‘Congress leaders wanted Indira ji, JP to talk, find a meeting ground… But it didn't happen due to her coterie': Govindacharya

Indian Express

5 hours ago

In the early 1970s, K N Govindacharya was the RSS Patna Vibhag pracharak, putting him at Ground Zero of the student-led protests that snowballed into a mass agitation against the Indira Gandhi government, and led to her invoking the Emergency. Now 82, the once powerful BJP general secretary, representative of the party's push beyond its Brahmin-Bania base, is more engaged in social and environmental activism. He talks to The Indian Express about his recollections of the Emergency, including his meeting with Jayaprakash Narayan. Excerpts:
On March 18, 1974, there was firing in front of the Assembly in Patna when students tried to storm it, and the offices of two pro-agitation newspapers, Pradeep and Searchlight, were torched. That day a MISA warrant was issued against me and Ram Bahadur Rai. On March 19, we quietly met Jayaprakash ji; I had worked with him during drought relief in 1966. He first said you people are upadravi (troublemakers), and have torched two newspaper offices. I told him that both torched offices belonged to newspapers that were supportive of the students' agitation… I asked him to make enquiries to test my claim.
It was then decided that on March 27, there would be a small protest. Shivanand Tiwari was arrested that day. Jayaprakash ji then announced that if curfew was not lifted by March 29, he would take to the streets. Curfew was lifted a day earlier. On April 8, JP held a rally at Gandhi Maidan, where he talked of vyavastha parivartan (systemic change). JP had to go to Vellore soon after that for treatment, as he was unwell.
The students' agitation continued, with some support from other organisations, but began to lose steam. So we decided to make Opposition MLAs resign… In between, there was a police lathicharge in front of a girls' school in Gaya. JP said that this government cannot stay, and that the Assembly should be dissolved. From May 8- 9 (1974), Opposition MLAs began to resign. In early June, Jayaprakash ji returned from Vellore. On June 5, the Chhatra Sangharsh Samiti planned a protest. The procession was attacked by activists of the Indira brigade…
The then district magistrate told the gathering that it should stay calm, and police would act action against only miscreants. JP endorsed what the DM said, and gave the gathering a slogan – Sampoorna kranti ab naara hai, bhaavi itihas hamara hai (Total revolution is our slogan now, the future will be ours).
After that, the rains began, and all activities were carried on in-house. Early in October, a Bihar bandh was called.
In November 1974, Indira Gandhi commented that since JP is 'so democratic', the coming elections would determine who had the support of the people. JP accepted the challenge, and said that the agitation would take an all-India form.
No, she had begun to become intolerant. (Congress) Young Turks like Chandra Shekhar ji wanted talks between Indira ji and JP; they wanted to find a meeting ground… But that did not materialise because of her coterie – like Om Mehta, R K Dhawan, Makhanlal Fotedar… After the jolt from the court, there was a sudden change in her. We heard that she got to know that there would be a show of strength at the Congress Parliamentary Party meeting. So, she moved towards the imposition of internal Emergency.
On June 25, 1975 (the day the Emergency was imposed), I was in Varanasi and heard something was about to happen. So I returned to Patna by Punjab Mail, and decided not to go to the RSS office but first assess the situation. I sent a student there to figure out what was happening, and he said there were police all around, and the premises were being searched…
I had learnt from the (1974) Bihar agitation how to work underground. That same night, I met six of our workers to decide where all our prominent state leaders would take shelter. We decided to withdraw money collected during RSS guru dakshina (before bank accounts get frozen) and to hide the list of those who donated it.
I managed to stay in hiding through the Emergency, and was eventually sent to jail for one day after (the 1977 Lok Sabha) elections had already been declared. On February 24, 1977, I had gone to Bhagalpur for a poll campaign. At the house where the meeting was being held, police came. An informer had given the tip-off. The cops asked for Govindacharya. People told them I had left. They asked me, I said I was Ram Bharose Tiwari, and my father was Jogeshwar Tiwari. Police left, but returned, because of what the informer had told them. I was to be sent to jail, but the Sangh had got the news. A bail application was immediately submitted. The next morning I got bail.
I never stayed for more than a week at any place. I travelled through Bihar, Assam, Bengal, Odisha, Manipur and other parts of the Northeast. I used to stay in the homes of ordinary organisation workers.
Jayaprakash ji was released from jail within months because of his kidney ailment, and came back to Patna after treatment. Bhaurao Deoras of the RSS wanted to meet him. We found ways for it. A professor, Ramakant Pandey, asked me to convey to JP that he should go for a morning walk each day. The plan was to decide beforehand where he would have breakfast, and to bring the person who wanted to meet him to that house in advance… Police and intelligence personnel would be stationed outside. In 15 minutes, the conversation would be over… Once JP met Bhaurao ji in this manner. We did this six-seven times.
I went to JP with the RSS prant pracharak, and he said we should get sweets. We said you have diabetes and are on dialysis. He said it doesn't matter. He ate sweets that day.
Many did not want to contest the elections, some were in jail. Some were released because they were candidates, and then many of those in jail wanted to contest to secure their own release. George Fernandes wasn't released. He won from jail. Till February (1977), we did not sense that people were supporting us. Then, there was a game changer: Jagjivan Ram, Hemwati Nandan Bahuguna and Abdullah Bukhari entered the campaign for us. This made a big change. Phir jwaar badhta hi chala gaya (the tide then kept on rising).