Former RSS Chief K Sudarshan Dead
Nagpur, Sep 15 (IANS): Kuppali Sitaramaiyya Sudarshan, who headed the RSS for much of the period Atal Bihari Vajpayee was the prime minister, died early Saturday in Raipur after suffering a cardiac arrest, RSS officials said.
Sudharshan, 81, the first RSS chief from southern India, is survived by a brother and a sister. His last rites will be held in Nagpur Sunday afternoon.
His body will be brought by flight to the Rashtriya Swayamsewak Sangh (RSS) headquarters in Nagpur and will be kept there to enable people to pay their last respects, a RSS official said.
Sudarshan had reached Raipur Thursday from Jabalpur in Madhya Pradesh to attend the release of a book by Bharatiya Janata Party Rajya Sabha MP Gopal Vyas. The book release function was held Friday evening.
On Saturday morning, Sudarshan went for his morning walk and returned to the RSS office, Jagriti Mandal, in Pandri area. He had been ailing for some time and was always under the care of an attendant.
Then he began to meditate while the attendant returned to his room.
After some time, some RSS volunteers noticed that Sudarshan had fallen down while meditating.
Believing him to be asleep, they shook him but he was motionless. Later, a doctor was summoned who confirmed that Sudarshan had died.
Born in Raipur into a Kannada Brahmin family June 18, 1931, Sudarshan studied to be a telecom engineer at Sagar University.
In 1953, at age 23, he plunged into social service as an RSS activist. He remained with the group till he breathed his last.
Serving as pracharak for six decades, he became its sarasanghachalak in 2000 succeeding Rajju Bhaiya, to become the first south Indian to head the organisation.
A student of Marxism, he was a strong votary of 'Swadeshi'. He also took a major initiative to reach out to Muslim and Christian communities.
He stepped down from the post in March 2009 due to poor health, and Mohan Bhagwat succeeded him.
In August, he had briefly gone missing during his morning walk in Mysore.