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Plan of Sangh was to fight the ban with a satyagrah by reopening RSS shakhas. It was the beginning of the clash with government. There was no disturbance like ‘rastaa roko’ nor did it involve sitting in ‘dharna’ in front of government offices. Common people were not face any disorder in their daily lives.

Form of this protest was very simple. An designated swayamsevak would send written information to the office of local administration that ‘we are starting a daily Sangh shakha at xyz place at abc time.’ A pre-decided team of swayamsevaks would reach that place at preplanned time and begin shakha activities shouting slogans like ‘Bharatmata ki Jai’, ‘Sangh se pratibandh hatao’. This was the format of satyagrah. Sangh satyagrah was not against anybody – neither government nor the police; but it was definitely against injustice.To strengthen this plan, all the prachaaraks who had been moved to different small and big places, came back to their areas. Satyagrahis were prepared with personal contacts by

working over-ground, without going underground, without depending on motivating speeches and without support from newspapers. Whatever the reaction of police against conducting shakhas – whether lawful or unlawful – they bore it peacefully. There was not even a small counter-reaction anywhere.

Leadership had taken common swayamsevak into confidence and informed them about the actual conditions on the field transparently. They were told bluntly that government can act in a devilish way, students’ studies can be stopped, member’s jobs can be at risk, government servants would, surely, be removed from jobs, farmers’ properties may be confiscated, businesses may be shut down, some close brethren may lose lives due to unfortunate accidental attacks, families may force their members to seek pardon, imprisonment may be for longer period than expected etc. etc. Factual picture of the scenario was presented to the swayamsevaks. They were not given assurances like ‘ban will be lifted in four weeks’ as was done by leaders in earlier times who had assured that ‘independence will be achieved in one year’. Members were reminded how they had suffered all the atrocities with bounden hands in the first week of February. After making all these preparations only, did Sarkaaryavaah Bhaiyyaji Dani declare that Sangh shakhas would re-commence from December 9. Guruji wrote another special letter for swayamsevaks who were to offer satyagrah. It was handed over to each satyagrahi. It was so inspiring that many swayamsevaks in jail learnt this letter by heart. Given below is a small extract of that letter:

“…….There is no time for thoughts like ‘me and mine’ in this terrible time of calamity for Bhaaratmaataa. Whatever happens to us as individuals, we have to set Bhaaratmaataa free from the impact of un-Bharatiyataa (abhaaratiyataa). We have to rescue all the children of Mother from abduction of their natural rights by parties in power that are blinded by selfishness. We have see that everybody benefits from free, happy and honourable life. Our work is undoubtedly the finest, it is exalted, it is divine work of God, in its fulfillment is the highest achievement for mankind. It is like envisioning the Supreme Being. …… Therefore, arise and make up for the loss of ten months of inaction. Truth is with us. It is a sin to sleep at times of injustice, and live as its victim. Let us set right this injustice. …….This is a

confrontation of dharma versus adharma, justice versus unjustice, Greatness versus pettiness, love versus evil. Victory is assured, because with Dharma is Supreme god and with him comes victory. So, arise with victorious roar for Bhaaratmaataa’s glory that would reverberate

from the horizons of the heart to the horizons of the universe and rest not till work is accomplished.”(1)

Government side had begun its verbal assault from the beginning of December. Speaking in Gwalior on 5th December, Sardar Patel cautioned in a threatening tone, “Hearts of Sangh members are filled with venom of hatred, therefore they can never run a satyagrah agitation successfully. Government is armed fully to accept their challenge.”(2) While addressing the annual conference of Congress in Jaipur, Pandit Nehru said, “This is not satyagrah, it is an ill conceived insistence of Sangh urchins. We shall use all over power to suppress this agitation. We shall never allow these people to raise their heads.”(3)

On the other side newspapers opposed these dictatorial and unjust steps of the government unhesitatingly. Editorial of 21st October in English daily Hitavaad, from Nagpur noted, “Prove the allegations or remove the ban – This demand of Shri Golwalkar is logical and one cannot disregard it. People from Congress should definitely not ignore it because they were in the same situation in 1942 that Sangh is in today. Congress had been declared outlawed and British government in its charge-sheet had claimed that Congress is responsible for the disturbances of year 1942. So, Gandhiji had made a humble demand that allegations against Congress should be presented to a court of law and they should be proven.”(4)

Even in this short period of two weeks, the satyagrah left a strong impression on the people. Government’s idea that this kids’ game would loose steam in 4-5 days proved to be totally wrong. Satyagrah was running with same vigour even in third week of January. The truth was that all the major prisons of the country had not only been filled up by the second week of satyagrah, infact they were packed to more than twice or thrice their capacity with

satyagrahis. Most of the jailers had intimated the rulers of this situation through telegrams. But, how could satyagrah stop? So, government began another experiment. Police began picking up satyagrahis and pushing them into jungles that were 60-70 miles away from their homes. But, those people would come back again to take part in satyagrah as additional team after moving around from village to villages in small groups like the pilgrims of earlier times, partaking food in different homes and spreading the word about Sangh too.

Within a month the threatening tone of rulers had mellowed down. Government thought of opening the dialogue with Sangh again. For this satyagrah has to be stopped first. For this, Sardar Patel asked for co-operation of Moulichandra Sharma who was well known to both the sides. Moulichandra Sharma contacted the editor of Kesari, G. V. Ketkar in Pune to make Sardar Patel’s idea successful. Discussion went along expected line. Ketkar met Sardar Patel and reached Sivni again on 16th. Writing about it, journalist Ketkar says, “I went to Sivni again, met Guruji. Discussions went on for four hours. Guruji would read each and every word of the directive that I needed from Guruji to suspend the agitation very seriously and kept correcting it time and again. Four drafts were made one after another, but each was rejected due to incorrect construct of words. Fifth draft was made satisfactorily. Guruji would examine each word in depth so that prestige of Sangh would not be compromised in anyway. Of the two copies of the fifth draft, Guruji kept one with him while I got ready to take the second copy to leave the jail.”(6)

Co-ordinator of the entire satyagrah movement was Doctor Bhai Mahavir. After getting Guruji’s directive through G.V. Ketkar, he gave a statement on January 21 about suspending the satyagrah. The statement said, “Sangh had not begun the satyagrah to put government in difficulty. Its objective was to raise a strong voice against injustice being perpetrated against Sangh and seek attention of government and enlightened people. It seems that our voice has

attained expected success. Therefore, experiencing a friendly atmosphere and to make next level of action a success, agitation is being suspended.”(7) Thus, satyagrah of Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh ran for 45 days from December 9, 1948 to January 22, 1949. As per last count, number of satyagrahis was 77,090. This figure was bigger than number of prisoners held during 1942 agitation, that was recognized as the biggest movement for

independence.Statesman of 22nd Jan carried both the editorial and statement about withdrawal of satyagrah together. It said, “For this, not only government, but Sangh leadership also deserves complements and thanks. Credit goes to them for the way they conducted satyagrah.”(8)

Atmosphere of struggle mellowed down and environment for dialogue became positive. But regrettably Congress government’s stance was not straight forward. Leaving aside the points there were there in the notification about ban, they began throwing up unrelated issues like, ‘Sangh doesn’t have a constitution so in its absence it is difficult to lift the ban.’ Instead of sitting across and discussing issues in an atmosphere of friendly co-operation, their behaviour smacked of feudalism. T. R. Venkatraman and G.V. Ketkar had taken on the role of mediators between government and Guruji. As he came out of Sivni jail after meeting Guruji, he told Eknath Ranade, “To make your Guruji agree to anything is like moving a mountain. Still, due to his respect for me, he agreed to my views with open heart. Now, provide me with the necessary material to help me prepare the constitution.”

Eknathji and Pandit Deendayal Upadhyay sat together to draw out the working methodology of Sangh. Finally, the constitution of Sangh took form. Shastriji reached Sivni again on March 10 with this draft. Explaining the whole story behind making of this document, he handed it over to Guruji. Guruji flipped each page and signed at the required place.”On advice from Shastriji, Guruji gave this authority to Shastriji through his signed power of attorney to him. The letter said, “I have read the constitution prepared by Shri T. R.

Venkatram Shastri. I accept it. With a view of saving time and as a matter of convenience I am requesting Shri Shastriji to submit it to the Central government and accept him as my authorized representative.” Shastriji came to Nagpur with these documents and met state home minister Dwarika Prasad Mishra and after handing over the entire material to him for the purpose of submission to the Central Home Minister, he proceeded for Chennai. This ex- advocate general had believed that next steps would take place without any hurdle. Howerver, Home Minister of free India managed to find one fault with the whole exercise. He sent all the documents back to Chennai with a letter stating, “Though you have prepared this constitution, it is the constitution of Sangh. Therefore, following the right procedure,

Golwalkar should himself send it to Central home department through Madhya Pradesh home ministry. The permission given to you for meeting Golwalkar was not given to you as a mediator.”

This behaviour of Home Minister was found distasteful by the elderly gentleman. But, he was sincere about making the job successful that he had taken up. But, in his age, that too at the height of summers, it was exhausting for him to travel to Nagpur again via Sivni. Therefore, he handed over all this material with another letter through Shivram Shankar Apte to deliver it to Guruji by hand, appraising Guruji about the unexpected hurdle put by the government and his suggestion about how to re-present it. Apteji went to Sivni in April 1949 to overcome the hurdle.

Accepting various opinion and discussions, Guruji submitted the constitution of Sangh to Central government through Madhya Pradesh government from Sivni jail on April 11. Attached letter had following lines, “I am sending the written constitution of Sangh

alongwith. Now onwards, the organization will work as per its provisions. It contains mainly those provisions on which Sangh was working for years. ...I hope that constitution prepared now will be acceptable and will fulfill a sharply felt weakness. With a hope that the

administration will approve the constitution, I also hope that you show the courtesy of releasing a notification to lift the ban on Sangh and let it work as per its constitution (which has been prepared and sent to you). When this possibility is created, I will get this

constitution printed. The required notifications that are to be released, may be released fast so that Sangh work can be conducted with ease... It pains me a lot that Bharatiya government looks at my words and general conduct with suspicion. But, time will prove my work, that weaves together a scattered and highly divided people into a cultural tie built with a common goal and common discipline and generates unity, will prove to be useful for overall good of the nation. Future alone will tell that my nature is of co-operation, maintaining a positive feeling for all, and not tuned to fighting with some group. I expect a positive response very soon.” (9)

Infact, demand of government had been met fully. Now, all that was left was to lift the ban with a liberal and open heart. Expecting this, generous hearted Venkatram Shastri had written special letters to Madhya Pradesh home minister Mishraji on April 16 and Home Minister Patel on April 29 from Chennai. But government was different ideas. It had a different regrettable objective. There was a meeting of Chief Ministers on April 8-9 in which it was decided to continue the ban. Because of this, government decided to play some complex political games of its own. Instead of Home Minister, home secretary took over the

correspondence in this matter. After that, the human contacts established so far, began to melt away. Dry bureaucratic processes took over. Home secretary raised objections over sub- sections of the constitution. Guruji sent his reply to the letter sent by state home ministry in Sivni jail directly to Central Home Minister. This time he wrote in a more terse manner, “Even my demand for producing evidence against the allegations against us is more than six month old, but there no proof has come up during this period. …. In such a scenario, it doesn’t behoove a supposedly cultured government to keep repeating the so called allegations even after such a long lapse of time and showing disrespect to truth, justice and judicial system.” And finally, drawing attention of the Home Minister, he clarified, “Before closing this letter, I would like to bring to your notice another fact that there is no constitution in which you cannot pick holes in some way. All constitutions can be amended suitably over time. Therefore I think that if somebody criticizes a constitution right upon its introduction and expects it to be perfectly complete like the final words of God, it is not right to have such a view. I have been told that government wants Sangh’s constitution in writing. I have submitted it. ….. I feel that the right way is to implement the constitution in practice and change and improve it as situation arises. This is, infact, constructive and useful way of doing it.”(10)

The response that Iyengar sent after a week exposed the true intent of the government. He had written in conclusion, “Government’s approach about Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh is completely transparent and without any confusion. It is the custodian of people’s interest and this is how it should be. It is its duty to protect them from undesirable and foul elements. Till it is not fully assured that Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh will not be in a position to repeat such incidents and it will be able to stop negative fallout of such actions that are a result of its activities in the past, it cannot take a lenient view about the organization.”(11)

Guruji sent response to this letter, too, to Home Minister. Attacking the intoxication of power, he wrote in his last letter, “In a matter like this, a suggestion of an independent enquiry committee can come only from people who do not understand even the basics of

governance’ – I am obliged for being told about this. I accept my ignorance on this subject. Not just ordinary human being, but even Mahatma Gandhi, himself, had a right to this ignorance, so I consider this a matter of pride for me. It this is how your government basically thinks then it is dangerous… Letter dated 3rd May 1949 gave me a sense of

satisfaction. That is, that my assessment of the mentality about the people who have the right to rule, was not wrong.”(12)

At this stage dialogue between the two sides stopped. In the meanwhile, many newspapers published Sangh’s constitution that had been submitted to the government. Navbharat of Delhi wrote in its editorial dated May 24, “Sangh has submitted a written constitution due to adamant stand of Congress government. Why is government silent now? After studying the constitution of Sangh, we have come to the conclusion that Congress rulers should not object to any part of it.” (13)

Having understood the thinking of government, Sangh began preparing a new strategy. Jail walls not only have ears but they also have lips. It doesn’t matter whether Guruji is inside or Eknathji is outside. Leaders and organizers had kept message broadcasting systems very fast based on this truism. Because of this, morale of swayamsevaks was very high inspite of being in prison for four-five months. Infact, Congress leadership’s estimates about the scenario slipped off the tracks here. They had assumed that policy of procrastination will weaken the opposition. That is why they had dragged the matter for five months after

suspension of satyagrah. Sangh leadership’s decided to get back onto the battle grounds again with support of a favourable society.

Noticing the last sentence of Home secretary’s letter, “Government cannot take a lenient view about the organization”, Guruji decided to face the challenge head on. He handed over a letter head carrying his name containing his plan for struggle to the jail warden, to be handed over to Balasaheb Deoras who was to be released after a week. Jailer intercepted it and sent it directly to Dwarika Prasad Mishra, who sent it to Home Minister Patel.(14)

It seems that this could be a part of RSS strategy. It gave an idea about the intentions of Sangh leader. Sangh leader had written to his closest colleague, “I had told Shri Venkatram Shastri from beginning that this is what government will do. He assured me that ‘leave it to me’…. I accepted his offer. But, my view is that it is not possible to resolve this issue without informing members all over and launching a powerful agitation again. Thus, without rushing into it, this agitation will run for many days with faultless preparations. With this

understanding, there is no alternative but to re-launch this agitation in June end or at a suitable time. This is my opinion. It would be better to include and add other types of strikes