RSS workers' large-scale participation in Satyagraha forced end of Emergency: Ramlal

Mumbai: Senior RSS leader Ramlal on Saturday claimed that had RSS workers not taken part in the "Satyagraha" against Emergency in large numbers, the Indira Gandhi-led government would not have called general elections in 1977.

Ramlal, who is the Akhil Bharatiya Sampark Pramukh (outreach head) of the Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh, was speaking at the concluding function of a meeting of the Sangh's Konkan division here.

"If RSS volunteers had not participated in Satyagraha in such large numbers during Emergency and filled the prisons, the government would not have announced general elections, and the Janata Party would not have come to power. Emergency would have continued and India would have witnessed an authoritarian regime for a long time," he said.

Around 80 per cent of those imprisoned during Emergency were RSS workers, Ramlal claimed, adding that he himself spent eight months in jail during that period.

The state of Emergency declared by the then Congress government lasted for 21 months from 1975 to 1977. In the elections that followed, the Janata party of the Opposition came to power.

Talking further about the organisation's contribution, Ramlal said, "In all the wars India faced, RSS volunteers stood shoulder to shoulder with the Indian army's jawans." Citing one instance, he said airdropped military supplies had fallen in a danger zone. "The jawans could have attracted enemy attention. Someone told them there was a village nearby where RSS volunteers gather every evening. The volunteers crawled to the site where the supplies had fallen and brought them back. Their names were never made public, but four people died in this action," he said.

RSS workers also assisted civil administration during crises, including managing traffic in Delhi during the 1965 war, he said.

"With 24 hours' training, RSS volunteers managed Delhi traffic so well that the lowest number of accidents were reported during their stint," he said, adding that about 3,000 volunteers participated in the 1963 Republic Day parade on short notice following the 1962 war.

The RSS places emphasis on discipline, coordination and collective functioning through its daily 'shakhas' (local assemblies), Ramlal said.

"Working together and mixing with everyone is considered very important in the RSS. It requires coordination of body, mind and intelligence," he said, adding that even small, routine activities were aimed at fostering unity and a "patriotic mood" among people of diverse faiths.

Referring to the Sangh's outreach efforts, Ramlal said he interacts with those who are opposed to the RSS in public. "When we meet different types of people who are publicly opposed to us, they admit that RSS volunteers are patriotic, disciplined and do social work. Sometimes we ask them to say so publicly, but many political party representatives say they face difficulty in doing so," he claimed.

Many people who migrated to India during Partition credited RSS for their survival, Ramlal claimed.

"You speak to anyone who came from Pakistan or Bangladesh during that period, they will say they are alive only because RSS volunteers helped them," he said, adding that several volunteers made "utmost sacrifice", including laying down their lives.

He also criticised what he termed as a growing tendency in society to become "self-centred" and "outsource patriotism to soldiers alone".

Those espousing the Hindutva ideology will "always think about everyone's welfare", the RSS leader said, adding, "Unfortunately, today whoever is against India is called liberal and progressive, while those who speak about Hindutva are labelled communal or narrow-minded." Invaders such as the Mughals "looted, divided and converted people" and destroyed temples, while the British "looted, divided and instilled a sense of inferiority" among Indians, the Sangh leader further said.

"Those who enslaved us were revered, while those who fought them were deliberately sidelined and their stories were not shared," he said, adding that for a long time Indians were made to believe they could not stand on their own.

RSS founder Keshav Baliram Hedgewar established the organisation to counter such narratives, Ramlal added.

He also criticised what he described as the continued influence of Western intellectual frameworks, saying notions such as "white supremacy" and the projection of Western lifestyles as aspirational had historically shaped Indian thinking.

"Even today, many intellectuals think the same way. In the name of secularism, anti-Indian thoughts are described as progressive and others as regressive," he said, questioning why epics such as the Ramayana and Mahabharata were labelled as fictional. "Even if they are considered fiction, they continue to inspire people. How can figures like Ram and Krishna be separated from Indian society?" he said.

He cautioned against uncritical adoption of Western values, arguing that it could disrupt India's social fabric. "In many parts of the world, marriage is treated as a contract, whereas in India it is a 'sanskar'. Modernisation is not the same as Westernisation," he said, adding that attempts to equate the two systems had sparked public debate in the past.

Ramlal asserted that the world was increasingly looking towards India for ideas of balance and peace, and said it was for Indians to decide the direction the country should take in the future.