New Vision

Truth Behind RSS Letter to Indira Gandhi during Emergency (1975-1977)  The present book makes critical review of ten letters written by Balasaheb Deoras (3rd RSS Sarsanghchalak) from Yerwada Jail in Pune and his associates Advocate V.N. Bhide during the Emergency (1975-77) in which appealed for the lifting of the ban on the RSS and release of its workers and offered organizational support for national upliftment. These letters are reproduced in the Appendices of this book. Both sides acknowledge the letters’ existence and content. Critics highlight praise and offers of service; defenders emphasize the full context of defending the organization and ongoing resistance. Hope this book will be helpful for readers to judge the motive of writing these letters.

 RSS Chief Balasaheb Devras’s Letter to Shankarraoji Chavan During Emergency (24-11-1975) Balasaheb Deoras wrote to Chavan on 24 November 1975. This letters urged Chavan to intercede with Indira Gandhi for the removal of the ban and emphasized the RSS's non-political, constructive nature. Like other letter, he reiterated offers of cooperation for national programs (e.g., 20-point programme) if the ban was lifted in this letter. The original letters (or copies) were reportedly appended in works like Hindu Sangathan aur Sattavadi Rajneeti by Balasaheb Deoras. For primary sources, archival research (Maharashtra Assembly records or RSS publications) would be needed. Letter 22-8-1975 Hon’ble Shankarraoji Chavan Chief Minister, Maharashtra, Bombay. I had written a letter to the Prime Minister, Mrs. Indira Gandhi on 22-8-1975 from Yeravada jail. I now learn that the letter was forwarded to Delhi by your home department on 9-9-1975. Since then, I have written another letter to Mrs. Indira ...

 

 3rd RSS Chief Balasaheb Devras’s 1st Letter to Indira Gandhi (22 August 1975) Balasaheb Devras, then Sarsanghchalak of the RSS, wrote this letter from Yerwada Central Jail (Pune), about two months after the imposition of the Emergency (25 June 1975) and the subsequent ban on the RSS (4 August 1975). From the jail I listened with rapt attention to your broadcast message relayed from AIR and addressed to the nation on August 15, 1975. Your speech was suitable for the occasion and well balanced. This has prompted me to write this letter to you. The letter is preserved as an appendix in Deoras’s own book Hindu Sangathan aur Sattavadi Rajneeti (original in Hindi; English translations appear in various sources, including analyses by Christophe Jaffrelot & Pratinav Anil, Brahm Dutt, Frontline, and others).  Letter 22 August 1975 Respected Mrs. Indira Gandhi, Prime Minister, India, New Delhi. I have heard the speech you delivered on August 15, 1975 from the Red Fort, Delhi on A.I...

 V.N. Bhide’s Correspondence during the Emergency with S.B. Chavan  (15-7-75) V.N. Bhide (also referred to as Baba Bhide or an RSS advocate/lawyer, detained as Detenu No. 2181 in Nasik Central Jail) corresponded with S.B. Chavan, who was Chief Minister of Maharashtra during the Emergency (1975–1977). This exchange occurred in the context of the ban on the RSS, mass detentions of its members and other opposition figures under laws like MISA, and efforts by some RSS leaders (including Balasaheb Deoras) to seek dialogue, undertakings for release, and lifting of the ban. This letter was reportedly written on Deoras’s instructions or in coordination with RSS leadership efforts.  Full original letters were documented in legislative records and critiqued in post-Emergency writings. The episode is often discussed in histories of the Emergency and RSS’s role during that period. For primary archival material, Maharashtra Assembly records from 1977 or RSS-related archives would be t...

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