Samvidhan Hatya Divas: How RSS ran a movement that world witnessed with awe

The RSS was banned by Indira Gandhi during the Emergency, and Sarsanghchalak Balasaheb Deoras, along with most of its functionaries, was jailed.

(RSSFACTS is a column that demystifies the functioning, organisational structure and ideology of the Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh.)

In June 2024, the Modi government declared 25 June to be remembered as ‘Samvidhan Hatya Diwas’ (Constitution Murder Day) through an official gazette notification. On the midnight of 25 and 26 June, 1975, Prime Minister Indira Gandhi imposed an Emergency so that she wouldn’t have to step down after her election was declared null and void by the Allahabad High Court, which also disqualified her from contesting elections in future.

This year marks the 50th anniversary of the most brutal assault on the Indian Constitution post-independence, which lasted until 21 March 1977.

Indira Gandhi strangulated Indian democracy by imposing the Emergency. The actions that followed were a brutal assault on the Indian Constitution. When leaders from the Opposition parties were imprisoned by the Indira government—except for the Communist Party of India (CPI) and the Muslim League, who supported her—it was primarily the Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh (RSS), aided by the Bharatiya Jana Sangh, that led both the underground and overground movement to restore democracy. The RSS was banned by Indira Gandhi during the Emergency, and Sarsanghchalak Balasaheb Deoras, along with most of its functionaries, was jailed. However, a substantial number escaped and ran an underground movement that the world watched with awe.

The Indian press was already facing the brunt of censorship. Those who were ready to propagate the Congress propaganda were allowed to publish, while those who didn’t toe the line were crushed. Journalists like K.R. Malkani, editor of the RSS-inspired weekly Organiser, were even sent to jail and many remained incarcerated throughout the Emergency. In fact, Malkani was the first person to be arrested during the Emergency. He was arrested from his Pandara Road residence at 2:30 am on the morning of 26 June.

The Economist published an article titled Yes, there is an Underground on 24 January 1976. It said, “In formal terms, the underground is an alliance of four opposition parties: the Jana Sangh, the Socialist Party, the breakaway faction of the Congress Party and the Lok Dal. But the shock troops of the movement come largely from the Jana Sangh and its affiliate RSS, which claim a combined membership of 10 million (of whom 80,000, including 6,000 full-time party workers, are in prison).”

The Guardian published a report on 2 August 1976 that gave a clear picture of how many RSS workers had crossed over the border to Nepal and were running the underground movement from there as well.

The crackdown machinery led by the then Union Home Minister felt frustrated about the way the RSS was hitting hard at the anti-democratic forces.

Titled The Empress Reigns Supreme (2 August 1976), it said, “Reports from Kathmandu say that the Nepalese government has rejected appeals from the Indian police to arrest and intern members of the Indian underground.”

“A source close to the Nepalese embassy said that Kathmandu will never hand over to the Indian government members of the Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh (RSS), banned by the Gandhi regime shortly after the promulgation of the Emergency,” the article stated.

It further added, “The RSS continues to be active all over India,” Brahmanand Reddy, the Indian Home Minister, said recently. “It has even extended its tentacles to far-off Kerala in the south.”

The foreign press also exposed the anti-RSS propaganda of the Indira government.

Anthony Lukas wrote an article titled India is as Indira Does in The New York Times Magazine, published on 4 April 1976. Lukas wrote, “The Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh, commonly known as the RSS, are a tightly disciplined band of volunteers between the ages of 12 and 21, but they can hardly be called ‘troops’. Pictures of material seized from the RSS offices after the Emergency primarily show long wooden staves and wooden swords. I asked Om Mehta, a Minister of State in the Home Ministry, about this and he replied vaguely. ‘There were some metal swords too.’ Even with some metal swords, I asked, how could boys with staves pose much of a threat to a superbly equipped army of about one million men, the Border Security Force of about 85,000, the Central Reserve Police of about 57,000 and some 755,000 state policemen?” “Well,” Mehta said, “there were undoubtedly some rifles.” “Did you seize any?” I asked. “No,” he said. “But they probably kept them at home. Don’t underestimate these people’s capacity for mischief!”

Satyavani, an underground journal published and distributed during the Emergency, reproduced a report by The Economist titled The Opposition Wins Friends. This report was reprinted on 26 January 1977 in Satyavani, and it said, “The underground campaign against Mrs Gandhi claims to be the only non-left-wing revolutionary force in the world, disavowing both bloodshed and class struggle… It is dominated by the Jana Sangh and the RSS but its platform at the moment has only one non-ideological plank — to bring back democracy to India.”

This report gives an indication of how the RSS was mobilising cadres and common people at the ground level, unperturbed by government excesses and the brutal targeting of its leadership and cadres. The report elaborates, “The ground troops of this operation consist of tens of thousands of cadres who are organised down to the village level into four-man cells. Most of them are RSS regulars… the other opposition parties which started out as partners in the underground have effectively abandoned the field to the Jana Sangh and the RSS. The function of the RSS cadre network… is mainly to spread the anti-Gandhi word. Once the ground is prepared and political consciousness raised, so the leaders are ready, any spark can set off the revolutionary prairie fire.”

Earlier RSSFACTS columns can be read here.