On Vijayadashami 1983 (16 October 1983), Balasaheb Deoras gave the annual address at the gathering in Nagpur. This page summarises what was reported about it.
The day
- Date: 16 October 1983
- Place: Nagpur
- Address by: Balasaheb Deoras
What the address covered
Noorani describes Deoras's Dasara Day rally of 16 October 1983 as more explicit than his earlier remarks. Deoras called Hindus the inheritors of the country's ancient past and culture, and said the real problem was division within Hindu society, in which he counted Jains and Sikhs as Hindus. India Today later reported that a Vijayadashmi address by Deoras had urged support only for parties promising to protect Hindu interests. That remark revived the RSS-BJP controversy and unsettled the BJP leadership.
As reported
calling for the support of only those parties that promised to protect Hindu interests
Context
Came as the VHP prepared its Ekatmata Yatra (from 16 Nov 1983), and amid perceptions that Indira Gandhi's Congress was courting Hindu votes.
How sure is this?
This account rests mainly on one source, listed below; details may be incomplete.
In the archive
Sources & copyright status
- A.G. Noorani, The RSS: A Menace to India (LeftWord, 2019), digitised text on Internet Archive
- India Today, Vol. 9 No. 12 (16-30 June 1984), BJP report
- Historical facts: not subject to copyright. Quotations are short extracts as reported in the sources cited; speeches are summarised in our own words.
- Commentary and translations on this page: original to The Hindu Book. © The Hindu Book, all rights reserved.
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