Quick Facts
Biography
Tarun Vijay (born in 1961) is an Indian author, thinker, social worker, journalist, and parliamentarian. He was the editor of the Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh (RSS) weekly in Hindi, Panchajanya, from 1986 to February 2008. He also writes for the Daily Pioneer. He is currently working as the director of the Dr. Syamaprasad Mookerjee Research Foundation (DSMRF).
He was also elected member of Rajya Sabha till his Term ended in July 2016, of the upper house of Indian Parliament "RajyaSabha" and president of Parliamentary Group on India China Friendship. He is also member of Parliamentary Standing Committee on Defence Ministry and Parliamentary Consultative Committee on External Affairs. He is also a member of Board of Governors, Parliamentary Network on World Bank and IMF.
Career
Tarun Vijay joined Panchajanya in 1986 as executive editor, after a decade of freelance journalism and work among the tribal people in Dadra and Nagar Haveli as a pracharak of Bharatiya Vanavasi Kalyan Ashram. This last-mentioned sojourn, in fact, had attracted him to the attention of noted film-makers Basu Bhattacharya and William Greaves, who featured him in a documentary.
Vijay was appointed director of the BJP's newly created think-tank the Dr Shyama Prasad Mookerjee Research foundation. In 1995, the Audit Bureau of Circulation credited the magazine with a circulation of 85,000, a figure which Vijay claims has crossed the 1 lakh mark today.
Vijay joined Panchjanya in 1979. He has been Chief Editor for 20 years. The first editor of the 60-year-old Panchjanya was former Prime Minister Atal Bihari Vajpayee.
Vijay has also been inducted as a special invitee to the BJP national executive. He has been asked by the RSS top brass to form the think-tank on the ideological lines of nationalism "uncompromising and unapologetic".
A journalist since 1976, he began his career with Russi Karanjia at the Mumbai-based tabloid Blitz and then as a freelance journalist for major dailies and magazines before spending five years as an RSS activist in the country's tribal areas. He was the youngest member of the then home minister's Hindi Language advisory committee during Indira Gandhi's government before joining Panchjanya.
An avid photographer he has covered the Himalayan region extensively and his pictorial book An Odyssey in Tibet has been well received. His photographs on the river Indus had been exhibited in Bangalore, Chennai, New Delhi, Kolkata and Mumbai. He also led the first Indus expedition from Demchok to Batalik.
In the years as editor of Panchajanya, he has visited various parts of the country, and various countries.
Tarun Vijay, on April 4, 2013, first raised the issue by writing to the Survey of India about what he claimed was a “major threat to national security.” Mr. Vijay said Google has already provided maps where many “strategic locations” have been marked like Parliament, Sena Bhawan, and various ministries. “A criminal case should be registered against Google for violating Indian defence regulations.”
He is an ardent follower of Tirukkural. He often makes references from it and gifts people with Tiruvalluvar statues and photographs.
Books
- An Odyssey in Tibet: Pilgrimage of Kailash Mansarovar, Ritwik Prakashan, Jan 2001, ISBN 81-900571-2-X
- Saffron Surge, India's Re-emergence on the Global Scene and Hindu Ethos, Har Anand, Nov 2008, ISBN 978-81-241-1338-7.
Awards
- Vijay became the first non Tamil to receive the prestigious 'Aruntamizh Aarvalar Award' by Kamban Academy.