ON 50TH ANNIVERSARY OF THE EMERGENCY IN INDIA: HOW RSS BETRAYED ANTI-EMERGENCY STRUGGLE
RSS as a Hindutva gurukul (university) specializes in training cadres in
speaking lies and fabricating history. As a latest proof, we find on the 50th
anniversary of the Emergency [1975-77], every Tom, Dick, and Harry in RSS
enlightening us how RSS hated Emergency, how valiantly its cadres challenged
the dictatorial rule of Indira Gandhi and made great sacrifices during
anti-Emergency movement. In the latest issue of RSS English organ Organizer (June
24, 2025) presenting PM Modi as a singular symbol of fight against Emergency
stated:
“The lesson
had been burned into public memory. The Emergency became more than a chapter in
history. It became a warning. For Narendra Modi, it was not just a past event.
It was part of his personal journey. As Prime Minister, he has often reminded
the nation of those dark times…It was about imprisoning free thought, art, and
expression. That period left behind not just scars, but reminders. It taught us
that freedom is earned, not gifted.”[i]
Let us take first, the claim that the RSS-BJP rulers
are/have been committed to the liberal democratic values as a faith. The most
prominent ideologue of the RSS, MS Golwalkar, also known as 'Guru of Hate' [whom
PM Modi credits for grooming him into a political leader] while addressing the 1350 top level cadres of the RSS in
1940 declared, "RSS inspired
by one flag, one leader and one ideology is lighting the flame of Hindutva in
each and every corner of this great land."[ii]
With such a
philosophical love for totalitarianism the RSS hated sharing of power. It could
be seen in its strong opposition to the federal structure of the constitution,
a ‘Basic’ feature of the India polity. Golwalkar declared in 1961, "Today’s federal form of government not only
gives birth but also nourishes the feelings of separatism… It must be
completely uprooted, constitution purified, and unitary form of government be
established."[iii]
So far Emergency is concerned the
RSS claim of fighting against it needs to be evaluated in the light of contemporary
narratives including the RSS documents. In this connection two narratives one by
a veteran thinker and journalist of India, Prabhash Joshi and the other by TV
Rajeswar, former Intelligence Bureau [IB] chief
who was the deputy chief of IB during the Emergency are of immense importance. They
recounted
the days of Emergency (or state terrorism) when RSS surrendered to the
repressive regime of Indira Gandhi, assured her and her son, Sanjay Gandhi to
enforce faithfully the draconian 20-point programme announced by the Emergency
regime. A large number of RSS cadres came out of jails by submitting
MAAFINAMAAS (mercy petitions).
The narrative by Prabhash Joshi appeared in the English weekly TEHELKA on the 25th
anniversary of the Emergency.[iv]
According to him even during the Emergency "there was always a lurking
sense of suspicion, a distance, a discreet lack of trust" about RSS' joining
the anti-Emergency struggle. He went on to tell that
"Balasaheb
Deoras, then RSS chief, wrote a letter to Indira Gandhi pledging to help
implement the notorious 20-point programme of Sanjay Gandhi. This is the real
character of the RSS...You can decipher a line of action, a pattern. Even
during the Emergency, many among the RSS and Jana Sangh who came out of the
jails, gave mafinamas. They were the first to apologize. Only their leaders
remained in jail: Atal Behari Vajpayee [most of the time in hospital], LK
Advani, even Arun Jaitley. But the RSS did not fight the Emergency. So why is
the BJP trying to appropriate that memory?"
Prabhash Joshi concluded
that "they are not a fighting force, and they are never keen to fight.
They are basically a compromising lot. They are never genuinely against the
government".
TV Rajeswar, who
served as Governor of Uttar Pradesh and Sikkim penned a book, 'India: The
Crucial Years” [Harper Collins] corroborated
the fact that "Not only they (RSS) were supportive of this [Emergency],
they wanted to establish contact apart from Mrs. Gandhi, with Sanjay Gandhi
also".[v] Rajeswar
in an interview with Karan Thapar disclosed that Deoras,
"Quietly established a link with the PM's house and
expressed strong support for several steps taken to enforce order and
discipline in the country. Deoras was keen to meet Mrs. Gandhi and Sanjay. But
Mrs. Gandhi refused."[vi]
According to Rajeswar's book,
“Sanjay Gandhi’s concerted drive to enforce family planning,
particularly among Muslims, had earned Deoras’s approbation.”[vii]
Rajeswar also shared the fact that even
after Emergency the "organization (RSS) had specifically conveyed its
support to the Congress in the post-emergency elections."[viii]
It will be interesting to note that even according to Subramanian Swamy during the Emergency period, most of the senior
leaders of RSS had betrayed the struggle against the Emergency.[ix]
The contemporary documents in the RSS archives prove
the narratives of Prabhash Joshi and Rajeswar truthful. The 3rd Supremo of RSS,
Madhukar Dattatraya Deoras wrote the
first letter to Indira Gandhi within two months of the imposition of Emergency.
It was the time when state terror was running amok. In letter dated August 22, 1975,
he began with the following praise of Indira:
"I heard your address to the nation
which you delivered on August 15, 1975, from Red Fort on radio in jail [Yervada
jail] with attention. Your address was timely and balanced so I decided to
write to you".[x]
Indira Gandhi did not
respond to it. So Deoras wrote another letter to Indira on November 10, 1975.
He began his letter with congratulating her on being cleared by the Supreme
Court of disqualification which was ordered by the Allahabad High Court, "All
the five Justices of the Supreme Court have declared your election
constitutional, heartiest greetings for it." It is to be noted that
opposition was firmly of the opinion that this judgment was 'managed' by the Congress.
He also stated that "RSS has been named in context of Jaiprakash
Narayan's movement. The government has also connected RSS with Gujarat movement
and Bihar movement without any reason...Sangh has no relation with these
movements..."[xi]
Since Indira Gandhi did not
respond to this letter also, RSS chief got hold of Vinoba Bhave who supported
the Emergency religiously and was a favourite of Indira Gandhi. In a letter
dated January 12, 1976, he begged that Acharya should suggest the way that ban
on RSS was removed.[xii] Since Acharya too did not respond to Deoras
letter, the latter in another letter without date wrote in desperation,
"According to press reports
respected PM [Indira Gandhi] is going to meet you at Pavnar Ashram on January
24. At that time there will be discussion about the present condition of the
country. I beg you to try to remove the wrong assumptions of PM about RSS so
that ban on RSS is lifted and RSS members are released from jails. We are
looking forward for the times when RSS and its members are able to contribute
to the plans of progress which are being run in all the fields under the
leadership of PM."[xiii]
[All these letters in Hindi
are being reproduced from a publication of the RSS at the end of this article.]
Even a prominent Hindutva ideologue
Balraj Madhok who as an RSS whole-timer founded Bhartiya Jana Sangh (1951) on
RSS command confessed:
“Sarsanghchalak of the Sangh Shri
Bal Saheb Deoras was a MISA prisoner in Pune's Yervada Jail...his life was full
of comforts. Therefore, he wrote two letters to the jailed Indira Gandhi on
22-08-1975 and 10-11-1975 to change her attitude towards the Sangh and lift the
ban on it. He also wrote a letter to Shri Vinoba Bhave and requested him to try
to remove the feeling of opposition towards the Sangh from Indira Gandhi's
mind. These letters were leaked by the government and they were published in
many newspapers. This naturally had an adverse effect on the morale of the
Sangh volunteers and the Satyagraha movement became almost dead.”
[Madhok, Balraj, Zindagi
Ka Safar –3: Deendayal Upadhyay Ki Hatya Se Indira Gandhi
Ki Hatya Tak (Journey of Life-3: From the Murder of Deendayal Upadhyay to
the Murder of Indira Gandhi), Dinman Prakashan, 2003, pp. 188-189.]
It is to be noted that former
President of the Indian Republic, Pranab Mukherjee was invited by the RSS
chief, Mohan Bhagwat as the chief guest at the graduation ceremony of its new
recruits must be working over-time to convert India into a Hindu state. Pranab
Mukherjee was indicted as one of the top leaders of Congress for Emergency
excesses.
It
is shameful that despite these facts thousands of RSS cadres continue to get
monthly pension for the persecution during Emergency. The BJP ruled states like
Gujarat, Madhya Pradesh, Rajasthan and Maharashtra decided to award a monthly
pension of Rs 20,000 to those who were jailed during the Emergency period for
less than 2 months, and Rs 10000 to those who were jailed for less than a
month. This rule took care of the financial interest of those RSS cadres who
submitted mercy letters completing only one- or two-months’ jail term. For
securing such a fat pension there was no such condition that the beneficiary
should have been in jail for the whole period of the Emergency.
Interestingly,
in the case of anti-British freedom struggle there has not been even a single
RSS cadre to claim the freedom fighter pension. It may be noted that nobody
remembers hundreds of Communist youths, branded as Naxals killed in fake
encounters during the Emergency. Interestingly, Shiv Sena, the Hindutva
co-traveler of the RSS openly supported the Emergency.
Tavleen
Singh, a senior journalist who welcomed Modi’s ascendancy to power in 2014 did
not mince words while evaluating Indian democracy on the 50th
anniversary of declaration of Emergency that it was not only under Emergency that
“Brutal
repression of democratic rights can happen again, and the answer is that it
can, but in a more dangerously subtle way. There are those who say that
since Narendra Modi became prime
minister, an ‘undeclared emergency’ has come into force. I hesitate to make
sweeping judgements of that kind, but what has happened is that some freedoms
we took for granted have become endangered. This has been done not by throwing
Opposition leaders, journalists and dissidents into jail, but by tweaking the
laws to make curbs on freedom legally possible.
“The
law that is supposed to prevent sedition has been tweaked to widen the
definition of that word. Laws meant to curb black money have been tweaked as
well and if a dissident does not end up in jail for ‘anti-national activities’,
he could end up rotting in some forgotten cell because the Enforcement
Directorate charges him with money laundering. The Opposition leaders who have
these charges thrown at them have fought back valiantly because they have
political parties behind them, but dissidents and journalists have just learned
to keep quiet. Is that good? Is that democracy?”
[‘On
the 50th anniversary of Emergency, need to think what should be done to protect
our democracy’, The Indian Express, Delhi, June 22, 2025. https://indianexpress.com/article/opinion/columns/tavleen-singh-writes-our-noisy-chaotic-democracy-10080581/]
So,
writing on the wall is clear. India had Emergency imposed using some Articles
of the Indian constitution and same was rescinded. Presently without Indira
Gandhi and Congress government we have perpetual ‘undeclared’ Emergency under
Modi rule. It needs not to be withdrawn as was never declared!
Shamsul Islam
June 24, 2025.
notoinjustice@gmail.com
http://du-in.academia.edu/ShamsulIslam
Facebook:
https://facebook.com/shamsul.islam.332
Twitter:
@shamsforjustice
http://shamsforpeace.blogspot.com/
Email: notoinjustice@gmail.com
Link
for procuring Shamsul Islam’s books in English, Hindi & Urdu:
https://tinyurl.com/shams-books
[i]
‘National Emergency 1975:
The murder of the Indian republic on June 25,
https://organiser.org/2025/06/24/298840/bharat/national-emergency-1975-the-murder-of-the-indian-republic-on-june-25/
[ii] Golwalkar, MS, Shri Guruji
Samagar Darshan (collected works of Golwalkar in Hindi), Bhartiya Vichar
Sadhna, Nagpur, nd., vol. I, p. 11.
[iii] Ibid.
vol. III,
p. 128.
[iv]
http://archive.tehelka.com/story_main13.asp?filename=op070205And_Not_Even.asp
[v]
https://www.indiatoday.in/india/story/rss-backed-indira-gandhis-emergency-ex-ib-chief-264127-2015-09-21
[vi] Ibid.
[vii]
https://indianexpress.com/article/india/india-others/ib-ex-chiefs-book-rss-chief-deoras-had-backed-some-emergency-moves/
[viii]
https://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/india/RSS-backed-Emergency-reveals-former-IB-chief/articleshow/49052143.cms
[ix]
https://medium.com/@hindu.nationalist1/double-game-of-senior-rss-leaders-during-emergency-74abc07a4fa8
[x] Madhukar Dattatraya Deoras, Hindu
Sangathan aur Sattavaadi Rajneeti, Jagriti Prkashan, Noida, 1997, 270.
[xi] Ibid., 272-73
[xii] Ibid. 275-77.
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