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During the trying period of two years between the declaration of the Emergency in 1975 and the Janata Party taking over in New Delhi, Balasaheb had to take some very important decisions and simultaneously guide his fellow workers to proceed in the light direction. The period brought out his immense capacity, foresight and leadership qualities.
After his arrest during the Emergency Balasaheb wrote to the then Prime Minister Smt Gandhi, explaining the futility of the Emergency as also the ban on RSS. He wrote about how the RSS always extended its helping hand, and provided its manpower for the welfare of the nation. This message was misunderstood by other political parties except Jan Sangh-as meek submission before Government. They forgot that an institution like RSS-Which is dedicated to build a strong-mother-land, has to be some what accommodative and adopt a reconciliatory approach in the interest of the nation as a whole. According to Balasaheb opposing our own Government and indulging in agitations, distract sincere efforts of nation building and never prove successful. It demolishes the social structure. Hence it is necessary to think twice before launching any agitation he felt. It was with this foresight that the letter was written to Indiraji.
Since, no reply was received, a satyagraha in three stages was launched, which did yield the desired result- the Emergency was lifted, ban on the RSS removed and the Janata Party came to power. His expectations came true. Stunning blow to the evil conspiracy
With an evil design to take advantage of the then unstable political situation, a wily, Smt Indira Gandhi sent her emissary to meet the leaders of the RSS. The meeting was held in New Delhi and Lala Hans Raj Gupta, Bapu Rao Moghe and Shri Bramha Deoji took part. In the message conveyed. Smt Gandhi literally traded the release of thousands of swayamsevaks from jails all over the country against alienating RSS from Janata Party and keeping away from the elections. The leaders of the RSS and swayamsevaks would be released from the jails, and ban lifted. If such an assurance was given, conveyed Smt Gandhi's emissary.
Unfortunately, Smt Gandhi had wrongly assessed the RSS leaders probably as opportunists and generally unaware of political intricacies. But the underground leaders of RSS gave a fitting reply to the emissary. "Balasaheb had extended a helping hand much earlier by writing to Smt Indira Gandhi. But the Government did not respond. Now it was late. The issues would now be thrashed out on the election arena only." This epoch-making decision changed the course of history-the results were clear.
The election (1977) that followed, saw the stunning defeat of Indira-raj. The Swayamsevaks were not only happy but content to have the result of their sincere efforts. In the midst of their joy, the functionaries were reminded of their task-their responsibility to strengthen the Janata Government and fulfill the aspirations of the people. This work was naturally thrown on the shoulders of the swayamsevaks. Motivating the volunteers in a particular direction was a herculian task, but Balasaheb did it so emphatically and naturally that it. left a memorable experience.
The most intriguing problem was that of Muslim votes. 1977 election saw a sudden shift of the Muslim votes in favour of Janata Party, and it was natural for some Janata Party leaders to consolidate this vote bank. The traditional distaste of Muslims for RSS an dependency of Janata Party on RSS was difficult to balance. However, the Janata Dal leader started advocating changes in the RSS constitution and also wanted the RSS leaders to give up the Hindutva stance, change the colour of the flag, and conduct elections for the various posts in RSS. However, Balasaheb ignored all these and continued the daily activities of the RSS, without showing any resentment to the designs of the then Janata Party leaders.
Irritated by such a stand of the RSS leaders of the Janata Party such as Madhu Limaye and Raj Narayan, raised sinister demands for the Jana Sangh leaders the cabinet to fulfil and raised the issue of dual membership. These leaders demanded that the Jan Sangh cabinet ministers should refrain from referring to Hindutva in their public addresses. At the outset the Jan Sangh leaders turned a deaf ear to such bickerings, but how long would this continue? Infect these opportunist leaders thought that they would oust the Jan Sangh members of Cabinet from the ministry and then have their own way.
But other leaders of the Janata Party were well-aware of this explosive situation. It was decided that an heart- to-heart talk he held with RSS leaders. They appointed Shri Chandrashekhar to have a meeting with Shri Balasaheb Deoras. The meeting was held in the VVIP lounge of the Nagpur Air Port.
The Janata Party leaders could not swallow this defeat. They raised the dual-membership issue again and the results are too well known to merit repetition.
Balasaheb always advised the swayamsevaks to remain agile and eager to solve the social problems. Balasaheb laid stress on the upliftment of this neglected part of our society. Due to his sustained efforts and motivation, more than 5000 service centres are active in this field. He proved to be a saint who always looked beyond.
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