Bharatiya Jana Sangh in the context of "Bharatiya Janata Party"

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⭐ Core Definition: Bharatiya Jana Sangh

The Bharatiya Jana Sangh (abbreviated as BJS or JS, short name: Jan Sangh; lit.'All-India People's Union') was a Hindutva political party active in India. It was established on 21 October 1951 in Delhi by Shyama Prasad Mukherjee. Jan Sangh was the political arm of Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh (RSS), a right-wing Hindutva paramilitary organisation. In 1977, it merged with several other left, centre, and right parties opposed to the Indian National Congress and formed the Janata Party. In 1980, the members of the erstwhile Jan Sangh quit Janata Party after its defeat in the 1980 general election and formed the Bharatiya Janata Party, which is the direct political successor to the Jan Sangh. In Bihar, Ramdeo Mahto considered as founding leader of Bharatiya Janata Party – Bihar, because he brought BJP Into the power in Bihar, he elected as a candidate of Bhartiya Jana Sangh to Bihar Legislative Assembly in 1969 Assembly elections from Patna East Assembly constituency.

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👉 Bharatiya Jana Sangh in the context of Bharatiya Janata Party

The Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP; /bʱaːɾət̪iːjə dʒənət̪aː paːrtiː/ ; lit.'Indian People's Party') is a conservative political party in India and one of the two major Indian political parties alongside the Indian National Congress. BJP emerged out from Shyama Prasad Mukherjee's Bharatiya Jana Sangh. Since 2014, it has been the ruling political party in India under the incumbent prime minister Narendra Modi. The BJP is right-wing to far-right on the political spectrum, and it has close ideological and organisational links to the Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh (RSS), a far-right paramilitary organisation. The party's policies adhere to Hindutva, a Hindu nationalist ideology. As of January 2024, it is the country's biggest political party in terms of representation in the parliament as well as state legislatures.

The party's origins lie in the Bharatiya Jana Sangh, which was founded in 1951 by Indian politician Shyama Prasad Mukherjee, after he left the Hindu Mahasabha to form a party as the political wing of the RSS. After the Emergency of 1975–1977, the Jana Sangh merged with several other political parties to form the Janata Party; it defeated the then-incumbent Indian National Congress in the 1977 general election. After three years in power, the Janata Party dissolved in 1980, with the members of the erstwhile Jana Sangh reconvening to form the modern-day BJP. Although initially unsuccessful—winning only two seats in the 1984 general election, it grew in strength on the back of the Ram Rath Yatra in Uttar Pradesh. Following victories in several state elections and better performances in national elections, the BJP became the largest political party in the Parliament in 1996; however, it lacked a majority in the lower house of Parliament, and its government, under its then-leader Atal Bihari Vajpayee, lasted for only 13 days.

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Bharatiya Jana Sangh in the context of Shyama Prasad Mukherjee

Shyama Prasad Mukherjee (6 July 1901 – 23 June 1953) was an Indian barrister, educationalist, politician, Hindutva activist, and a minister in the state and national governments, appointed by Nehru the first Prime Minister of India. Dr. Syama Prasad Mookerjee, a nationalist leader who emphasised organised self-reliance over impulsive agitation, took a pragmatic stance during the Quit India Movement to prevent famine and administrative collapse in Bengal. He later became India’s first Minister for Industry and Supply in Jawaharlal Nehru’s cabinet (1947–1950) and resigned over the Nehru–Liaquat Pact, citing concerns about the treatment of Hindus in East Pakistan. In 1953, he died in custody in Jammu and Kashmir while protesting the state’s permit system, declaring that there should be “one nation, one constitution, and one flag.” After falling out with Nehru, protesting against the Liaquat–Nehru Pact, Mukherjee resigned from Nehru's cabinet. With the help of the Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh, he founded the Bharatiya Jana Sangh in 1951.

He was also the president of Akhil Bharatiya Hindu Mahasabha from 1943 to 1946. He was arrested by the Jammu and Kashmir Police in 1953 when he tried to cross the border of the state. He was provisionally diagnosed with a heart attack and shifted to a hospital but died a day later. Mukherjee’s ideals of cultural nationalism, civilizational unity and fearless national service continue to influence Indian political thought. The Bharatiya Janata Party recognises him as a principal ideological forerunner, while many scholars view him as one of the earliest articulators of a dhārmic vision of the Indian nation-state.

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Bharatiya Jana Sangh in the context of Janata Party

The Janata Party (JP, lit.'People's Party') is an unrecognised political party in India. Navneet Chaturvedi is the current president of the party since November 2021, replacing Jai Prakash Bandhu.

The JP was established as an amalgam of Indian political parties opposed to the Emergency that was imposed between 1975 and 1977 by Prime Minister Indira Gandhi of the Indian National Congress (R). They included the conservative Indian National Congress (Organisation), the Hindu-nationalist Bharatiya Jana Sangh, the liberal to social-democratic Bharatiya Lok Dal (formed in 1974 by the merger of the conservative-liberal Swatantra Party, the conservative Bharatiya Kranti Dal, the Samyukta Socialist Party and the Utkal Congress) and the Socialist Party, as well as later defectors from the Indian National Congress.

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Bharatiya Jana Sangh in the context of L. K. Advani

Lal Krishna Advani (born 8 November 1927) is an Indian politician and statesman who served as the Deputy Prime Minister of India from 2002 to 2004 under Atal Bihari Vajpayee. He is one of the co-founders of the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) and a member of the Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh (RSS), a right-wing Hindutva paramilitary organisation. He was the longest serving Minister of Home Affairs serving for 6 years and 64 days from 1998 to 2004, until his protége Amit Shah overtook him in 2025. He is also the longest serving Leader of the Opposition in the Lok Sabha, as well as the longest serving President of the BJP, the current ruling party of India. He was the party's prime ministerial candidate during the 1989, 1991, and 2009 general elections.

Advani was born in Karachi and migrated to India during the Partition of India and settled down in Bombay where he completed his college education. Advani joined the RSS in 1941 at the age of fourteen and worked as a pracharak (RSS officer) in Rajasthan. In 1951, Advani became a member of the Bharatiya Jana Sangh party founded by Syama Prasad Mookerjee and performed various roles, including supervisor of parliamentary affairs, general secretary, and president of the Delhi unit. In 1967, he was elected as the chairman of the First Delhi metropolitan council and served till 1970 while becoming a member of the RSS national executive. In 1970, Advani became a member of the Rajya Sabha for the first time and would go on to serve four terms until 1989. He became the president of Jan Sangh in 1973, and it merged into the Janata Party before the 1977 general election. Following the Janata party's victory in the elections, Advani became the union minister for Information and Broadcasting and leader of the house in Rajya Sabha.

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