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 to come to terms with it. The government can be changed.

The real need is to Project the desires of the people and

not those of some people, factions or politicians. Changing

people in power means very little. We must change their thinking.

With love,

Yours, L.N. Godbole

Letter FS

25th November, 1990 My dear Pranav,

There is one more episode in Vinoba’s life which I must tell you about. Immediately after emergency was declared by Indira Gandhi on 25th June, 1975, Shri Vasant Sathe, then Minister for Information and Broadcasting went to meet Vinoba at Pavnar. Vinoba was observing his one year of silence from 25th December, 1974. Sathe went to Vinoba to seek his opinion about the emergency. , Vinoba showed Sathe a page from the MababbaratA titled “Anushasan Parva” (chapter on discipline). Since he would not speak, Sathe as Minister of Information and Broadcasting told the world through AIR, Doordarshan and the newspapers, that Vinoba had indicated his approval emergency by calling it a Chapter of Discipline. Everyone swallowed this interprétation by Sathe. That was the reason why Vinoba was called “Sarkari Saint” (govern- ment patronised saint).

This one action of Vinoba was used by politicians in power to full extent. Sarva Seva Sangh, which always transacted its business with unanimous resolutions, split. Most people went along with Jayaprakrash Narayan and very few remained with Vinoba.

For all members of Sarvodaya Samaj this was a testing time. The 1977 election victory was attributed to the slogan

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