On Vijayadashami 1984 (4 October 1984), Balasaheb Deoras gave the annual address at the gathering in Nagpur. This page summarises what was reported about it.
The day
- Date: 4 October 1984
- Place: Nagpur
- Address by: Balasaheb Deoras
What the address covered
In his 4 October 1984 speech, Deoras lamented the loss of territory once Hindu-majority: Gandhara (Afghanistan) long ago, and in 1947 the regions where Hindus had become a minority. He warned that Hindus, about 85 per cent of the population, must not let themselves be reduced to a minority, and defined nationalism as devotion to the motherland, respect for ancestors and belonging to the common culture. Noorani, a critic, sees fear of becoming a minority as central to RSS messaging. Sanjeev Kelkar calls it a landmark Deoras speech.
As reported
Gandharwa that is now called Afghanistan, we lost way back in the past
Context
Delivered weeks before Indira Gandhi's assassination (31 Oct 1984), amid the Punjab crisis and the VHP's first Ram-Janaki rath yatra.
How sure is this?
This account is supported by two or more independent sources, listed below.
In the archive
Sources & copyright status
- A.G. Noorani, The RSS: A Menace to India (LeftWord, 2019), digitised text on Internet Archive
- Sanjeev Kelkar, Lost Years of the RSS (Sage, 2011), Internet Archive full-text search snippet
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