:Praja Socialist Party

{{Use dmy dates|date=March 2020}}

{{Use Indian English|date=September 2015}}

{{Infobox Indian political party

|name = Praja Socialist Party

|logo = Praja_Socialist_Party_symbol.png

|colorcode = {{party color|Praja Socialist Party}}

|leader = {{Unbulleted_list|Jayaprakash Narayan|Rambriksh Benipuri|Surendranath Dwivedy|Srinibas Mishra|Acharya Narendra Deva|Basawon Singh (Sinha)|Shyam Sunder Das|Yugal Kishore Pathak|Hariprasad C.|J. B. Kripalani}}

|foundation = {{Start date and age|df=yes|1952|09|}}

|dissolution = 1972

| successor = Socialist Party.{{cite book|author=Verinder Grover|title=Political Parties and Party System|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=9ERsVf_DPFUC&pg=PA228|year = 1997|publisher=Deep & Deep Publications|isbn=978-81-7100-878-0|pages=228–231}}

|headquarters = 18, Windsor Place, New DelhiBraunthal, Julius (ed). Yearbook of the International Socialist Labour Movement. Vol. II. London: Lincolns-Prager International Yearbook Pub. Co, 1960. p. 38

|ideology = Socialism

|position = Left-wing{{cite book|last=Singh|first=Mahendra Prasad|title=Split in a Predominant Party: The Indian National Congress in 1969|publisher=Abhinav publications|date=1981|pages=69|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=UOQRWuMXyRMC&q=info:VyX2kS8zrmAJ:scholar.google.com/|isbn=9788170171409|access-date=2024-07-18|quote="The support for the decision was more solid among the left-wing parties; in addition to the Communist Party of India(CPI), Communist Party of India-Marxist(CPI-M), Samyukta Socialist Party(SSP), and Praja Socialist Party(PSP)..."}}

|international = Asian Socialist Conference

|flag = Flag of Praja Socialist Party.svg

|eci=Dissolved|merged=Samyukta Socialist Party (Fraction)}}

The Praja Socialist Party, abbreviated as PSP, was an Indian political party.{{cite journal|jstor=2642762|author=Lewis P. Fickett Jr.|title=The Praja Socialist Party of India—1952–1972: A Final Assessment|journal=Asian Survey|volume=13|issue=9|pages=826–832|date=September 1973|doi=10.2307/2642762}} It was founded in 1952 when the Socialist Party, led by Jayaprakash Narayan, Rambriksh Benipuri, Acharya Narendra Deva and Basawon Singh (Sinha), merged with the Kisan Mazdoor Praja Party led by J. B. Kripalani (former president of the Indian National Congress and a close associate of Jawaharlal Nehru).

The PSP led the cabinet under Pattom A. Thanu Pillai as chief minister of State of Travancore-Cochin from March 1954 to February 1955. In 1955 a faction led by Ram Manohar Lohia broke from the party, reusing the name "Socialist Party".{{Cite web |title=Glossary of Organisations: So |url=https://www.marxists.org/glossary/orgs/s/o.htm |access-date=2024-05-26 |website=Marxists Internet Archive}} The PSP again came to power in the new state of Kerala under Pattom A. Thanu Pillai from February 1960 to September 1962. In 1960, Kripalani left the party and in 1964, Asoka Mehta joined Congress after his expulsion from the party.

Another section of the party, led by the trade union leader George Fernandes, broke off to join the Samyukta Socialist Party in 1967. In 1972, a section merged with Fernandes's party to become the Socialist Party once more, before becoming part of the Janata coalition in 1977 following the proclamation of Emergency by Indira Gandhi.