'The Sangh People Were Conspiring To Kill J.P.'

Translated from Outlook Saptahik, July 28, 2003

Why, after all, did you think of writing this book?

I decided this because I feel that if I don't expose these charlatans and thugs before the country in time,these people would attempt to mislead the public and destroy the nation.

What would this book be about?

If I tell you everything beforehand, then who would buy this book? This book would be, as it is said, abestseller. Anyway, let me tell you broadly: Atalji apologised even to the British and when behind the barsduring emergency, the same Atalji and Advaniji had their apology letters written and prepared saying we aresorry, please release us from jail. But, by chance, before they could send their apology letters, emergencywas lifted. There are lots of such stories about these cowards, impostors and opportunists of the Sangh. Noone knows the inside story of the 74 movement and how these RSS people with their cheap conspiracies and dirtytricks had become a pain in the neck, and how they tormented a leader such as Jayprakash Narayan with theirbehaviour. Today the same RSS is controlling the government, and in the coming days they want to conspire totake over the government. So, it has become important that they be unmasked and their true face presented tothe people.

So you plan to write this book keeping in mind the Lok Sabha elections?

Not the elections, but keeping the country in mind. What misdeeds have they not indulged in? I have seentheir character from up close during the Bihar movement. That's why these Sangh guys are afraid of me, theythink this man will spill their beans. JP was an selfless saint ('fakkaR baba the'). He dedicated hiswhole life to the society. The country should know how these Sangh people tortured this great man.

How could these people have tormented J.P.?

You can not imagine. Those Sangh people, when they were in the government, spread the word across thenation that J.P. had passed away. They even expressed condolences in the parliament. These people buried J.P.alive! And let me tell you about the times during the movement. The situation in Bihar was very serious at thetime. People were filled with rage.  Students were very angry. In that situation, I took approval of thepeople and handed over the leadership of the movement to J.P. nd felicitated him as Lok Nayak. 

J.P. said the country was calling out for a party-less democracy. I also said that while on one handCongress leaders were guilty, but, on the other, some leaders among us were also in the wrong, which is whyparty-less democracy was acceptable,  though our leader Karpuri Thakur was a bit irked by this statement.At the gathering at Gandhi Maidan, J.P. clearly said it was a student movement, that the movement didn'tbelong to any party. 

I was the president of the Patna university student union at the time. Boys form the whole university weresupporting us. In February 1974, we organized a large student rally and it was decided that the assembly andthe people's representatives be surrounded. Then on March 18, 1974 there was a major assault. J.P. himself ledfrom the front. We told him that he was our guardian, that we were children yet and therefore he should leadus. But when the movement became popular, these Sangh people began trying to usurp the whole movement andmarginalise me. 

At the same time these people started to badly torment J. P. Actually, when J.P. called for offering massarrests, these Sangh people came forward and said that they would go to jail in the first phase. Even thedates were announced, that on so and so date they will start getting arrested. On the decided day, J.P.,Acharya Ramamurti, Sarvoday and mothers and sisters from the Mahila Charkha Samiti reached the ShaheedSmarak (Martyr's Monument) for the aarti of the people getting arrested. But they couldn't find asingle soul there - there wasn't even a bird or an ant (par yahaan to ek chiRai aur chinti tak nahi).These Sangh people were absconding after making the promise. 

I had just got out on bail. Acharya Ramamurti called me on the student union number and told me that no onehad turned up for arrests and  J.P. was feeling humiliated. What would the press write the next day? Isomehow managed to get two vehicles up and running, filled them up with men and reached JP's house atKadamkuan. All this is not a made-up story (yeh sabb labar-dhabar bat nahi hai) That's why I say that Iwould write a book to unmask these Sangh people. 

At J.P.'s house teeka was put on the foreheads of those fifteen or twenty people. I had to persuadethose people that J.P. would send them off after the teeka, then the newspapers would publish picturesof their arrest and the police would release them at Beli road as soon after arrest, and so there was noreason to worry. But, just the reverse happened. Police arrested those fifteen-twenty people and sent them offto Buxar jail. They panicked and ran back to Patna from the jail  gate.

When your people came back running from Buxar jail gate, what was J.P.'s reaction?

They were all innocent and simple young men. They panicked and ran back. J.P. told me: Laloo, all the boysran away. I told him, Sir, they haven't run away, they have followed your example when you ran away fromHazaribagh jail during the freedom movement. Well, then I got hold  of the boys and convinced them to goto jail, and sent them to jail. But these Sangh people kept avoiding arrest. Later, when Janta Partygovernment was formed at the centre, they were the first to reap rewards.

I put my whole life on the line for the movement. After my marriage, when Rabriji reached Patna on March 18at LCT Ghat someone told her there itself that Lalooji had been killed. That was the situation at that time -no one knew where or when who would get killed or get arrested. Finally I was arrested at Kadamkuan on March23, 1974. After I went to jail, RSS people tried their best to project Govindacharya, Sushil Modi and manyother Sanghis like them as leaders and tried to put them in the limelight. But what can idiots [anD-banD logoN]do? They had the hearts of mice. They trembled in fear at the mention of getting arrested. Throughout themovement, they kept in hiding like mice. When Janta Party government was formed, they gnawed it off to itsfall.

But after all these years, what's the point in bringing it all out now?

To protect the country. I have never allowed them to make a move in Bihar. I saw their antics in prisonduring the movement.  Some of these people, who somehow got arrested by mistake, used to hold shakhasin prison -- even talking about all the heinous things they did is disgusting. Even in prison, I protestedagainst their misdeeds. The jail officers were also distressed by their acts. I will talk about all thesereminiscences in the book.

But what would be the main point?

That these people, at one time, badly pressured J.P. to wind up the movement. But when they found out thatit wasn't possible, they conspired to persuade J.P. to lay down on rail tracks so  that some accidentwould happen and things would take a new turn. Actually, they were conspiring to kill J.P; and hoping that heshould die as soon as possible so that the movement would fizzle out. All their Sar Sanghchalaks[leaders of the RSS] were apologising and pleading to get out of prison..

You became a leader by starting a movement against the Congress, and today you are running thegovernment in Bihar with the same Congress?

The government became infamous because of the nasbandi (vasectomy) issue rather than the emergency.The Congress had paid for its mistakes in the elections. But how can we deny that it is the oldest party inthe country and Indraji was a strong leader of the country? Ask the country's public whether Indraji wasbigger or Savarkar and Godse.  But Advaniji is going all out to create a good image for these traitors.Actually, the Sangh and the BJP, all are impostors. Once when J.P. asked for breaking their janeu (whitethreads that Brahmins wear around their torso) to abolish the caste system, it was these Sangh people whoprotested against it.

So you will carry on with your alliance with Congress?

Is our alliance with the Congress something new?  When anyone speaks against Sonia Gandhi, I feel sad.This woman has lost her husband for the country. Smt. Gandhi's family sacrificed for the country inindependent India.

What are your expectations for NDA's future in the next Lok Sabha elctions in Bihar, because in the lastelections even you had to face defeat?

It was just a coincidence. There were some untoward circumstances. But today they are busy breaking eachother's heads. Their is infighting in Samta Party. BJP has no life left. Even when Atalji comes to Bihar, hedoesn't bother about BJP. And the rest of small parties, have no say in NDA.

How come your brother-in-law, Prabhunath Yadav, lost in the Vidhan Parishad elections?

I told him not to fight the elections. Rabriji also was not in favour of his fighting elections. The peoplegave their verdict. People also understand what's right and what's not!