Babu Gogineni
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Bio
Babu Gogineni (బాబు గొగినేని), born Rajaji Ramanadha Babu Gogineni on 14 April 1968 in Hyderabad, is an Indian humanist, rationalist, human rights activist, author, broadcaster, and entrepreneur. His mother Aruna Kumari is from Eluru, West Godavari, and his father Gurubabu is from Tenali, Guntur. He was raised in a liberal atmosphere and became an atheist and rationalist from childhood. His first name 'Rajaji' was chosen as a tribute to C. Rajagopalachari. He attended Little Flower High School, Hyderabad, earned a B.Sc. from Nizam College, Hyderabad, a Postgraduate Diploma in International Trade from Bhavan's Rajendra Prasad Institute of Communication & Management, an M.A. in Sociology, and a Masters in Human Rights from Pondicherry University. At the age of 17, he became the youngest certified French language teacher in Hyderabad after completing a diploma at Alliance Française. His rationalist and humanist activism began in 1987 at M.N. Roy's birth centenary in Dehradun. He served as Joint Secretary of the Indian Radical Humanist Association (Bombay, 1988–1996), Vice-President of the Indian Rationalist Association, and Secretary General of Rationalist Association India, before moving to the UK in 1997 and joining the IHEU in Brussels, where he served as Executive Director (1997–2015). During his tenure, he led global campaigns to protect Bangladeshi writer Taslima Nasreen and bring Pakistani freethinker Younus Shaikh to safety in Europe. Back in India, he founded South Asian Humanist Association, Indian Humanists, and Skillguru (a training and management consultancy). He became a household name in Andhra Pradesh and Telangana through his regular appearances on Telugu TV channels debunking superstitions, astrology, and pseudo-sciences, and through his multi-lingual TV series The Big Question with Babu Gogineni (2015–2017). He has also worked as a columnist for the Telugu newspaper Postnoon. In June 2018, he entered Bigg Boss Telugu Season 2, becoming one of the most intellectually distinctive contestants in the show's history. He was evicted on Day 62 (12 August 2018), finishing thirteenth overall.
Serving as Executive Director of the International Humanist and Ethical Union (IHEU), Brussels (1997–2015); leading IHEU's worldwide campaigns to protect Taslima Nasreen and free Pakistani freethinker Younus Shaikh; founding South Asian Humanist Association and Indian Humanists; founding Skillguru training organisation; hosting The Big Question with Babu Gogineni (multi-language TV series, 2015–2017); being the youngest certified French language teacher in Hyderabad at age 17; finishing thirteenth on Bigg Boss Telugu Season 2 (2018).