VSK TN
Students Shadowed, Arrested as RSS Sympathisers
NEW DELHI: The secret letter (No.454), written by the then Home
Secretary H V R Ienger to the states on December 12, 1948, is the brutal
reminder of a different Nehru regime when newspapers were asked not to
publish the RSS stories, quite similar to what Indira Gandhi replicated
27 years later.
Patel’s Quandary
Sardar
Patel, who is said to have a sympathetic approach towards the RSS, had
to toe the government line when a unanimous decision to ban the RSS was
taken. Patel had held a meeting with Madhav Sadashiv Golwalkar, the
legendary Sarsanghchalak of the Hindu organisation who had requested for
a meeting with Nehru which the latter refused. The Government of
Kolhapur through a letter dated December 22, 1948, informed the Central
government that it caught “RSS volunteer Sidheshwar Sharma Ashtekar
red-handed while distributing leaflets in Marathi entitled “Our View
Point”, purported to be published by M P B Dani, Head Organiser of the
RSS. He was arrested by the city police under the Kolhapur Criminal Law
Amendment Act”.
The leaflet translated and enclosed with the
letter suggested that Golwalkar met Sardar Patel to discuss the “RSS
ban” issue. During the meeting, he requested the first Home Minister if
he could meet the Prime Minister. A message was sent to Nehru, but he
refused to meet Golwalkar citing his busy schedule after return from a
trip and also arguing that “nothing will come out of the meeting”. In
August 2009, the then Leader of Opposition in the Lok Sabha Advani had
said at a BJP chintan baithak in Shimla that Sardar Patel had acted
against the RSS and arrested its leaders after Gandhiji’s assassination
“under pressure from Jawaharlal Nehru”.
Earth Policy
H
V R Ienger, who was the Home Secretary in 1948, wrote to all states on
December 12 that year to suspend and arrest government employees even if
they were found to be watching an RSS procession on the street.
“We
suggest that immediate steps be taken by persuasion to see that any
news relating to the RSS activities, arrests, etc., is not published
under bold or prominent headlines and is consigned to unimportant
portion of newspapers,” he wrote to all the states.
Ienger further
directed, “In the event of any RSS demonstration near government
offices, there should be no collection of government servants, who
should be warned that watching of such demonstration amounts to
expression of sympathy with the RSS and would render them liable to
departmental action. Watch should be kept on numbers of absentees in
government offices and any unusual increases investigated and reasons
for absence scrutinised strictly.
“Careful watch should be kept on
suspected RSS members amongst government servants to prevent or detect
cases of leakages of information and to find out if they were actually
members. Drastic departmental action should be taken immediately in the
event of breaches of office discipline or confirmation that a person is
member.”
The diktat issued by the government clearly stated that
“government servants found participating in the RSS activities or
convicted of any offence connected therewith should be immediately
suspended and dealt with departmentally, and in the cases of conviction
in court, (they should be) dismissed immediately”.
The Hit List
A
month after the ban on the RSS was imposed, Deputy Director of IB G K
Handoo wrote to all police chiefs on December 30, 1948, providing a list
of 19 suspected RSS sympathisers, who might have gone underground.
“Attached is a list of RSS workers, who are reported to-date to have
gone “underground”. It is requested that a watch may kindly be kept for
them and, if traced, they be arrested and this bureau, as well as the
province concerned, informed immediately,” Handoo wrote in the secret
memorandum.
Some descriptions of the activists were surprisingly
accurate, showing the extent of the surveillance. Sample this:
Krishnamurti, Native of Masula (Masulipatnam) Brahim, Age 22 years,
clean-shaven, wears half shirts and dhoti, and at times wears khaki
shorts. Another suspect described in the file was Vishnu Parashram
Mahajan. Handoo wrote, “He is an active Sangh propagandist. He is
Brahmin, aged 26 years, black complexion, flat face, medium built,
height about 5.4 and originally belongs to Poona (Narayan Peth, in front
of Kesari Wada). He is MA and has average hold over the RSS members.”
Subsequently, another secret letter (No. 56/D.G./48 (2)) from the IB
dated May 8, 1948, about the arrest of seven RSS members also gave a
further list of suspected RSS members, who were aged between 22 and 35.
“Attached
is a further list of the RSS workers, together with short notes on some
of them, who are reported by Poona CID, East Punjab CID, SB Bihar and
SB UP to have gone underground to evade arrest,” it read.
The
government through letter No. 56/D.G./48 (2) II, dated June 2, 1948,
signed by Assistant Director of IB D K Krishna, provided a further list
of 20 RSS members. One such example, “Padam Parshad S/O Mani Ram,
Mahajan of Karnal. Wheat complexion. Stout build. Medium height. Age
about 20 years. Matriculated last year, then joined College at Lahore.
After partition had to discontinue studies. Father a Congressite who is
running an arthi’s shop in New Mandi Karnal. On his arrival from Lahore
joined the Sangh activities. After the ban, he is reported to be
responsible for distributing and circulating Sangh literature at
Karnal.” R N Kao, then serving as Assistant Director in IB, on June 9,
1948, told the state police chiefs to delete the names of 32 suspected
members from the “Wanted List” as they have been already put behind
bars.
Modus Operandi
The crackdown on the
RSS, which continued since Gandhiji’s death in January 1948, was
intensified in December. Telegram No. 28/23/48-Poll, dated December 7,
1948, signed by Deputy Secretary in the Home Ministry G V Bedekar, told
the states to mount surveillance on suspected RSS members.
The
telegram, quoting Sardar Patel, said, “While demonstrations, if staged,
might enable us to get at people who are real RSS sympathisers and
workers, we must provide against prominent workers going underground and
directing activities secretly. I would advise you to apprehend and
detain such persons in advance. Careful watch should be kept over likely
places of RSS meetings and gatherings and over active workers to
facilitate both preventive and punitive action. Measures taken, arrests
made, etc., should be reported to the Central government as soon as
possible, particularly arrests of important workers, which should be
reported by telegram. Further, the organisation being illegal, all
activities in whatever forms — press, public or private gatherings,
etc., — should be rigorously suppressed.”
Students Targeted
After
the government order, several communications were received from the
states regarding surveillance and action against employees and students.
One such secret letter No. 772/C from Madhya Bharat Union in the
possession of Express reveals that 81 employees were suspended and
students arrested for suspected links with the banned organisation. “Up
to December, 21, 1948, 1,960 arrests of members of the Sangh were
effected. Of these, 81 are government servants and 247 students. Orders
for suspension of such government servants have been issued and on
conviction they will be dismissed. But, if acquitted, departmental
disciplinary action will be taken against them,” letter signed by Chief
Secretary V Vishwanathan stated. There was no escape — even acquittal
did not help them.
Bilaspur Deputy Chief Commissioner Shri Chand
wrote to the Home Ministry on December 21, 1948, that some Class X
students were RSS sympathisers. “It has been reported that a few
students of the local school (five of Class X and about 8 or 10 of Lower
Classes) have sympathies with the organisation and are found absent
from the school. It is however, not considered advisable to arrest any
of these students (who, by no means can be called prominent workers) as
such an action might give unnecessary importance to the organisation.”
After
the Supreme Court acquitted the RSS leaders of involvement in any
conspiracy in the Gandhiji’s killing in 1948, the government lifted the
ban after negotiations with the senior RSS leadership. In a written
statement to the Bombay Legislative Assembly on September 14, 1949,
(Proceedings p2126) the Home Minister of the state Morarji Desai
declared that the ban on the RSS was no longer necessary and was lifted
unconditionally; even though the RSS gave no undertaking. Indira banned
it again during the Emergency, and lifted it after she declared
elections in 1977.
Secretary H V R Ienger to the states on December 12, 1948, is the brutal
reminder of a different Nehru regime when newspapers were asked not to
publish the RSS stories, quite similar to what Indira Gandhi replicated
27 years later.
Patel’s Quandary
Sardar
Patel, who is said to have a sympathetic approach towards the RSS, had
to toe the government line when a unanimous decision to ban the RSS was
taken. Patel had held a meeting with Madhav Sadashiv Golwalkar, the
legendary Sarsanghchalak of the Hindu organisation who had requested for
a meeting with Nehru which the latter refused. The Government of
Kolhapur through a letter dated December 22, 1948, informed the Central
government that it caught “RSS volunteer Sidheshwar Sharma Ashtekar
red-handed while distributing leaflets in Marathi entitled “Our View
Point”, purported to be published by M P B Dani, Head Organiser of the
RSS. He was arrested by the city police under the Kolhapur Criminal Law
Amendment Act”.
The leaflet translated and enclosed with the
letter suggested that Golwalkar met Sardar Patel to discuss the “RSS
ban” issue. During the meeting, he requested the first Home Minister if
he could meet the Prime Minister. A message was sent to Nehru, but he
refused to meet Golwalkar citing his busy schedule after return from a
trip and also arguing that “nothing will come out of the meeting”. In
August 2009, the then Leader of Opposition in the Lok Sabha Advani had
said at a BJP chintan baithak in Shimla that Sardar Patel had acted
against the RSS and arrested its leaders after Gandhiji’s assassination
“under pressure from Jawaharlal Nehru”.
Earth Policy
H
V R Ienger, who was the Home Secretary in 1948, wrote to all states on
December 12 that year to suspend and arrest government employees even if
they were found to be watching an RSS procession on the street.
“We
suggest that immediate steps be taken by persuasion to see that any
news relating to the RSS activities, arrests, etc., is not published
under bold or prominent headlines and is consigned to unimportant
portion of newspapers,” he wrote to all the states.
Ienger further
directed, “In the event of any RSS demonstration near government
offices, there should be no collection of government servants, who
should be warned that watching of such demonstration amounts to
expression of sympathy with the RSS and would render them liable to
departmental action. Watch should be kept on numbers of absentees in
government offices and any unusual increases investigated and reasons
for absence scrutinised strictly.
“Careful watch should be kept on
suspected RSS members amongst government servants to prevent or detect
cases of leakages of information and to find out if they were actually
members. Drastic departmental action should be taken immediately in the
event of breaches of office discipline or confirmation that a person is
member.”
The diktat issued by the government clearly stated that
“government servants found participating in the RSS activities or
convicted of any offence connected therewith should be immediately
suspended and dealt with departmentally, and in the cases of conviction
in court, (they should be) dismissed immediately”.
The Hit List
A
month after the ban on the RSS was imposed, Deputy Director of IB G K
Handoo wrote to all police chiefs on December 30, 1948, providing a list
of 19 suspected RSS sympathisers, who might have gone underground.
“Attached is a list of RSS workers, who are reported to-date to have
gone “underground”. It is requested that a watch may kindly be kept for
them and, if traced, they be arrested and this bureau, as well as the
province concerned, informed immediately,” Handoo wrote in the secret
memorandum.
Some descriptions of the activists were surprisingly
accurate, showing the extent of the surveillance. Sample this:
Krishnamurti, Native of Masula (Masulipatnam) Brahim, Age 22 years,
clean-shaven, wears half shirts and dhoti, and at times wears khaki
shorts. Another suspect described in the file was Vishnu Parashram
Mahajan. Handoo wrote, “He is an active Sangh propagandist. He is
Brahmin, aged 26 years, black complexion, flat face, medium built,
height about 5.4 and originally belongs to Poona (Narayan Peth, in front
of Kesari Wada). He is MA and has average hold over the RSS members.”
Subsequently, another secret letter (No. 56/D.G./48 (2)) from the IB
dated May 8, 1948, about the arrest of seven RSS members also gave a
further list of suspected RSS members, who were aged between 22 and 35.
“Attached
is a further list of the RSS workers, together with short notes on some
of them, who are reported by Poona CID, East Punjab CID, SB Bihar and
SB UP to have gone underground to evade arrest,” it read.
The
government through letter No. 56/D.G./48 (2) II, dated June 2, 1948,
signed by Assistant Director of IB D K Krishna, provided a further list
of 20 RSS members. One such example, “Padam Parshad S/O Mani Ram,
Mahajan of Karnal. Wheat complexion. Stout build. Medium height. Age
about 20 years. Matriculated last year, then joined College at Lahore.
After partition had to discontinue studies. Father a Congressite who is
running an arthi’s shop in New Mandi Karnal. On his arrival from Lahore
joined the Sangh activities. After the ban, he is reported to be
responsible for distributing and circulating Sangh literature at
Karnal.” R N Kao, then serving as Assistant Director in IB, on June 9,
1948, told the state police chiefs to delete the names of 32 suspected
members from the “Wanted List” as they have been already put behind
bars.
Modus Operandi
The crackdown on the
RSS, which continued since Gandhiji’s death in January 1948, was
intensified in December. Telegram No. 28/23/48-Poll, dated December 7,
1948, signed by Deputy Secretary in the Home Ministry G V Bedekar, told
the states to mount surveillance on suspected RSS members.
The
telegram, quoting Sardar Patel, said, “While demonstrations, if staged,
might enable us to get at people who are real RSS sympathisers and
workers, we must provide against prominent workers going underground and
directing activities secretly. I would advise you to apprehend and
detain such persons in advance. Careful watch should be kept over likely
places of RSS meetings and gatherings and over active workers to
facilitate both preventive and punitive action. Measures taken, arrests
made, etc., should be reported to the Central government as soon as
possible, particularly arrests of important workers, which should be
reported by telegram. Further, the organisation being illegal, all
activities in whatever forms — press, public or private gatherings,
etc., — should be rigorously suppressed.”
Students Targeted
After
the government order, several communications were received from the
states regarding surveillance and action against employees and students.
One such secret letter No. 772/C from Madhya Bharat Union in the
possession of Express reveals that 81 employees were suspended and
students arrested for suspected links with the banned organisation. “Up
to December, 21, 1948, 1,960 arrests of members of the Sangh were
effected. Of these, 81 are government servants and 247 students. Orders
for suspension of such government servants have been issued and on
conviction they will be dismissed. But, if acquitted, departmental
disciplinary action will be taken against them,” letter signed by Chief
Secretary V Vishwanathan stated. There was no escape — even acquittal
did not help them.
Bilaspur Deputy Chief Commissioner Shri Chand
wrote to the Home Ministry on December 21, 1948, that some Class X
students were RSS sympathisers. “It has been reported that a few
students of the local school (five of Class X and about 8 or 10 of Lower
Classes) have sympathies with the organisation and are found absent
from the school. It is however, not considered advisable to arrest any
of these students (who, by no means can be called prominent workers) as
such an action might give unnecessary importance to the organisation.”
After
the Supreme Court acquitted the RSS leaders of involvement in any
conspiracy in the Gandhiji’s killing in 1948, the government lifted the
ban after negotiations with the senior RSS leadership. In a written
statement to the Bombay Legislative Assembly on September 14, 1949,
(Proceedings p2126) the Home Minister of the state Morarji Desai
declared that the ban on the RSS was no longer necessary and was lifted
unconditionally; even though the RSS gave no undertaking. Indira banned
it again during the Emergency, and lifted it after she declared
elections in 1977.
Excerpts from official files
Surveillance on Students
“It
has been reported that a few students of the local school (five of
Class X and eight-10 of lower classes) have sympathies with the
organisation and are found absent from school,” a letter from Deputy
Chief Commissioner Office, Bilaspur, Dec 21, 1948
Action Against Officials
“Watching
RSS demonstration amounts to expression of sympathy with RSS and would
render them (government officials) liable to departmental action.” HVR
Ienger,
Home Secretary, Dec 12, 1948
Gag Order on Media
“Immediate
steps be taken by persuasion to see that news relating to RSS
activities is not published under bold or prominent headlines and is
consigned to unimportant portion of newspapers,” HVR Ienger, Home Secy,
Dec 12, 1948
Crackdown
“81 government servants and 247
students arrested. Orders for suspension have been issued,” V
Vishwanathan, Chief Secretary Madhya Bharat to the Centre, Dec 24, 1948
“Two
government servants (1) Prabhakar Ganesh Pujari alias Rajopadhye, clerk
in the city post office, and (2) Ganesh Shankar Kulkarni, clerk in the
office of the secretary, were arrested and detained,” Administrator
Kolhapur state letter, Dec 24, 1948
Intelligence Bureau’s Most Wanted
“Attached
is a list of RSS workers who are reported to-date to have gone
underground. It is requested that a watch may kindly be kept for them,”
Intelligence Bureau Deputy Director G K Handoo to states, March 30, 1948
“In
continuation of this Bureau’s circular memorandum No. 56/D.G/48 (2),
dated 8.5.48, enclosed is a further list of RSS workers, who are
reported to have gone underground,” D K Krishna, Intelligence Bureau’s
Assistant Director, June 2, 1948.
http://www.newindianexpress.com/nation/Students-Shadowed-Arrested-as-RSS-Sympathisers/2015/06/14/article2865303.ece