSS Chief and general secretary respectively due to poor health, K. S. Sudarshan was nominated as the new chief and Bhagwat became Sarkaryavah (general secretary).

Bhagwat was chosen as the Sarsanghchalak (Chief Executive) of the RSS on 21 March 2009. He is one of the youngest leaders to head the Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh after K. B. Hedgewar and M. S. Golwalkar.^[1]

In June 2015, due to a high threat perception from various Islamic terrorist organisations,^[5] the Government of India ordered the Central Industrial Security Force (CISF) to provide Bhagwat with round-the-clock protection. At Z+ VVIP security cover, Bhagwat is one of the most protected Indians.^[6]

In 2017, Bhagwat became the first RSS Chief to be officially invited to the Rashtrapati Bhawan by then President Pranab Mukherjee.^[7] In September 2018, Mohan Bhagwat presided over a three-day session at Vigyan Bhawan in Delhi as part of outreach to a wider public, where he said that RSS has discarded some parts of M. S. Golwalkar's Bunch of Thoughts which were no longer relevant to the current circumstances.^[8]

In November 2016, during an address at the 'Prerna Shibir' commemorating the 80th anniversary of the Rashtra Sevika Samiti—the women's wing of the Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh (RSS)—Mohan Bhagwat remarked that Homo sapiens had historically encroached upon the ecological and existential space of other species within the genus Homo, such as Homo floresiensis and the Neanderthals. He further stated that even Homo sapiens itself could potentially face extinction within the next millennium.^[9]

In September 2017, he stated that Hinduism was the only true religion in the world, asserting that all other religions were merely sects that had originated from Hinduism.^[10]

In 2019, he stated that the Sangh is not confined to any singular ideology or ideologue. He asserted that while the core principle of the RSS is the belief that India is a Hindu Rashtra—a concept considered non-negotiable by the organisation—it should not be categorised under any specific ideological framework, including that articulated in M. S. Golwalkar’s Bunch of Thoughts.^[11]

In November 2021, Mohan Bhagwat publicly expressed his opposition to the Partition of India and voiced his support for the reunification of the Indian subcontinent. He stated, "The only solution to the pain of Partition lies in undoing it," thereby advocating for the reversal of the territorial division that occurred in 1947.^[12][13]

In January 2023, Bhagwat advocated support towards the LGBT community in India. He stated, "People with such proclivities have always been there; for as long as humans have existed. This is biological, a mode of life."^[14][15]

In June 2024, Bhagwat said the Modi government should resolve the issue of Manipur riots.^{[16][17][18][19][20]}

In January 2025, Bhagwat said that India got its "true independence" with consecration of Ram Mandir in Ayodhya. ^[21]

In 2017 the state-run Animal and Fishery Sciences University in Nagpur gave Mohan Bhagwat an honorary Doctor of Science degree.^[22]

• Yashaswi Bharat. Prabhat Prakashan, 2021^[23]