Akhil Bharatiya Vidyarthi Parishad (ABVP) (All Indian Student Council) is a right-wing all-India student organisationworking in the field of education. The ABVP was founded in 1948 and formally registered on 9 July 1949 and is the largest student union in India. As of November 2014, Nagesh Thakur (Shimla) is the National President and Shreehari Borikar is the National General Secretary of the orga
nisation. The ABVP was started by students in 1948, a year after Indian Independence, with the objective of channeling students' energy toward the task of national reconstruction. It was founded by a group of students and teachers and was registered on 9 July 1949. Its growth process was slow and sporadic in its first few years but was accelerated after Professor Yeshwantrao Kelkar, a lecturer in Bombay, became its main organiser in 1958. He built the organisation into what it is now and is considered to be the real architect of the ABVP. The ABVP gradually spread its work across several universities in India. Contrary to the popular perception that it is the student wing of BJP, the ABVP is actually the student wing of the Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh (RSS) and was founded before the BJP. However, it participates in joint activities with BJP's official youth wing, Bharatiya Janata Yuva Morcha.
