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Indian Express
26-06-2025
- Politics
- Indian Express
When the Sangh became part of Janata Parivar – and was never again the ‘outcast'
On a rainy night in late 1974 in Patna, under flickering street lamps, a small group of university students was on the move as they scrawled with chalk on college walls: 'Indira Hatao, Janata Bachao'. Different party flags fluttered amidst the agitators, with some of them bearing the socialist and Left emblems and others marked with the saffron of the Sangh Parivar. It was here, on the fringes of the Bihar student protests – which ignited Jayaprakash Narayan (JP)'s 'Sampoorna Kranti (Total Revolution)' Movement – that the RSS first entered the anti-Emergency stir. As historian Rajni Kothari later observed in his memoirs, this student uprising 'mainstreamed the RSS and gave it political legitimacy'. This legitimacy, for most part, was earned by RSS volunteers who faced jail for mobilising people, organising protests and engineering what was then called the 'underground resistance'. The JP Movement began in March 1974, when Bihar students first rose in protest against 'corruption and misgovernance' of the then Congress-led state government. This snowballed into a revolt against 'misrule and authoritarianism' of the Indira Gandhi-led Congress dispensation at the Centre, which got moral and organisational support from JP as well as diverse Opposition outfits, including the socialists, Congress (O), CPI(M), Jana Sangh, and RSS volunteers. Christophe Jaffrelot and Pratinav Anil explain in their book India's First Dictatorship: The Emergency 1975-77 that the RSS's grassroots networks 'provided JP's movement with the discipline and rural penetration it so sorely needed'. It was, perhaps, in appreciation of this organisational strength that JP, when cornered by Left-leaning critics on his alliance with the Sangh, said: 'If RSS is fascist, I am a fascist.' In their book The Brotherhood in Saffron: The Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh and Hindu Revivalism, Walter Andersen and Sridhar Damle, drawing from archival correspondence, paint the RSS not as a passive outfit but as an active force integrating into the umbrella resistance organisation Lok Sangharsh Samiti (LSS) against the Emergency: 'The grassroots structure of the LSS included many RSS workers… presenting the RSS cadre with an unprecedented opportunity to gain political experience and … establish a working relationship with political leaders.' On November 4, 1974, JP and Nanaji Deshmukh, the seasoned Jana Sangh leader and ex-RSS pracharak, led a massive rally in Patna, demanding political accountability. As police descended on the peaceful gathering with batons, JP, then aged 72, was brutally hit – his collarbone, elbows, and legs shattered by the blows. Nanaji was said to have hurled himself over JP's unconscious body, shielding him from further assaults. Public admiration for JP and Nanaji soared, and for many, it marked the point where the Indira Gandhi government lost the moral mandate to rule the country. When Indira imposed Emergency on June 25, 1975, the RSS was among the first casualties. Four days after JP's arrest, then RSS chief Balasaheb Deoras was held at the Nagpur station. The RSS itself was banned on July 4. In subsequent crackdowns, many of the Sangh Parivar's prominent leaders such as Atal Bihari Vajpayee, L K Advani and Nanaji were put behind bars. Despite being outlawed, the Sangh chose resistance over retreat. Thousands of its swayamsevaks and ABVP cadres courted arrest by joining satyagrahas – protesting not just the organisation's ban, but also the government's broader strike on civil liberties and constitutional rights. As repression intensified, the resistance went underground. RSS volunteers built covert networks to print and circulate banned literature, raised funds to sustain the pushback, and established secret lines of communication between jailed leaders and overground activists. Reporting on the Emergency, The Economist wrote on January 24, 1976: 'In formal terms, the underground is an alliance of four Opposition parties …But the shock troops of the movement come largely from the Jana Sangh and its banned affiliate RSS … (of whom 80,000, including 6,000 full-time party workers, are in prison).' According to RSS publicity in-charge Sunil Ambekar, more than 25,000 Sangh workers were arrested under the MISA (Maintenance of Internal Security Act) alone. 'Over 44,000 more were arrested during the agitation. Some swayamsevaks even died during detention. But ultimately, democracy was re-established,' he told The Indian Express. Former RSS ideologue K N Govindacharya, who actively participated in the movement and was known to be close to JP, put the figure of arrested RSS workers at 1.3 lakh. RSS sources said volunteers took risks in city squares and village crossroads alike. In Meerut on August 9, 1975, satyagraha slogans erupted amid festive crowds. On August 15 that year, RSS cadres distributed pamphlets outside the Red Fort in Delhi. RSS activists circulated their underground newspapers – Motherland, Panchajanya – even though the press was tightly gagged. K R Malkani, the editor of Organiser and Motherland, was among the first few journalists arrested during the Emergency. At the same time, the Sangh also courted controversy. Observers point out that RSS chief Deoras wrote at least two letters to Mrs Gandhi from Yerwada jail, in August and November 1975, lauding her Red Fort address and pledging support for her 20-Point plan if the ban on the RSS was eased. There were also allegations that some RSS detainees wrote apology letters to the government even as a majority refused to buckle under pressure. Some critics like A G Noorani accused Sangh functionaries of 'grovelling before the Congress dispensation'. RSS sympathisers, however, claim it was a calculated strategy, aimed not at undermining democracy, but retrieving institutional legitimacy and securing the release of imprisoned volunteers. 'Sangh workers were in jail, yet they continued the struggle. Also, it would be a good thing to come out of jail and continue the agitation. Had Sangh been in a compromising mood, it would not have joined the movement itself,' Ambekar says. As regards Deoras's letters, many RSS sympathisers draw a parallel with Mahatma Gandhi's own letter to the Viceroy in his early days of defiance. 'It was an act of a guardian who was worried about his wards. Thousands of ordinary workers were rotting in jails and their families were suffering. The letters were an attempt to open dialogue,' Govindacharya told The Indian Express. He also points out that RSS critics never mention how Deoras rejected Mrs Gandhi's offer to revoke the ban on the RSS in exchange for the Jana Sangh not participating in the elections post-Emergency. Ambekar says, 'The letters of Deoras ji should be looked at comprehensively and in the right perspective… But did RSS withdraw from the movement? A decisive battle was waged and the Emergency was defeated – and a new government was formed.' However, these rows and the refusal of Jana Sangh leaders to dissociate from the RSS even as they joined the Janata Party government following the Emergency were said to have even changed JP's sympathetic approach towards the RSS. In his book The Hindu Nationalist Movement and Indian Politics, Jaffrelot writes that JP felt 'used' and felt that the ideological divergence between his Gandhian socialism and Hindutva could not be papered over indefinitely. Ambekar, however, denies it. 'Jayaprakash ji always knew what the Jana Sangh was. These things had been discussed beforehand. If at all he was disappointed, he must have been so with the people who forced the Jana Sangh to walk out of the government,' he says. Yet, the Emergency altered the RSS's trajectory. The Sangh emerged with new-found credibility, its contributions finally recognised by broad swathes of Indian society and political class. Once ostracised in early years of the Republic for its association with Gandhi's assassin Nathuram Godse, the RSS now joined national discourse as a legitimate player. Barely three years after Emergency, its political wing BJP was born; the BJP under Narendra Modi is now into its third consecutive term in power.
Indian Express
25-06-2025
- Politics
- Indian Express
The Jana Sangh face, who stood between JP and police
On November 4, 1974, Jayaprakash Narayan was leading a march of protesters, comprising students and Opposition activists, from Gandhi Maidan to the state secretariat in Patna, when police suddenly opened lathicharge. Narayan, popularly known as JP, would have been injured, but for the intervention of a senior leader of the Jana Sangh (the precursor to the BJP) and ex-RSS functionary, Nanaji Deshmukh, who came in between to take the blows on himself. In the process, Nanaji ended up fracturing his hand. He would go on to distinguish himself as one of the most intrepid faces of the JP Movement, against 'corruption and misrule' of the Indira Gandhi government. On June 22, 1975, just three days before the Emergency was imposed, Nanaji drew up an action plan for an all-India Janata Front to press for the resignation of Mrs Gandhi, given that her election to the Lok Sabha from Rae Bareli had been set aside by the Allahabad High Court. 'He (Nanaji) also whittled down JP's aversion to politics, convincing him that political power also has importance,' says former BJP general secretary K N Govindacharya. On June 25, 1975, the leaders of the newly-formed Janata Front met at JP's residence in Delhi to form a coordination body, with Nanaji named general secretary. The same evening, they held a rally at Ramlila Maidan, where JP called Indira's prime ministership unlawful, and asked the police and Army to disobey 'illegal' orders issued by her, Vinay Sitapati writes in his book Jugalbandi – The BJP Before Modi. That night, PM Indira clamped the Emergency, suspending key fundamental rights and ordering arrests of Opposition leaders and dissenters across the country. The Cabinet was informed only the next morning at 6. Nanaji, however, managed to evade arrest. 'Nanaji Deshmukh had escaped after receiving a call… A female voice had told him that he had an hour to get away: 'The police will surround your place around 1 o' clock'… Nanaji made calls to warn others while his assistant packed a couple of shirts and dhotis into a briefcase. While the rest of Delhi slept, he fled to a secret location. He would soon find himself in south Bombay, squirreled away in the home of (industrialist) Nusli Wadia,' writes Sitapati. Close to Nanaji, Nusli and his wife Maureen protected him. Nusli even helped Opposition leaders with funds to survive the Emergency. Nanaji was finally arrested in August 1975, and sent to jail. Once Mrs Gandhi declared elections in early 1977, Nanaji was fielded as the Janata Party candidate from UP's Balrampur Lok Sabha seat. He won, with the Janata Party sweeping the polls. As Morarji Desai became PM, Nanaji was offered the post of Industries Minister in the Janata Party government, but the RSS advised him to keep out, apprehensive that controversies would be stoked about the ties he had developed with industrialists such as Wadia, Mafatlal and Tatas while serving as the Jana Sangh treasurer in the early 1970s. The Sangh trusted him implicitly, which is why he was sent on his own to collect donations. 'His legend was built on relentless pursuit of lucre for the party, including running on foot after a horse-riding prince to entice him to give money,' Sitapati writes. Incidentally, born in Maharashtra in a poor family, Nanaji or 'Chandikadas Amritrao Deshmukh' as he was formally named, once sold vegetables to pay his tuition fees to study. His rise in the RSS was quick. As in-charge of Sangh affairs in UP, he established the first Saraswati Shishu Mandir in Gorakhpur in 1950. He later joined the Jana Sangh, rising to become one of its most prominent leaders. After the Janata Party government formation, Nanaji faded away from politics, and after he turned 60, decided to retire from public life. He first settled in Gonda and then shifted to Chitrakoot, where he founded Mahatma Gandhi Chitrakoot Gramodaya Vishwavidyalaya, 'India's first rural university'. He passed away in Chitrakoot in 2010 at the age of 93. In 2019, Nanaji was awarded the Bharat Ratna by the Narendra Modi government.
Hindustan Times
05-06-2025
- Entertainment
- Hindustan Times
‘How cute': Redditor shares father's 41-year-old letter to maternal grandfather seeking permission for marriage
An emotional letter written in 1984 by a young man seeking permission to marry the woman he loved has resurfaced online and is tugging at heartstrings across the internet. The handwritten note, addressed to his future father-in-law, was shared on Reddit by user Rich-Arrival-1427, who claims it was written by their father to their maternal grandfather — affectionately called "Nanaji". (Also read: Woman rediscovers husband's 18-yr-old handwritten love letter. See pic) The touching letter, penned in the mother's native language of Chhattisgarhi, was a heartfelt attempt by a 30-year-old Delhi-based government employee to bridge family and cultural divides. 'My dad learnt Chhattisgarhi just to impress my grandfather,' the user wrote. 'After six years of relationship and three years of convincing their families, they finally married — and celebrated 40 years of marriage this year.' In the letter, the man openly acknowledges the likelihood of resistance but pleads sincerely for understanding and blessings. 'I am the boy who truly loves your daughter with all his heart,' he wrote. He assured the father of his intentions, sharing that he came from a respectable family, held a stable job in Delhi, and promised that his beloved would never face sorrow in their life together. 'I am an honest man,' the letter read. 'We will live together with love, peace, and harmony.' The emotional depth, humility, and respect expressed throughout the message struck a powerful chord with readers — particularly the line, 'Your answer will decide the direction of my life.' Check out the post here: The post quickly gathered over 6,000 upvotes and drew dozens of heartfelt comments. One user called it 'How cute. This is the most respectful proposal ever seen', while another remarked how 'this generation had a different kind of grace'. A third praised the writer's effort to learn another language for love, calling it 'true commitment'. (Also read: 'Don't roam like idiot': Teen sister's wholesome contract for brother as he moves out goes viral) Several users shared personal anecdotes about their own parents' love stories, showing how this letter sparked intergenerational reflection. Others simply appreciated the sincerity: 'This is real love, not performative nonsense,' wrote one commenter. Another said, 'Can't stop tearing up. This is how you ask for someone's hand in marriage.'
