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RSS in Freedom Movement

RSS Chief Balasaheb Devras’s Letter to Shankarraoji Chavan During Emergency (24-11-1975)

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 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 ...

New Released Book ; Truth Behind RSS Letter to Indira Gandhi & Other During Emergency

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3rd RSS Chief Balasaheb Devras’s 1st Letter to Indira Gandhi (22 August 1975)

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 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)

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 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...

PM Modi's Foreign Policy and Foreign Visit in 2026

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  PM Modi's Foreign Policy and Foreign Visit in 2026

Learn AI (Artificial Intellegence)

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  Learn AI (Artificial Intellegence) 

Balasaheb Deoras’s 2nd Letters to Acharya Vinoba Bhave (February 1976) to request Indira Gandhi for the removal of the Ban on the Sangh

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 Balasaheb Deoras’s 2nd Letters to Acharya Vinoba Bhave  (February 1976) Balasaheb Deoras, the third Sarsanghchalak of the RSS, wrote at least two letters to Acharya Vinoba Bhave in early 1976 while detained during the Emergency. The 2nd letter Letter to Vinoba Bhave was undated or around late February 1976. This one was prompted by news that Indira Gandhi would meet Bhave at Paunar Ashram on or around 24 February. It is more explicitly pleading and is often quoted together with the January letter. These letters were later placed in the Maharashtra Assembly and reproduced in sources like D.R. Goyal’s Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh and appendices in Deoras’s own Hindi book Hindu Sangathan aur Sattavadi Rajneet i. Letter February 1976 At the feet of Respected Acharya Vinobaji, I wrote a letter to you from Ekhra Jail on 12-1-76. You might have received that at the time when the Conference of the Acharyas was going to begin. I hope so. I wrote in that letter what the Sangh had to say...