New Delhi: Challenged by BJP MPs to authenticate his claim that the Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh supported the Emergency, Congress MP Jairam Ramesh has submitted to the Rajya Sabha Chairperson three letters written in 1975 by then Sangh chief Balasaheb Deoras—which, he claims, vindicate his stand.
“…The ban on RSS may be lifted and the RSS and its volunteers may participate in the development of plans which are being implemented in all the spheres in the country,” reads an appeal made by Deoras in one of the letters.
Ramesh has submitted three letters by Deoras—two to then Prime Minister Indira Gandhi and one to Acharya Vinoba Bhave.
Deoras had appealed to Gandhi to lift the ban on RSS. He had also congratulated Gandhi after the Supreme Court had upheld the validity of her 1971 election, writing: “Let me congratulate you as five judges of the Supreme Court have declared the validity of your election.”
The letters indicate that the tone and tenor of the correspondence was accommodative towards the government. Deoras had repeatedly appealed for the ban on RSS to be lifted, for its jailed volunteers to be released, and for the organisation to be allowed to contribute to government programmes.
The RSS was banned after Emergency was declared in 1975 as the Indira Gandhi government accused the organisation of opposing it and threatening law and order. The RSS had supported the Jayaprakash (JP) movement, which had called for nationwide protests and demanded Gandhi’s resignation after she was found guilty of electoral malpractice by the Allahabad High Court—a ruling that was later overturned by the Supreme Court.
Congress has cited the letters to argue that they reflect an accommodative approach by RSS leadership towards the Indira Gandhi government. The BJP and the RSS have, however, maintained that the letters were written to seek the release of jailed volunteers and the withdrawal of the ban on the organisation, rather than as an endorsement of the Emergency itself.
Ramesh, Congress general secretary (communications), Friday submitted to Rajya Sabha Chairman Vice President C.P. Radhakrishnan what he described as “authenticated historical documents” after BJP MPs challenged him to substantiate his assertion that the then RSS chief had written to former Prime Minister Indira Gandhi in “support” of the Emergency.
In a covering letter dated 31 July, Ramesh wrote that the issue had arisen during an exchange in the House the previous evening. “Yesterday evening I had made a response to a statement made by the Union Minister of Parliamentary Affairs. BJP MPs challenged me to authenticate my assertion that the RSS Chief had written to Indira Gandhi in support of the Emergency. I attach herewith my authentication for the records—2 letters to Indira Gandhi and 1 letter to Acharya Vinoba Bhave.”
The documents include authenticated extracts from Five Headed Monster: A Factual Narrative of the Genesis of Janata Party, a 1978 book by Brahm Dutt reproducing three letters attributed to Deoras during the Emergency. The pages attached by Ramesh carry his signature certifying them as authenticated copies.
The first letter, dated 22 August 1975, was written from Yerwada Central Jail after RSS’s ban. Referring to Indira Gandhi’s Independence Day address, Deoras had described it as “suitable for the occasion and well balanced”. Defending the RSS against the allegations levelled, he had written, “The work of RSS lies extended to every nook and corner of the whole of India, it is necessary to properly utilise such power of the Sangh for the upliftment of our country.”
He had also appealed for the ban on the RSS to be lifted and written that if Gandhi thought it proper, “my meeting with you will be a source of pleasure to me.”
In the second letter, dated 10 November 1975, Deoras had congratulated Gandhi after the Supreme Court had upheld the validity of her election. He had again appealed for withdrawal of the ban on RSS, seeking to distance the organisation from the Jayaprakash Narayan movement, and saying that the Sangh had “no connection with these movements”.
The third letter, addressed to Acharya Vinoba Bhave, urged him to remove the prime minister’s “wrong impression” of the RSS, so that “the ban on RSS may be lifted and the RSS and its volunteers may participate in the development of plans which are being implemented in all the spheres in the country”.
(Edited by Mannat Chugh)
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