Senior BJP leader and Maharashtra’s Leader of the Opposition Devendra Fadnavis was elected as the new chairman of the Rambhau Mhalgi Prabodhini (RMP), a prominent institution for training and research that focuses on leadership development and socio-political research.
Rajya Sabha member and President of the Indian Council for Cultural Relations Dr Vinay Sahasrabuddhe was elected the vice chairman. Bhai Girkar was named the new RMP Secretary and Arvind Rege was picked as the Treasurer.
Their appointments were announced at the Annual General Meeting of the institute held on Saturday.
Fadnavis replaces Prof. Aniruddha Deshpande.
The RMP, located in Bhayander in the Mumbai Metropolitan Region, was initiated as a unique leadership development academy to train elected representatives, social workers, as well as people running institutions, organizations, and start-ups. The institute has also been given a special consultative status by the United Nations Economic and Social Council.
Since its inception, the RMP has trained more than 35,000 people, including MPs, MLAs, their associated staff, panchayat office bearers, NGOs, corporate, entrepreneurs and youth.
The RMP leadership training mission was implemented first at the behest of parliamentarian Rambhau Mhalgi. Mhalgi was influenced by RSS thinker and BJP leader Deendayal Upadhyaya, who had conceived the idea of an academy for socio-political activists. In 1982, BJP stalwart Pramod Mahajan opened Rambhau Mhalgi Prabodhini campus at Uttan village, near Bhayandar. Mahajan was also the first chairman of the RMP.