Varanasi Ram Madhav (born 22 August 1964) is an Indian politician who served as the National General Secretary of the Bharatiya Janata Party.[2][3] He is a member of the National Executive of the Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh and has authored a few books. His latest is Uneasy Neighbours: India and China after Fifty Years of the War.[4][5][6]
Madhav was born in the East Godavari district of Andhra Pradesh on 22 August 1964.[7] Primarily a student of engineering, he earned his Diploma in Electrical Engineering from Andhra Pradesh.[6] He also has a post-graduate degree in Political Science from the University of Mysore, Karnataka.[8]
Madhav's association with the Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh began as a teenager. He volunteered to be a full-time worker for RSS in 1981. He was assigned to several key positions in the organization.[9]
Ram Madhav (left) in a conversation with Rajdeep Sardesai during the launch of the book "The RSS" written by Walter K. Anderson and Sridhar D. Damle in New Delhi.
He has also been the editor of Bharatiya Pragna, a monthly magazine in English published by Pragna Bharati,[8] and associate editor of Jagriti, a Telugu weekly.[10] He worked as a journalist for over 20 years with RSS sponsored publications and has authored more than twelve books. He serves as the Member of the Board of Governors of India Foundation, a New Delhi–based think-tank focused on the issues, challenges, and opportunities of the Indian polity.[11] He is also a mentor at Vision India Foundation, a New Delhi–based think tank working on public leadership amongst youth[12][13]
He served as the national spokesperson of the RSS from 2003 to 2014. Madhav was seconded to the BJP and appointed as one of its national general secretaries in 2014.[9]
As a General Secretary of the Bharatiya Janata Party, he is credited for the rise of the party in North East India and building alliances with regional parties.[14]
He has called for India to take a more "proactive role in the region" in order to check China's One Belt One Road Initiative.[15] He was involved in the BJP's entry into the International Democrat Union, a worldwide grouping of right of centre political parties.[16]
On the talk show called Head to Head in Al Jazeera, a Qatari news channel, anchored by Mehdi HasanonHindu Nationalism,[17] Ram Madhav's statement on 'your' ISIS[18] to the British anchor with an explanation later published in Indian Express calling it just a slip of tongue [19] After the show, the anchor Mehdi Hasan stated that he was being called an ISIS supporter since then by internet trolls.[20]
^"India needs to focus eastward: Ram Madhav". The Hindu. 17 January 2018. The BJP leader also called for support for India's "proactive role in the region", saying New Delhi would not be a "spectator" as China pushed its Belt and Road initiative forward. He called the project a "Neo-Marshall plan" in a veiled reference to the carving up of post-war Europe as akin to Chinese infrastructure projects in Asia and Africa.
Shri "Ram Madhav joins BJP in the presence of BJP President Shri Amit Shah - 10th July 2014" Bharatiya Janata PartyonYouTube
