Dark days of India’s emergency, when rumour-mongering and instigation were a norm

At around 2 pm, the phone bell rang. Dr Satyapal received the call. On the other end, the speaker said, “I am calling from the ‘the Hindustan Times’. Mr Malkani, (Editor of ‘The Motherland & Organiser’) is no more. He breathed his last at Wellington Hospital, Delhi”.

I became very restless when Satyapal Ji broke this news to me. Until then, we did not know in which prison

Malkani Ji had been kept, and all of a sudden, this shocking news came!

Once I thought I should inform all the concerned persons this news so that further arrangements can be made. At the same time, a second thought flashed in my mind – before informing others, I must find out the situation from Wellington Hospital.

Sinister plan of the then Indira Gandhi led government to spread rumours during 1975 emergency 

When I broke the news with the Hindustan Samachar News Bureau Chief Ram Shankar Agnihotri, he immediately rushed to the hospital. After he left for Wellington, “due to the Emergency in vogue, doctors might not entertain a journalist”, a thought came to my mind. Hence, I rushed to Sir Ganga Ram Hospital. There was one Dr Ajit Bose who was earlier attached to Wellington Hospital. I requested him to get details about Malkani Ji from Wellington Hospital through his contacts. He also reached Wellington. Both of them returned to the Jhandewala office of RSS and clarified that the news of Malkani’s demise was false and misleading.

After listening to this, I thought, the Union Government led by Ms Indira Gandhi had resorted to floating a separate department to spread rumours and lies, so that people would resort to riots and arson in reaction

A similar incident took place around July 10, 1975. I met a Sangh Karyakarta while walking on the street. He was quite perplexed. He said, “Good that I could meet you. I was looking for someone senior in the Sangh. One of the policemen has informed me that Shri Lal Krishna Advani breathed his last at Bangalore jail”. After listening to this, I thought, the Union Government led by Ms Indira Gandhi had resorted to floating a separate department to spread rumours and lies, so that people would resort to riots and arson in reaction. Such incidents would have provided an opportunity to justify the Emergency to the Government. Based on my previous experience related to Malakani Ji, I told him, “The news is an utter lie. I had just had a telephonic conversation with a Karyakarta at Bangalore. He did not mention anything like this. On the contrary, he confirmed that Advani Ji’s health is good.” Actually, I could not establish any contact in Bangalore till then. But, I had to assure him with a lie as spreading such rumours further would have been disastrous, and the government wanted the same. The Karyakarta was convinced with my confident reply. Therefore, the rumour of Advani Ji’s demise did not spread further. If, amidst anxiety, that news had spread further, one cannot say what would have been the consequences.

June 30, 1975

In the afternoon, I got news from Mumbai that Sarsanghchalak Balasaheb Deoras had been arrested at Nagpur station. Actually, a day before (June 29), he had reached Agra station by car after completion of the RSS training camp at Firozabad (as explained in the last edition). He could have been arrested at any moment. Therefore, I was in constant touch with Karyakartas in Agra. I got the confirmation that he had boarded the GT Express comfortably. The same information I had passed on to the Mumbai office of RSS. A ‘direct dialling’ was possible to Nagpur, so was to Delhi-Mumbai. Hence, continuous communication between Delhi-Mumbai Nagpur was possible.

Moropant Pingle and Baurao Deoras reached the Jhandewala office at 9.30 pm. Their stay was arranged at a nearby residence. Baurao seemed very tired and not willing to go anywhere else. He, in fact, wanted to take some rest at the Jhandewala office itself. But I did not want to take this risk as police could have knocked on the door at night, so I took him to the nearby residence insistently.

July 1, 1975

In the morning at 8, Shri Moropant, Baurao Ji Deoras, Bapurao Moghe and Madhav Rao gathered at the Jhandewala office. By noon, Rajendra Singh (Rajju Bhaiya), Kshetra Pracharak of the Uttar Pradesh-Bihar zone, also arrived. In the evening, a Sangh worker from South Delhi, Madhusudan by name, arrived at the office. On June 30 and July 1, the Youth Congress (that time led by Sanjay Gandhi) organised a meeting of all district-level presidents and secretaries. Madhusudan had somehow managed to be part of that congregation. He narrated that all the speeches of the rally mainly focussed on the goal of destroying the Sangh as an organisation. The then Congress President Dev Kant Barooah, who coined the slogan “Indira is India and India is Indira”, blatantly commented that the Youth Congress should be ready to take on the Sangh in every possible way. Later, all representatives of the Youth Congress from Uttar Pradesh gathered at the residence of Chander Jeet Yadav. Shri Yadav further elaborated on the nature of the conflict and told them to physically harm all the Sangh Valas (everyone associated with RSS) on streets and bylanes. He also assured them that they should not worry about anything as the entire police machinery would be there in support. In reply to a question, he also mentioned that there would be a ban imposed on the Sangh in the next two-three days, and then Youth Congress workers would be free to do whatever they want.

I used to share such important information with Shri Madhav Rao Ji. I immediately passed on this
information to him.