The experiences bestowed by Kanchi-Mahaswami — Part 15 : Violence or Satyagraha?
(A humble translation of the original article by Sri S.Gurumurthy , as it had appeared in Thuglak Tamil Magazine) —
https://www.thuglak.com/thuglak/main.php?x=curissue/ninaithu_paarkiraen_09_12_2020.php
The kind of experiences that I had got while opposing the Authoritarian rule during the emergency period 1975–77 were preparing me for the tougher challenges in the about-to-come public life. The Supreme court of India turned blind and refused adequate/appropriate justice for the thousands of people, who were imprisoned. Due to the draconian laws & stringent action by violent & anarchic police, not only the public but many political parties, Leaders & even the revolutionary communists were rattled and went under-ground. Some parties disappeared just like that.
After the arrest of their senior leaders like Murasoli Maran, Stalin, the DMK party went silent. The ADMK party was supporting Indira. Only RSS was running a discreet nation-wide campaign against the imposition of emergency. Many books have come out detailing the role of RSS in that campaign. If I explain the role of RSS movement then it will help the reader to understand, the reasons for me to join the movement, my experiences, how did I come in contact with stalwarts like Cho, Era.Chezhian, (Gandhians) N.S.Varadachariar, M.C.Subramaniam, Goenka and how it change my life all together.
RSS battle against state of Emergency
Since the news was censored by the govt, our newspapers/magazine went quiet. None of them reported about the battle that RSS waged. Online magazine “The Print” published certain old articles from the foreign media that detailed the role of RSS & its battle (https://theprint.in/india/how-rss-fought-indira-gandhis-emergency-as-the-foreign-media-saw-it/448135 ). The economist magazine (24-Jan-1976), “ Yes, the secret organization is there” headlined in an article with the details as follows, “ Though organizations Jana sangh, Socialists, Lokdal, Congress(O) working with RSS, the backbone & the core strength of volunteers are from 1 million workers based Jana sangh & RSS (80,000 members including 6000 full time members are in the prison). RSS leaders are waging the battle against emergency. A four member committee is supervising the daily affairs. Thrice a week, they meet at Delhi, Mumbai, Chennai, Ahmadabad and at times in a long train journey”.
The economist (26-Jan-1976) wrote further — “RSS that runs the secret movement against Indira Gandhi is the only revolutionary org that does claim to be a non-leftist one. It does not accept class struggle and violence. Its only goal in this fight was to restore democracy. A four-member committee is managing lakhs of workers, who are from every nook & corner of India. Initially many political parties were participating and they left the reins in the hands of RSS, finally. RSS established cells main job is to spread the propaganda against Indira. Based on that propaganda, they prepared the grassroots people , stoked their emotions and then kindle those sparks to a huge revolutionary fire is the goal of RSS”. (Same happened in 1977 elections; Indira who had smothered the media, without understanding the real feelings of the people had announced the elections. Then, the election spark had helped in the rise of huge Janata wave. Wherever, RSS had a strong presence and ran its propaganda amidst the public, the congress met with disastrous results in the election).
In “The New York Times” (04–04–1976), Antony Lucas decimated the propaganda of Indira against RSS, after banning it as follows: RSS is a very disciplined organization. Its dynamic young volunteers cannot be called as soldiers. From the RSS shakhas, they were able to confiscate only wooden knifes and sticks (used for the exercises and practices). When Indira’s junior Home minister Om Mehta was questioned about this, “He was also claiming with a long drawl that they were also carrying few metal knifes too”. Antony further questioned him, “Even if they carry such weapons, how can they be a match against well armed police force and a threat to this Nation?”. Om Mehta stammered further, “No, they were carrying few guns too”. Lucas was not letting him go easily,” were you able to capture any of those guns”?. Om replied, “No, they might have hidden in their houses. You should not under-estimate their mischievousness. England based “The Guardian” quoted Home minister Brahmananda Reddy, “ RSS is continuously working throughout the country. Even its presence is there in Kerala”. The journal further noted — “more concessions were given to leftist media and crushing the media that opposes the govt. Other than that, communists-marxists and muslim league are supporting the Indira govt. Nobody can deny that RSS alone was having the organization structure to continue the struggle against emergency.
How come from Congress to RSS?
While being in Congress, myself, brothers, friends came in touch with RSS and made our small contribution in the protest against emergency. In 1969, when the Congress got split, four parties — Congress(O), Jana sangh, Socialist, Lokdal came together to fight against Indira. Then, we got a chance to get along with Jana singh members in Tamilnadu. They had great qualities like Discipline, Patriotism, selflessness and my respect grew for them. In Mar 1971 general elections, myself & friends were campaigning for Congress(O). Those who had voted for DMK in 1967, voted for Congress(O) in 1971. Once the congress(O) candidate victory was announced, DMK cadres went berserk and attacked the public who had worked for Congress(O). Some of my friends were wounded heavily. Police did not come to rescue us. We, friends, were wondering, “Why we were not retaliating against the rowdies and instead, ran away from there”? In order to strengthen ourselves, we had started a gymnasium and performed weight-lifting exercises (Since, I was doing bench press those days, my muscles got strengthened. I continue to do my practices and kept the ailments away (by God’s grace & let it continue to be like that forever , Translator’s notes)
Since 1970, Indira Gandhi was conducing massive campaigns against RSS. We thought then that organization must be a good one. We had participated in one of the meetings of Narayana Rao, Jana sangh leader and enquired about RSS. He replied, how RSS helps in the character-building of Youth and imbibe with noble qualities like Patriotism, Body strength, Mental stamina, Discipline, Bravery. Hence, we were attracted by RSS and went to his office. That is how, my relationship with RSS blossomed.
Though, I started receiving training in RSS from 1971, I continue to be with Congress(O). After the declaration of state of emergency on 25th Jun 1975, Kamaraj in a state of dejection was complaining to his visitors,”Indira has destroyed everything”. Other than few handful members of Congress(O),no one else was fighting against emergency. Then, with a plan to oppose the authoritarian rule, RSS started involving us.
Satyagraha or Violence?
RSS had decided to oppose state of emergency in Satyagrahic way. But, George Fernandes was firm on that without resorting to violence, Indira’s govt cannot be dislodged. Hence, RSS was trying to explore people’s mental state, how to get them out of this fear and the kind of struggle should be deployed. RSS workers travelled the country for 3 months and gathered public opinion. After the careful study, they came to a conclusion, ‘ People’s revolution to fight against the emergency demon should be lit in a peaceful manner through Satyagraha. First, we should get rid of their fear.. We should awaken them by taking the UN-censored truthful news to them. In small groups, we should individual households. By 1977 March, Indira should conduct the elections for Loksabha. We have to get ready with full preparation to defeat her in the election’. George Fernandes did not accept the decision and started touring the country to garner people and make them to indulge in violence.
Along with my friends, I took the responsibility of one of the secret small group and started working from July 1975. At the same time, I was visiting the secret meetings conducted by George’s followers. Then, I was caught in a dilemma — Satyagraha or Violence. Malayala Mathrubhoomi’s chennai manager, Manakalath was George’s close friend. Along with a friend, I started visiting there and participated in the meeting. Nothing was a secret there. ‘George is planning to come to chennai. Before that, we should assemble the youth who wanted to indulge in violence’. We were surprised to hear such speeches.
We discussed with our seniors in RSS. They told us not to participate in such meetings, since they cannot conduct anything secretly and eventually will get branded as violent mob. Without doing anything, they will get imprisoned. Reaching out to public is the only way. They helped to understand the impracticality behind the violence and told us to organize in a peaceful manner.
Violence got Defeated
As predicted by RSS, the efforts of George end up in defeat. His only ‘Baroda explosion conspiracy” did not happen and he went to jail in June 1976. It was rare to come across such a person with sharp intellect, unlimited bravery, continuous hard work & honesty. He gets emotional very quickly. If he had avoided some of the blunders then he would have become the PM. I don’t know what would have happened to me, if I had continued my contact with George’s group.
There is no doubt that George Fernandes was a daring one. But, he was not able to generate revolutionaries. Even revolutionary communists could not bring-in revolution, for the last 40–50 years.
One thing I should admit — after seeing the atrocities during the emergency period, we were attracted towards violence, naturally. Then, we were able to understand the efforts of Mahatma, who had correctly diagnosed after checking the pulse of this nation that violence is not there in their DNA and adopted Satyagraha in the Independence struggle. George Fernandes efforts were in the wrong direction and got defeated. Then, I realized that
