Bharatiya Jana Sangh

{{Infobox political party

| country = India

| name = Bharatiya Jana Sangh

| colorcode = {{party color|Bharatiya Jana Sangh}}

| foundation = {{start date and age|21 October 1951}}{{cite web|title=Founding of Jan Sangh|url=http://www.bjp.org/en/about-the-party/history?u=founder|website=www.bjp.org|access-date=25 January 2019|archive-date=25 January 2019|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190125183142/http://www.bjp.org/en/about-the-party/history?u=founder|url-status=dead}}

| founder = Syama Prasad Mukherjee

| merged = Janata Party (1977–1980)

| split = Hindu Mahasabha

| ideology = Hindu nationalism{{cite encyclopedia|title=The Jana Sangh as a Nationalist Rally|page=94|encyclopedia=Hindu Nationalism and Indian Politics|first=Bruce D.|last=Graham|publisher=Cambridge University Press}}
Hindutva{{cite book|title=Elite Parties, Poor Voters|first=Tariq|last=Thachil|page=42|year=2014|publisher=Cambridge University Press}}
Integral humanism{{cite book|title=India: Government and Politics in a Developing Nation|first=Stanley|last=Kochanek|page=333|year=2007|publisher=Cengage Learning}}
National conservatism{{Cite book|title=The Jana Sangh: a biography of an Indian political party|year=1969|first=Craig|last=Baxter|author-link = Craig Baxter|publisher=University of Pennsylvania Press|page=171}}
Economic nationalism{{cite book|title=Fundamentalisms and the State|year=1996|publisher=University of Chicago Press|page=418|first=Martin E.|last=Marty}}

| position = Right-wing{{cite book|title=Electoral Politics in the Indian States|first=John Osgood|last=Field|publisher=Manohar Book Service|page=28}} to far-right{{Cite web|date=11 March 2024|title=Israeli Diplomats Forged Deep Ties With Hindu Right Wing From Early '60s, Documents Reveal|url=https://m.thewire.in/article/communalism/israeli-diplomats-forged-deep-ties-with-hindu-right-wing-from-early-60s-documents-reveal#google_vignette|access-date=13 June 2024|website=The Wire}}

| symbol = File:Oil lamp.svg

| successor = Bharatiya Janata Party (1980–present)

| colours = {{Color box|{{party color|Bharatiya Jana Sangh}}|border=darkgray}} Saffron

}}

The Akhil Bharatiya Jana Sangh ({{small|abbreviated as}} BJS or JS, short name: Jan Sangh{{citation|editor=Donald Anthony Low|title=Soundings in Modern South Asian History|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=WfD02m8q8eYC&pg=PA372|year=1968|publisher=University of California Press}}) was a Hindutva political party active in India. It was established on 21 October 1951 in Delhi by three founding members: Shyama Prasad Mukherjee, Balraj Madhok and Deendayal Upadhyaya. Jan Sangh was the political arm of Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh (RSS), a Hindutva volunteer organisation.{{cite book|title=The RSS and the BJP: A Division of Labour|author=A. G. Noorani|year=2000 |publisher=LeftWord Books|page=20|isbn=9788187496137 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=6PnBFW7cdtsC&dq=%22jana+sangh%22+%22rss%22+arm&pg=PT20}} In 1977, it merged with several other left, centre and right parties opposed to the Indian National Congress and formed the Janata Party.{{Cite web|date=23 June 2021|title=Syama Prasad Mookerjee: Lesser-known facts about the Bharatiya Jana Sangh founder|url=https://www.firstpost.com/india/syama-prasad-mookerjee-lesser-known-facts-about-the-bharatiya-jana-sangh-founder-9744191.html|access-date=14 July 2021|website=Firstpost}} In 1980, the members of erstwhile Jan Sangh quit the Janata party after the defeat in the 1980 general elections and formed the Bharatiya Janata Party, which is the direct political successor to the Jan Sangh.

Origins

File:Shyama Prasad Mukherjee portrait in Parliament.jpg, founder of the Bharatiya Jana Sangh]]

Many members of the right-wing Hindu nationalist Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh (RSS) began to contemplate the formation of a political party to continue their work, begun in the days of the British Raj, and take their ideology further. Around the same time, Syama Prasad Mukherjee left the Hindu Mahasabha political party that he had once led because of a disagreement with that party over permitting non-Hindu membership.{{sfn|Urmila Sharma|SK Sharma|2001|p=381}}{{sfn|Kedar Nath Kumar|1990|pp=20–21}}{{sfn|Islam|2006b|p=227}}

There were two main reasons for the formation of Jan Sangh - first was the Liaquat–Nehru Pact and second, the ban on RSS after the assassination of Mahatma Gandhi.{{cite web|title=BJP's 43 years: How it emerged from Jana Sangh and became world's largest party|url=https://www.indiatoday.in/india/story/bjp-foundation-day-journey-from-jana-sangh-modi-shah-vajpayee-advani-2356698-2023-04-06|first=Kabool|last=Ahmad|website=India Today|date=7 April 2023|access-date=7 July 2024}}

The state level units for Punjab, P.E.P.S.U. (Patiala and East Punjab States Union), Delhi, West Bengal, Rajasthan, Uttar Pradesh, Madhya Bharat were already established before it was formally founded at national level.{{cite web|author-first1=Arun|author-last1=Anand|title=Jana Sangh was formed on this day 70 yrs ago. How its ideology is reflected in today's BJP|url=https://theprint.in/india/jana-sangha-was-formed-on-this-day-70-yrs-ago-how-its-ideology-is-reflected-in-todays-bjp/753650/|website=The Print|date=21 October 2021|access-date=7 July 2024}}

The BJS was subsequently started by Mukherjee on 21 October 1951{{cite web|title=Founding of Jan Sangh|url=http://www.bjp.org/en/about-the-party/history?u=founder|website=www.bjp.org|access-date=25 January 2019|archive-date=25 January 2019|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190125183142/http://www.bjp.org/en/about-the-party/history?u=founder|url-status=dead}} in Delhi, with the collaboration of the R.S.S., as a "nationalistic alternative" to the Congress Party.{{cite news|title=Revive Jan Sangh – BJP hardlines|url=http://expressindia.indianexpress.com/ie/daily/20000118/ina18037.html|access-date=11 October 2013|newspaper=The Indian Express|date=18 January 2000|author=Sharad Gupta|author2=Sanjiv Sinha|url-status=dead|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20131012195411/http://expressindia.indianexpress.com/ie/daily/20000118/ina18037.html|archive-date=12 October 2013}}

History

The first plenary session of Jan Sangh was held at Kanpur in December 1952.{{cite web|title=Time to remember Jana Sangh's history |url=https://sundayguardianlive.com/news/time-remember-jana-sanghs-history|website=The Sunday Guardian|first=Madhuri|last=Madhok|access-date=7 July 2024|date=20 October 2018}}

After the death of Mukherjee in 1953, RSS activists in the BJS edged out the career politicians and made it a political arm of the RSS and an integral part of the RSS family of organisations (Sangh Parivar).{{citation |first=Pralaya |last=Kanungo |title=Myth of the Monolith: The RSS Wrestles to Discipline Its Political Progeny |journal=Social Scientist |volume=34 |pages=51–69 |number=11/12 |date=November 2006 |jstor=27644183}}

The strongest election performance of the BJS came in the 1967 Lok Sabha election in which it won 35 seats,{{sfn|Andersen|Damle|1987|p=165}} when the Congress majority was its thinnest ever.{{cite web|url=http://eci.nic.in/eci_main/StatisticalReports/LS_1967/Vol_I_LS_67.pdf |title=General Election of India 1967, 4th Lok Sabha |publisher=Election Commission of India |access-date=13 January 2010 |page=5 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20140718185108/http://eci.nic.in/eci_main/StatisticalReports/LS_1967/Vol_I_LS_67.pdf |archive-date=18 July 2014}}

The party secured six out of seven parliamentary seats in Delhi and went on to wrest control of the Metropolitan Council and Municipal corporation.{{cite web|title=Jana Sangh-BJP saga started in Delhi|url=https://sundayguardianlive.com/opinion/jana-sangh-bjp-saga-started-delhi|website=The Sunday Guardian|first=Pankaj|last=Vohra|access-date=7 July 2024|date=20 October 2018}}

Ideology

When BJS was formed, an 8-point programme was adopted.This formed the core of its ideology over the next years.{{Cite web|url=https://theprint.in/politics/on-this-day-69-years-ago-200-leaders-formed-jana-sangh-it-is-now-the-bjp/528070/|title=On this day 69 years ago, 200 leaders formed Jana Sangh. It is now the BJP|date=21 October 2020|website=The Print|access-date=7 July 2024|language=en-IN|quote=When the BJS was formed, the party adopted an eight-point programme that largely formed its ideological core over the next few decades.These were: United Bharat; reciprocity instead of appeasement towards Pakistan; an independent foreign policy consistent with Bharat’s paramount self-interest; rehabilitation of refugees with suitable compensation from Pakistan; increased production of goods, especially food and cloth, and decentralisation of industry; development of a single Bharatiya culture; equal rights for all citizens regardless of caste, community or creed, and improvement of the backward classes’ standard; and readjustment of West Bengal’s boundary with Bihar.}}

The BJS leadership fervently supported a strong policy against Pakistan and China, and were averse to communism and the Soviet Union. Many BJS leaders also initiated the drive to ban cow slaughter nationwide in the early 1960s.{{Cite news|url=https://www.thehindu.com/archives/article16183780.ece|title=Anti-cow slaughter mob storms Parliament {{!}} From the Archives (dated 8 November 1966)|date=8 November 2016|work=The Hindu|access-date=26 January 2020|language=en-IN|issn=0971-751X|quote=Thousands of rupees worth of damage to buildings and vehicles, both private and public, was caused by the mob which, in a violent and vociferous way, was demonstrating for the imposition of a ban on cow slaughter by Government. The parties who organised the demonstration, the number of participants in which was estimated between 3 lakhs and 7 lakhs, were the Jan Sangh, the Hindu Mahasabha, the Arya Samaj and the Sanatan Dharma Sabha}}

Establishment of full relations with Israel was also a demand in the party manifesto.{{Cite web|date=11 March 2024|title=Israeli Diplomats Forged Deep Ties With Hindu Right Wing From Early '60s, Documents Reveal|url=https://m.thewire.in/article/communalism/israeli-diplomats-forged-deep-ties-with-hindu-right-wing-from-early-60s-documents-reveal#google_vignette|access-date=13 June 2024|website=The Wire}}

Uniform Civil Code was mentioned in the 1967 manifesto which said that the party would enact UCC if it came to power.{{Cite news|url=https://www.financialexpress.com/india-news/uniform-civil-code-a-core-agenda-for-bjp-uccs-political-genesis-dates-back-to-jana-sangh-days/3388291/lite/|title=Uniform Civil Code: A core agenda for BJP, UCC's political genesis dates back to Jana Sangh days|date=8 February 2024|work=Financial Express |access-date=7 July 2024|language=en-IN|quote=The BJS’ Lok Sabha manifesto of 1962 didn’t mention the UCC. However, it found a clear mention in the BJS’s 1967 manifesto, where it promised citizens that it would enact UCC if voted to power, and would bring “uniform law for marriage, succession and adoption for all citizens”.}}

Chronological list of presidents

class="wikitable" style="text-align:center"

! scope="col" |#

!Portrait

!Name

! scope="col" |Term

| 75px

|Syama Prasad Mukherjee

|1951–52

|Mauli Chandra Sharma

|1954

|1955

|1956–59

|1960

|1961

(4)

|Debaprasad Ghosh

|1962

|Raghu Vira

|1963

(4)

|1964

|1965

|1966

|1967–68

|Atal Bihari Vajpayee

|1968–72

|75px

|L. K. Advani

|1973–77

colspan=4|See List of presidents of the Bharatiya Janata Party

In general elections

The Bharatiya Jana Sangh was created in 1951, and the first general election it contested was in 1951–52, in which it won only three Lok Sabha seats, in line with the four seats won by Hindu Mahasabha and three seats won by Ram Rajya Parishad. Syama Prasad Mukherjee and Durga Charan Banerjee were elected from Calcutta South East constituency and Midnapore Jhargram constituency in West Bengal and Uma Shankar Trivedi from Chittor constituency in Rajasthan. All the like-minded parties formed a block in the Parliament, led by Shyama Prasad Mookerjee.{{sfn|Nag|2014|loc=chapter 1}}{{cite news |author=Archis Mohan |title=The roots of India's second republic |newspaper=Business Standard |date=9 October 2014 |url=http://www.business-standard.com/article/beyond-business/the-roots-of-india-s-second-republic-114100901275_1.html |access-date=8 November 2014}}

class="wikitable sortable" \|+ ! style="width:25%;"\| Year ! style="width:15%;"\| General Election ! style="width:15%;"\| Seats Won ! style="width:15%;"\| Change in Seat ! style="width:15%;"\| % of votes ! class="unsortable" \| Ref.
style="text-align:center;"	1951	1st Lok Sabha	3	–	3.06	{{sfn\|Nag\|2014\|loc=chapter 1}}{{sfn\|Andersen\|Damle\|1987\|p=165}}
style="text-align:center;"	1957	2nd Lok Sabha	4	{{increase}} 1	5.93	{{sfn\|Andersen\|Damle\|1987\|p=165}}
style="text-align:center;"	1962	3rd Lok Sabha	14	{{increase}} 10	6.44	{{sfn\|Andersen\|Damle\|1987\|p=165}}
style="text-align:center;"	1967	4th Lok Sabha	35	{{increase}} 21	9.31	{{sfn\|Andersen\|Damle\|1987\|p=165}}
style="text-align:center;"	1971	5th Lok Sabha	22	{{decrease}} 13	7.35	{{sfn\|Nag\|2014\|loc=chapter 4}}{{sfn\|Andersen\|Damle\|1987\|p=165}}{{cite web \|title=Members : Lok Sabha \|url=http://loksabhaph.nic.in/members/partyardetail.aspx?party_code=62&lsno=5 \|website=loksabhaph.nic.in \|publisher=Parliament of India \|access-date=2 August 2022}}

References

Sources

{{cite book |first1=Walter K. |last1=Andersen |author-link=Walter K. Andersen |first2=Shridhar D. |last2=Damle |title=The Brotherhood in Saffron: The Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh and Hindu Revivalism |url=https://archive.org/details/brotherhoodinsaf0000ande |url-access=registration |orig-year=Oringally published by Westview Press |publisher=Vistaar Publications|location=Delhi |year=1987 }}
{{cite book |title=Savarkar Myths and Facts |first=Shamsul |last=Islam |publisher=Anamaika Publishing & Distributors |date=2006b }}
{{cite book |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=x3pJ8t4rxIsC |title=Political Parties in India, Their Ideology and Organisation |first=Kedar Nath |last=Kumar |publisher=Mittal Publications |date=1990 |ref={{sfnref|Kedar Nath Kumar|1990}} |isbn=9788170992059 }}
{{cite book |last=Nag |first=Kingshuk |author-link=Kingshuk Nag |title=The Saffron Tide: The Rise of the BJP |publisher=Rupa Publications |isbn=978-8129134295 |year=2014 }}
{{cite book |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=BX3wIjJ9mvMC |title= Indian Political Thought |publisher=Atlantic Publishers & Distributors |first1=Urmila |last1=Sharma |first2=S.K. |last2=Sharma |date=2001 |ref={{sfnref|Urmila Sharma|SK Sharma|2001}} |isbn=9788171566785 }}

Bharatiya Jana Sangh

Origins

History

Ideology

Chronological list of presidents

In general elections

References

Further reading