Narendra Modi government’s decision to observe June 25 as ‘Samvidhan Hatya Diwas’ is a politically laced posture to create division among India alliance partners who have a legacy of opposing Indira Gandhi’s emergency.
However, the move is fraught with danger to boomerang in Maharashtra where decisive state assembly polls are due within 90 days from now. The pronounced anti emergency instance may bother chief minister Eknath Shinde and a faction of Shiv Sena. Similarly, a closer scrutiny of the emergency period may shed some light on reported ‘tacit understanding’ between the RSS and those acting on behalf of the Indira establishment. BJP’s founder member Rajmata Vijayaraje Scindia who had fought Indira tooth and nail, was also among few leaders who were released during the emergency having found a ‘solution’ of sorts.
In an editorial in Marmik on 31 August 1975, Shiv Sena founder Balasaheb Thackeray had written that imposing an emergency was the only alternative to handle the situation created after political unrest against Indira Gandhi. In fact, in 1980 Maharashtra state assembly elections too, Thackeray led Sena had not fielded any candidates against the Congress. He had described Indira as ‘maha-mata’ [great mother] when she was assassinated in 1984. Columnist Vir Sanghvi had once said that there was only one superstar in Mumbai and that was Balasaheb Thackeray. Balasaheb was in league of his own without ever becoming an elected representative. For over three decades, Thackeray dominated politics, business, and Bollywood in such a manner that Shiv Sena’s electoral forays became somewhat pale as compared to the rise of a “Tiger.
According to Ravi Visvesvaraya Sharada Prasad, son of Indira’s trusted aide H Y Sharda Prasad, there were numerous interactions between the Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh [RSS] and Indira Gandhi during the Emergency. Going by his claims, in November 1976 when some understanding was worked out, Indira Gandhi government had released many RSS leaders from prison. “A document of this effect was processed by my father HY Sharada Prasad”, claims Ravi Visvesvaraya Sharada Prasad.
In her book “Last Maharani of Gwalior -An Autobiography [edited by Manohar Malgonkar] the Rajmata has admitted that her daughters, Usha and Vasundhara, had tried reaching out to Indira for some sort of a ‘solution’ and get her released. The Rajmata claimed that a person close to Indira spoke in double entendre, wondering the rajmata of Gwalior what all Vasundhara was ready to sacrifice in order to secure her mother’s release. In political circles, the man (now dead) who tried to make a pass at Vasundhara was quickly identified but was seldom named due to lack of evidence. He was known to have inflicted hardship to media and Bollywood bigwigs during the Emergency and was linked to several women.
On his part, Madhavrao, [father of current union minister Jyotiraditya Scindia] whose brother-in-law had risen to become a minister in the Nepal cabinet, had also tried to reach out to Indira and Sanjay. He was told to return to India and remain apolitical. Indira and Sanjay viewed Madhavrao with great political interest. The former maharaja was seen as someone who could dismantle the Jana Sangh’s influence in Madhya Bharat and effectively neutralize the Rajmata and her party. Madharao won 1977 Lok Sabha elections as an ‘independent’ supported by the Congress. He subsequently joined the Congress too.
In retrospect, it appears that the ‘solution’ that helped the Rajmata escape another year in jail till the end of the twenty-one- month Emergency was an informal assurance that she would turn ‘apolitical’. R.K. Dhawan, Indira’s close aide, now dead, would often talk about it in private conversations while admitting that there was no ‘paper trail’ to it. Both N.K. Singh, a Bhopal-based veteran journalist who worked for India Today, and Taroon Coomar Bhaduri [ Statesman correspondent and father-in-law of mega star Amitabh Bachchan], saw some merit in Dhawan’s claim.
The Emergency was lifted in March 1977. A few months later, on 1 July, Taroon Coomar Bhaduri had met the Rajmata in Bhopal. Indira had by then been voted out and the Janata Party,a rainbow coalition of opposition parties, had come to power. When Bhaduri asked the Rajmata about her future role, she replied rather impatiently, ‘No, no, no, I am not in politics anymore. I am not disenchanted, but disgusted with politics and the politicians. I never thought they could stoop so low. Politics is not for me.’ Bhaduri had asked her if there was ‘pressure’ on her to renounce politics, leading to her release on parole. To this she said, ‘No, that is not true. I was rotting in jail. I was a physical wreck. The world outside was a silent spectator and did nothing.”
After the Indira Gandhi assassination, Rajiv Gandhi had reportedly had a secret meeting with the RSS chief Balasaheb Deoras resulting in the RSS cadre supporting the Congress in 1984 Lok Sabha elections despite the presence of the BJP on the political scene. Rajiv had met Bhaurau Deoras, younger brother of Balasaheb Deoras, at least half a dozen times at different locations including the 46, Pusa Road, New Delhi, residence of family friend and alcohol baron Kapil Mohan who died recently. Close Rajiv associate Arun Singh, Delhi mayor Subash Arya and liaison man Anil Bali were among those present. Buzz was that the RSS wanted Rajiv to open locks of Babri masjid -Ramjanambhoomi and get clearance for Ramanand Sagar’s epic Ramayana on state TV Doordarshan.
In fact, RSS support for the Congress was evident after Indira assassination in October 1984. It was revealed in an article authored by veteran RSS ideologue Nanaji Deshmukh. Published in a Hindi magazine Pratipaksh ‘Moments of Soul searching’ on November 25, 1984, Deshmukh’s article ended with a call to bless and cooperate with Rajiv Gandhi when voting was less than a month away. Nanaji Deshmukh had described Indira as, “…Indira Gandhi ultimately did secure a permanent place at the doorstep of History as a great martyr. With her dynamism born out of her fearlessness and dexterity, she was able to take the country forward like a colossus for over a decade…she alone had the ability to run the decadent political system of our corrupt and divided society…
‘Samvidhan Hatya Diwas’ therefore comes with a lot of baggage for the BJP, Congress and rest of the members of India and NDA alliance.
