Sirsanghchalak, R.S.S. M.D. Devras’s 1st Mafinama to Indira Gandhi during Emergency (August 15, 1975)

Sirsanghchalak, R.S.S. M.D. Devras’s 1st Mafinama to  Indira Gandhi during Emergency (August 15, 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.R. The speech was balanced and befitting to the occasion and has prompted me to write this letter to you.

I was arrested at Nagpur on 30-6-75 and was brought to Pune after some days and was put in this jail.

Thereafter, on 4-7-75, the Central Government banned the R.S.S. by issuing a special order. The reports published in newspaper regarding this ban show that the activities of the Sangh, its Volunteers and responsible workers are a danger to the Internal Security of the country, public peace and law and order situation. Such are the reasons given for the ban on

R.S.S. According to the press reports about 2300 workers and oûcials of the Sangh have been arrested at different places throughout the country.

I am writing this letter to you on the basis of whatever little I have gathered [from] the speeches made by you and other senior leaders and oûcials and some of the interviews published in the newspapers.

The orders do not give the definite reason for banning the Sangh. The Sangh has never indulged in any activity which could be dangerous for the internal security of the country or for the law and order situation. The aim of the R.S.S. is to unify and organise Hindu society. The Sangh has also been active in maintaining discipline in the society. This is what we preach and practice [sic] in the Sangh. Therefore, there is nothing in the Sangh which could be harmful for the law and order situation and internal security.

It is not possible to refute all the charges in this letter, yet it is necessary to make it clear that the Sangh has never involved itself in any violent action, nor has Sangh the incited anyone to indulge in violence. The Sangh does not believe in such things. Not a single instance of violence or destruction can be cited in which the volunteers of the Sangh were involved during the last fifty years. Many a time, violence has erupted in the country. But in none of the court judgments or in the report of any commission appointed by the Government, has it been said that the volunteers of the Sangh were involved. The reason is obvious – the Sangh has never preached or practised such things.

In spite of this some people make allegations against the Sangh because of their prejudices. For example, some people tried to involve the Sangh in the murder of late Lalitnarayan Mishra. But now the enquiry has proved that it was [an] utterly false allegation. Similarly, even today there are people who try to involve the Sangh in the murder of Mahatma Gandhi. It has been proved that the Sangh was in no way related to this incident. Therefore, I don’t think there is any need to write more about this in this letter. All the oûce-bearers of the Sangh are respectable members of the society and are playing a leading role in the social, cultural and educational fields. I am sure that their police record will bear this out.

There are people who allege that R.S.S. is a communal organisation. This also is a baseless charge. Although at present the activities of the Sangh are confined to the Hindu society, the

Sangh never preaches anything against any non-Hindu. It is absolutely wrong that the Sangh is anti-Muslim. We don’t even use an improper word regarding Islam, Mohammad, Kuran, Christianity, Christ or the Bible. The Sangh believes in the theory of ‘Sarva Dharm Sambhav’ (all religion are equal) and ‘Ekam Sat Vipra Bahudha Vadanti’ (Almighty God is one but he has been described in many ways). The Sangh believes that everyone should have the freedom of worship in one’s own way. Many of the volunteers of the Sangh have very intimate relations with Muslims, Christians, Parsis and followers of other religions.

The social problems of the Hindu society and non-Hindu society are different. That is why the Sangh has kept its activities limited to the Hindu society. The Sangh is endeavouring to unite the Hindu society by removing the feelings of low and high, mutual distrust and separatism which have erupt [sic] into Hindus because of the difference of castes, sect and language and other reasons. You too will appreciate the need of this task. This shows that the Sangh is neither communal nor is casteist.

The R.S.S. has been working in the direction of making every individual of Hindu society a good citizen, patriotic and virtuous. It is the irony of the fate that it has been banned by its own rules.

You have correctly pointed out in your speech of 15th August that ‘the task of the upliftment of the society, which includes tribes, the down trodden and the poor, is not the one which can be accomplished immediately. This is a long, diûcult path, which demands sacrifice. For this we need the co-operation of many. All the forces of the society should start working honestly in their respective fields’.

The activities of the R.S.S. are spread throughout the country. Its members are from all the strata of society. It has many selfless workers – in fact the whole work of the organisation is based on the feeling of selflessness. This power of the Sangh must be utilised in a planned way for the development of the nation.

I request you to please reconsider the case of the Sangh without any prejudice. In the light of the democratic right of freedom to organise, I beseech you to rescind the ban imposed upon the R.S.S.

I would be pleased to meet you if you so desire.

Yours, 

Sd/- M.D. Devras 

Sirsanghchalak, R.S.S.

[MISA] prisoner No. 308, Class I,

Andheri Yard, Yarwada Central Jail, Pune-6.

(Brahm Dutt, Five Headed Moncter, pp. 141-4)