A post by Rahul Roushan on 21 Oct 2026 led to some exchanges with him on X. His post said, “RSS experimenting with merger of Jana Sangh into Janta Party was possibly one of the biggest tragedy. It drew ‘Sanghis’ closer to socialists and ever since then they have not only been adopting many socialist slogans without critical analysis but also trying to impress upon socialists that they too believe in the same ideals.”
I had replied, “It needs a detailed response, Rahul. In short, Sangh gained much more from these relations in expanding its reach. Letting Jan Sangh join Janta Party, decision taken by JS leadership, was biggest sacrifice of organisational ego for national good. It took the melting hearts of socialists in jails as genuine. Jan Sangh paid a heavy price. Imagine, if Samajvadis had not played dirty, we would’ve (not) wasted decades of Bharatiya progress.”
This was the seed of this long essay.
Economic philosophy of RSS
Deendayal Upadhyay ji had given a series of lectures on 22 April to 25 April 1965 on “Integral Humanism” based on Hindu view of life, society and universe. He was murdered in 1968 on 11 February. I have some research to explain the RSS concept of “Param Vaibhav”. I realised that the seeds of this philosophy were sown by Shri Guruji much earlier. He spoke many times about the capitalist and socialist/communist model of development vis a vis Hindu way. He then asked Deendayal ji to research and create a new model of political economy based Hindu values and shastras.
Surprisingly, Shri Guruji clearly said that ‘Right to Property’ should not be a fundamental right. He based this thought on the Upanishadic wisdom of “Ten tyatkten bhunjitha.” Shri Dattopant Thengdi, the foremost ideologue of RSS after Deendayal ji expanded on Integral Humanism with many lectures. His thoughts are recorded in his book “The Third Way”. I have highlighted many times that economic thoughts of Sangh are ‘Left of Centre’.
Thus, it is clear that RSS and Bharatiya Jan Sangh were not influenced by Bharatiya socialists like Lohia ji. Later generations of Socialist leaders never really worked on economic ideology of Lohia that was deeply rooted in Bharat. They got stuck in leftist trade unionism and communist ideas.
History of Socialist and RSS interactions
Alliance with socialists did not begin in 1973 with anti-corruption movement. It began with Shri Guruji meeting Ram Manohar Lohia in a public programme in 1964. When they came out of the auditorium hands in hand, there was mini media quake. Lohia is the pioneer of anti-Congress policy. He believed that Congress must be defeated and for that they needed to ally with Jan Sangh.
Next step was fighting three by-elections together as joint opposition. Two were won by Socialists and one was lost by Jan Sangh because Deendayal Upadhyay refused to address a rally of Brahmins, very powerful in his constituency. It was first close interaction of Lohia with RSS people.
Prof Rajendra Singh (Rajju Bhaiyya), who went on to become 4th RSS Chief, was an area prachaarak at that time. He used to have long conversations with Lohia ji. His main objection was that RSS worked only for Hindus. Rajju Bhaiyya insisted that every good thing about Bharatiya sanskriti comes from Hindu dharma. He talked about idea of Ekam sat vipra bahuda vadanti (respect for all), respecting diversity as manifestation of innate unity, Vasudhaiva Kutumbakam etc.
Lohia ji felt that Hindus and Muslims can work in a complimentary role as Muslims are good at crafts while Hindus are good at business. He looked forward to similar complimentary role between Bharat and Pakistan. He started Ram Melas and Ram Lilas as he considered Bhagwan Ram as the ideal model. Sangh leaders had similar warm relations with leaders like Acharya Kripalani.
These relations led to Samyukta Vidhayak Dal governments in many states like Madhya Pradesh and Rajasthan in 1969, that heralded the end of Congress monopoly. No party gave up its views or diluted them. Taboo of working with ‘communal forces’ was broken for the first time. Interestingly, both socialists and Jan Sangh eschewed caste politics totally at that time.
RSS’s leap into public life
1973 anti-corruption movement saw a renewal of the opposition alliance. At that time Socialists were the big brother; Jan Sangh was still considered a small party. Nearly all its members came from RSS. RSS, for the first time, jumped into public life or essentially, a political issue. It was major departure from the earlier reticence against politics.
Sarsanghchaalak Balasaheb Deoras told the press, “Inflation and corruption harm every citizen. RSS swayamsevaks are also citizens. So, they have every right to join such agitations.” This was the first time that Jaiprakash shared stage with ‘Sanghis’, albeit reluctantly. By the time Emergency ended, JP had changed his views totally about RSS. In an RSS function he said, “If RSS is communal, I too am communal.”
During Emergency, RSS, BJP, socialists and other opposition groups worked together closely. It was the time they came to know each other better. Thus, the allergy and antipathy of socialists melted away for some time. There was frank exchange of ideas.
Madhu Limaye, a brilliant leader, noted, “If I had stayed in jail with RSS people for some more time, I would have come out in an RSS half pant!” I note in my book “RSS- From an Organisation to a Movement”, how RSS leaders, including RSS Chief Balasaheb Deoras, played a key role in formation of the constitution of the proposed Janta Party. RSS facilitated to and fro communication.
This ultimately resulted in formation of Janta Party under moral pressure of JP. Elections were won on the strength of RSS cadre who stood up when others were afraid and leaders were in jail. As a young activist of that time, I can confidently say that RSS was not affected by socialist ideas, nor Jan Sangh. Interaction with varied thoughts enriched our thinking but not enough to change ourselves, and RSS went back to its routine work.
For Jan Sangh and its mentor RSS, it was a very difficult decision to merge with other parties to form Janta Party. Because Jan Sangh was the only party that did not have Congress roots. It had a distinct Hindutva philosophy and economic thought. It was also not in sync with the only truly right wing politics of Swatantra Party.
RSS phobia of Socialists
The trouble started after the unexpectedly huge victory of Janta Party. Socialist leaders suddenly found themselves outnumbered. The biggest block of MPs, around 96, came from Jan Sangh faction of Janta Party. They realised that if membership drive was conducted, Jan Sangh cadre would be able to do much better membership drive and ‘hijack’ the organisation of the party.
They had already sown bitter seeds of internal politics in the which finally led to downfall of Janta Party. RSS was just an excuse to hide their lack of cadre and chicanery. Thus, began fresh unreasonable demands like merging of all the organisations allied with the respective parties’. While student and trade unions of socialists are official organs of the respective parties, organisations like ABVP or BMS were not organs of Jan Sangh. They drew inspiration from RSS.
These organisations refused to merge with socialist led unions. Ultimately, RSS chief went on to the extent of saying, that RSS will not expect erstwhile Jan Sangh members to visit RSS shakhas. About other organisations, Balasaheb Deoras told a socialist leader, “All the trains from Pune may be going to Delhi, but it is not necessary that they should all leave from the same platform.” Socialist leaders began the sham excuses of ‘Dual membership’ leading to collapse of the party and its government
The old antipathy for RSS and Jan Sangh reared its head much more virulently after this period. What did opposition gain after the split? Nothing. They lost the government; they never regained their numbers because they were more a party of leaders than members. What did RSS gain from this period of 1973 onwards? Its cadre went deep into civil society movement and expanded its base.
Balasaheb noted that if 1948 ban took RSS 20 years behind, 1975 struggle took RSS 20 years ahead. Its conduct, its strength and energy in underground against Emergency won it wide recognition and acclaim. Its acceptability in the society increased multifold.
Birth of BJP and its Return to Roots
For Jan Sangh, reborn as Bharatiya Janata Party, it was a heartbreaking experience. It had to rebuild itself anew. It gained some non-Sanghi leaders and members who had understood it and RSS better during the period of struggle. Its initial ideological confusion led it to adopt ‘Gandhian – Socialism’ as its guiding principle. It was criticized openly by its own top leaders, but Atal-Advani duo prevailed. But RSS kept quiet about this muddle.
When some senior karyakartas met Balasaheb to intercede, he said, “We have entrusted the political leadership to experienced and committed swayamsevaks. They know what is the best for their party, we should not interfere in their matters.” Then he added, “ They will return to their Hindutva roots soon.” And it happened in 1986 with Palanpur resolution on Ram Mandir. There was no looking back after this.
Criticality of Social Harmony for RSS
I must add one last point. It is about RSS views on caste based reservations. It is in DNA of RSS never to ask somebody about one’s caste and to eat and play together as brothers. The situation came to a boil in Maharashtra first in 1978 when an agitation was launched to rename Marathwada University after Dr Babasaheb Ambedkar. This highly contentious issue burned Maharashtra till 1994.
Though the fire was lit by politicians, none wished to bell the proverbial cat. Only RSS took a clear stance that this must be done. Simultaneously, V P Singh, out of his desperate politics, implemented Mandal Commission report that was lying buried for years. RSS supported it firmly in the interest of social harmony, though RSS abhorred caste politics and playing on caste sentiments. It had to face lot of criticism.
A resolution was brought in the ABPS. It was debated hotly for an entire day with many opposing the reservations. Ultimately, Balasaheb Deoras decided to join the meeting though he was very weak and couldn’t even move much. He had heard the debate from his room. He just said, “I have heard my bandhus debating this topic very strongly yesterday. My only request to you is that before you stand up to speak today, just imagine that you were born in a hut of one such poor suffering parents, and then debate.”
The resolution supporting reservations was passed unanimously within two hours the next day. Senior prachaaraks fanned out in different areas to explain to the swayamsevaks, why reservations were important and must be supported. I was present in one such workshop. I too was moved and supported it since then.
It is sad to note that Lalu Prasad Yadav, the doyen of caste politics, was a product of JP movement. Other socialist leaders too turned to caste politics, giving up on Lohia. As I note in my book RSS360 – Demystifying Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh, Samudra Manthan gave us Amrit as well as Vish.
For RSS all these interactions with other political parties and organisations from 1973 onwards led to opening up of opportunities to reach out to more people and over time see Integral Humanism and Hindutva become central pole of socio-political discourse.
