New Vision

       RSS and Mahatma Gandhi’s Assassination: Myths vs Facts Detractors of the RSS, including the current Congress president Rahul Gandhi, have often accused it of Mahatma Gandhi’s assassination. The facts, however, tell a different story. RSS was not directly involvred in Killing of Mahatma Gandhi but its ideology inspired Godse to kill Gandhi. There were reasons for Godse wanting to kill Gandhi. As a passionate member of the RSS and the editor of Hindu Rashtra , he had been acting in close concert with the Hindutva movement and was obsessed, like any other member of the RSS and the Hindu Mahasabha, with the idea of making India a Hindu Rashtra. He was, therefore, part and parcel of a subterranean and organized Hindutva resistance to the Gandhian project of secular democracy— a resistance which had existed since before 1947, before the country was even thought to be partitioned.  Through his nationalism and secularism, Gandhi had comprehensively countered ...

RSS Participated in Anna Hazare's 2011 India Against Corruption (IAC) Movement   There is no doubt that RSS participated actively and openly in Anna Hazare's 2011 India Against Corruption (IAC) movement, providing organizational support, mobilizing volunteers, and offering logistical help. But Hazare denied being an RSS agent or having direct control by the organization. He emphasized the movement's apolitical, anti-corruption nature and his own Gandhian roots. He had past associations with RSS but rejected broader conspiracy claims. However  RSS issued formal statements and letters supporting the movement. RSS instructed its cadre across India to join protests, run langars (community kitchens), manage crowds, and contribute resources. They helped with crowd management, logistics, and feeding protesters. RSS leaders, including Ram Madhav, appeared on stage.  Congress leaders like Digvijay Singh, some ex-IAC members, and left-leaning outlets claimed the RSS and BJP stage-...

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...