Suruchi Prakashan office at Jhandewalan New Delhi
On July 4, 1975, in the morning itself, I conveyed the message of Shri Madhavrao Ji to Dr Satyapal that the police personnel deployed on duty at the Sangh Karyalaya should not face any inconvenience. His clear message was that our ensuing struggle would be against the wicked Government and in no way with the police. Let the police perform their duties. The police personnel discharging their duty at our office were sort of our guests; hence we must take care of their ease and comfort.
In the evening around 7 pm, I positioned myself in ‘Jhahnavi’ office at Jhandewalan, Delhi. Jhahnavi office, too, was located in the Keshav Kunj premises. Main premises and ‘Jhahnavi’ office were separated just by the ground in between. In the main premises in one part, there was a publishing house, namely Suruchi Sahitya’. I was in-charge of this publication. I got the details of the day-long events from a worker of Suruchi Sahitya. Then I called Dr Satyapal Ji and asked him whether the police had any suspicion about me (my miraculous escape from the premises) the previous night. He replied that the police just inquired about the slippers found near the bench. I told them that these might be of some guest, who left behind inadvertently. The following day he might come back to collect it. In fact, last night Dr Satyapal Ji had seen me running but the police did not get an iota of doubt or clue about the same.
Me: “How many police personnel are there?”.
Satyapal Ji: “One Hawaldar and three constables, four in total”.
Me: “Hope you are attending them well?”
Satyapal Ji: “Yes, I insistently served them the morning breakfast and lunch here. Their duties shuffle every eight hours”.
Me: “How is your dispensary running? Did some patients visit?
Dr Satyapal, “Yes, a few did come. One of the constables is also my patient now. Their duty is at the RSS office only. They are not bothered about who is coming and going from this part of the premises.”
I thought that even I could make an entry.
I walked towards the main building with two of the employees working with Suruchi Sahitya. The police personnel were alert on their duty. They saw me and I saw them eye to eye. There was no change in their facial expressions, so I was also rest assured and went up straight. There were two big registers in Shri Chaman Lal Ji’s room in which addresses of all the Sangh offices were recorded. I lifted both the registers. In 10-12 notebooks, alphabetically names and addresses of many Swayamsevaks were listed. One register captaining details of the many Indians residing abroad was also there. There were many files of correspondence exchanged with the Pravasi Bharatiya people. Many files related to Shri Keshav Smarak Samiti were also there. Many files of Shri Madhavrao Ji were also kept there. His diaries of 25-30 years were also there. All these were important and were meticulously maintained for years. Their safety was vital. What would be their to state once they get into the hands of police, one would not know. The readers can imagine the consequences if any of the documents, related to the addresses, would have got into the custody of police. Therefore, I was very conscious that the police should not be able to lay their hands on even a single name and address. Entire two days of July 4 and 5, 1975 went into securing those documents.
Readers can imagine the consequences if any of the documents, related to the addresses, would have got into the custody of police
Besides these files and diaries, last 25 years literature of speeches and bauddhiks delivered by various office bearers of Sangh, consisting speeches of Sarsanghchalaks – Param Poojaniya Shri Guruji and Balasaheb Ji Deoras, publications in favour and against RSS, press cuttings etc. were in such large volumes that carrying it somewhere else would have required at least a truck which was not feasible then. Therefore, I only lifted the material and correspondence consisting of names and addresses from there. Even that stuff could be accommodated in nine big sacks. Firstly, we would get the material in small chunks to Suruchi Sahitya and then, from there in card boards was carried out. Taking out material frequently from here could have created suspicion in the minds of police personnel. So we had worked on a plan in advance. From Suruchi Sahitya, a bundle of books was transported out by an auto rickshaw. After a while, the same bundle was brought back on a cycle and despite without any requirement of the books, an order was placed with two publishers who also dispatched it immediately. Thus, it was registered in the minds of the police personnel on duty that bundles of books keep moving to and fro from Suruchi Sahitya, while from June 26, 1975, the Suruchi Sahitya work was standing still as I could not sit there regularly.
All this work was going on at a steady pace without much noise. We could not hurry up as four police personnel were posted inside. Even secret services personnel also used to take rounds everywhere around. They would have been alerted with our fast movements.
For the police also, not finding anything from the RSS office located in the capital was a sort of puzzle. The Congress loyalists had also started building pressure and the secret services were specially put on the task of finding something.
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