Dattatreya Hosabale, the second Kannadiga to occupy No 2 position in RSS after H V Seshadri
Bengaluru, Mar 20: With his election as the Sarkaryavah (general secretary) on Saturday, Dattatreya Hosabale has become the second Kannadiga to occupy the number 2 position in the Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh, the ideological parent organisation of the BJP, the country's ruling party.
H V Seshadri was the other Kannadiga, who had occupied the Sarkaryavah post for 9 years since 1987.
Hosabale, who was the Sah-Sarkaryavah (joint general secretary) of the Sangh since 2009 was elected as the Sarkaryavah at the two-day annual meeting of the Akhil Bharatiya Pratinidhi Sabha (ABPS), the Sangh's highest decision-making body that began here on Friday.
Popularly known as Datta ji in RSS circles, he was born on December 1, 1954 to Hosabale Sheshagiriyappa and Meenakshamma.
From a family of RSS activists he hails from a small village Hosabale of Soraba Taluk in Shivamogga district of Karnataka.
His initial schooling was in his birth place Hosabale and also in Sagar. He later moved to Bengaluru to pursue his college education and joined the National College.
Hosabale then took literature and obtained his masters in English Literature from Bengaluru University.
He joined RSS in 1968 and then the student organisation ABVP in 1972.
Hosabale was imprisoned for more than a year under the Maintenance of Internal Security Act (MISA) during the fight to restore democracy against Emergency imposed by former prime minister the late Indira Gandhi.
Hosabale, then a youth activist then, is said to be the first to inform the likes of Atal Bihari Vajpayee, L K Advani, S N Mishra and Madhu Dandavate about the imposition of the Emergency while they were at a meeting in Bengaluru on the morning of June 26, 1975.
He became a full-time worker of ABVP in 1978 and then went on to become its national organising secretary for 15 years with his headquarters being Mumbai.
Hosabale played an active role in setting up the Youth Development Centre at Guwahati, Assam and the World Organisation of Student and Youth (WOSY).
The founding editor of 'Aseema', a Kannada monthly, he became Sah-Baudhik Pramukh (second in command of the intellectual wing of RSS) in 2004.
Fluent in Kannada, Hindi, English, Tamil and Sanskrit, Hosabale is said to have keen interest in literature. He had also termed football as symbol of global oneness.
Interestingly, Hosabale was elected as the Sarkaryavah at the ABPS held in his home state Karnataka.
Though ABPS is held at different places annually, every third year it is held at RSS headquarters in Nagpur for the election of Sarkaryavah, but it was shifted to Bengaluru this time in the wake of surging COVID-19 cases in Maharashtra.
According to sources, Hosabale has cordial relations with the top brass of the BJP and the government including Prime Minister Narendra Modi and Union Home Minister Amit Shah, and is the apt person for the job for having proper coordination.
They also said his vast experience in ABVP, the youth wing and in the North East will help the organisation grow.
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Everyone should have faith in Shubman, he will win games at World T20: Abhishek
Dharamsala (PTI): Having played alongside Shubman Gill since the age of 12, Abhishek Sharma knows that it is just a matter of time before his currently off-colour best buddy starts winning T20I matches for India, including games in the upcoming T20 World Cup next year.
Gill's selection in the Indian T20I playing eleven has been questioned after a settled Sanju Samson was benched. The vice-captain in the format has managed only 291 runs in 15 innings at a strike-rate of 137.3.
He struck only four sixes in those games and on Sunday against South Africa in the third T20I here, Gill scored a painstaking run-a-ball 28, which didn't matter much since Abhishek (35 off 18 balls) had given the team a rousing start in a chase of a paltry target of 118.
"I'll tell you one thing straight away, that trust me, these two guys are going to win matches in World Cup (in February-March) and in this series as well," Abhishek replied when asked about Gill and skipper Suryakumar Yadav's poor run of form in the ongoing five-match series which India leads 2-1 right now.
When it came to Gill, his closest friend of more than a decade, Abhishek was predictably protective.
"Because I've been playing with them since so long, especially with Shubman, so I know which match he can win, which conditions, irrespective of the team, whoever it is," he said.
"So I have a lot of faith in him from the beginning, and I hope everyone will see him very soon and everyone will have faith in him," added the world's No.1 T20 batter.
Once Abhishek got out at a team score of 60, India needed more than 10 overs to score the remaining runs with both Gill and Surya not able to bat freely.
"There was a bit of help for the fast bowlers, and as I was batting, I knew that if I gave a good start here, the match could get over in the Powerplay, and that's what happened.
"...that was the plan for the rest of the batters, that they would just knock out or finish the match, so it was a very simple plan after that," Abhishek explained the rationale behind taking it easy after a blistering start.
Abhishek said he had to keep in mind that in cold December evenings in this part of the country, the pacers would get movement both in the air and off the surface.
"Conditions of course, I mean, as a batter you have to keep those things in mind that the ball is swinging a bit or it's seaming a bit, so I tried to play a few shots which is suitable for those wickets and pitches, so that's the plan always."
