BJP HISTORY : It’s Birth and Early Growth
BJP HISTORY : It’s Birth and Early Growth
By Late Shri K.R. Malkani(19-11-1921 to 27-10-2003)
(Ex-Vice-President of BJP) and Lt. Governor Pondicherry (31-7-2002 to 27-10-2003)
|Bharatiya Janata Party is today the most prominent member of the family of organisations known as the “Sangh Parivar”. And RSS has always been dubbed “communal”, “reactionary” and what not by its detractors. Sanghs of swayamsevaks have of course always shaken off that criticism like so much water off a duck’s back. They have never had any doubt that the organisation is wedded to national unity, national integrity, national identity and national strength through individual character and national character. And today this organisation is poised for a great leap forward. Even its long- time detractors think and say that now BJP is “unstoppable”.What is the story of this national epic?
History is the philosophy of nations.
And the Sangh Parivar has a very clear and candid conception of Indian history.
Here was a great civilization whose glory spread from Sri Lanka to Java and Japan
and from Tibet and Mangolia
to China and Siberia . While it weathered the storms of Huns and Shakas
and Greeks it wilted before the Islamic storms of the Turks. However, a
1000-year resistance saw this country bloodied but unbowed. Its civilization
survived through the heroic efforts of the Vijayanagar Empire and of Shivaji,
Rana Pratap and Guru Govind Singh and countless heroes and martyrs.
In more recent times this torch was
picked up by Swami Dayanand and Swami Vivekanada. And in the present century
the good work has been carried on by Sri Aurobindo, Lokmanya Tilak, Mahatma
Gandhi and others. The RSS, founded by Dr Hedgewar in 1925 and consolidated by
Shri Guruji after 1940, is the heir to this heroic, historic heritage. It has
nothing against Muslim Indians - as distinguished from Muslim invaders. Its
position on this issue has all along been: “Justice for all and appeasement of
none”. But it has no doubt that we were and are a Hindu nation; that change of
faith cannot mean change of nationality.
The Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh
The Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh
He founded the RSS... ...and he nurtured it ...and Balasaheb Deoras built it
onto a mighty organisation. The
RSS entirely agrees with Gandhiji’s formulations that “There is in Hinduism
room enough for Jesus, as there is for Mohammed, Zoroster and Moses” and that
“majority of the Muslims of India are converts to that faith from Hinduism
through force of circumstances. They are still Hindu in many essential ways
and, in a free, prosperous, progressive India
Due to the British policy of “Divide
and Rule” and the politicians’ proclivity to compromise and temporise the
country suffered the trauma of the partition. But the Sangh Parivar has no
doubt that before very long the unities, the varieties and the strengths of our
ancient civilization will prevail. RSS has been continuing the task of nation
building since its inception. It did it through the tumultuous period of 1930s
and 40s. But it was rudely shaken by Gandhiji’s killing and the Government’s
political exploitation of that national tragedy.
The RSS, along with millions of
people, did not approve of Gandhiji’s Muslim appeasement policy - starting with
support of the Khilafat movement - but it had the greatest respect for the
Mahatma. Indeed, Gandhiji had visited the RSS winter camp in Wardha in December
1934 - and addressed the Delhi RSS workers in Bhangi colony, in Spetember 1947.
He had deeply appreciated the “noble sentiments” and “astonishing discipline”
of the RSS. He had never spoken even one word of criticism of the RSS. But
after his killing, 17000 RSS workers - including Shri Guruji - were accused of
“conspiracy of murder” the Mahatma Gandhi and the RSS workers offered
Satyagraha. But during all this time not one MLA or MP raised the issue in any
legislature. For the RSS, it was the moment of truth. And this truth, as
enunciated by Gokhale, was that “What cuts deep in politics cuts deep all
round” and that unless the RSS grew political teeth and wings, it would always
be at the mercy of unscrupulous politicians. This was the context in which Shri
Guruji blessed the birth of Bhartiya Jana Sangh under the leadership of Dr.
Syama Prasad Mookerjee in 1951. And in the very first General Elections the BJS
emerged as one of the four nationally recognised parties. The Party has never
looked back since then.
THE FIRST DECADE The
first decade was a period of steady growth organisationally and policy
evolution and elaboration ideologically. It took up the issues of territorial
integrity like Kashmir, Kutch and Berubari - and in the process suffered the
martyrdom of its founder-President Dr Mookerjee in a Kashmir
jail. It demanded cow protection as per Article 48 of the Constitution and
Gandhiji’s declaration that “Cow protection is more important than even
Swarajya”. It came out against Zamindari and Jagirdari. It criticised permit-
licence-quota Raj. And it came out for the nuclear option to reinforce national
defence. The 1962 China war
and 1965 Pakistan India and RSS is the sword arm of Punjab .”
In all countries, parties associated
with the freedom movement enjoy long years of power. So did the Congress - for
20 years. But the 1967 elections ended the Congress monopoly of power. From
Punjab to Bengal there were non-Congress
coalitions everywhere. As a political wit put it: “You could travel from Amritsar to Calcutta
In most of the States Jana Sangh and
the Communists worked together. They seemed to be guided by the dictum: “We are
all children of Bharat mata and we are all products of the 20th century.”
However, this was more than the
monopolistic Congress could stand. It used its vast money power and its
capacity for intrigue to topple government after state government.
But even so Jana Sangh did not lose
heart. Under the leadership of Pt. Deendayal Upadhyaya it held a tremendous
session in Calicut Ganga
flowing South.”
However, within days of this
historic session Deendayalji was found murdered near Mugalsarai railway
station. In good faith the BJS asked for a CBI enquiry. But the way CBI drew
blank made it clear that Central Agency has been politicised and that it would
never unravel political crime.
Although the murder of Deendayalji
was a stunning shock the BJS was too big and too strong to be stopped in its
tracks. Under the leadership of Shri Atal Behari Vajpayee, it enthussiastically
joined the movement for the libera- tion of Bangladesh
JP’s RESPONSE In
election after by-election Jana Sangh showed its class. It joined hands with
Jaya Prakash Narayan on the issue of fighting corruption and autocracy. The BJS
was in the vanguard of the people’s movement in Bihar and Gujarat .
To the professional detractors of Jana Sangh JP’s categorical response was: “If
Jana Sangh is communal then I am also communal.” As the opposition parties won
election after by-election, the cry ran through the country: “Sinhasan khali
karo, ki janata aati hai”. A scared Mrs. Gandhi declared Emergency, arrested
thousands and baned the RSS. But the country survived this agni-pariksha,
thanks again to the Sangh parivar, which contributed full 80% of Emergency-time
prisoners, both detenus and Satyagrahis.
Mrs. Gandhi was astounded enough to
admit in the Chandigarh Session of the Congress in 1975 that “even in places
where the RSS was an unknown organisation it has established a firm foothold.”
The Economist of London (Dec.4 1970) described the underground movement of the
Sangh parivar as “the only non-left revolutionary force in the world.” And even
Marxist parliamentary party leader Shri AK Gopalan was moved to say about the
Sangh parivar: “There is some lofty idea which is capable of inspiring such
deeds of bravery and stamina for sacrifices.”
As a result of this successful
resistance Mrs Gandhi’s Congress Party was trounced in the 1977 elections and a
Janata party government consisting of BJS, BLD, Cong(O), SOcialists and CFD
took office. Here Shri Vajpayee as External Affairs Minister and Shri. L.K
Advani as information and broadcasting minister made memorable name. But within
thirty months this government went into pieces, thanks to the vaulting ambition
of individual leaders. The Janata experiment miserably failed.
In the elections that followed the
fall of Charan Singh government, countless crores of foreign money came into
play. The Stateman pointed out on Feb.11, 1980 that the Rupee, which normally
sold at a discount in the world’s black markets, now began to sell at a
premium. As against this official rate of Rs 7.91 to a dollar on January 4 the
unofficial rate of Rs 7.20. “Those who keep tabs on money markets attributed
this sudden rise in the black market value of the Indian currency to big orders
from unknown buyers, believed to include some foreign governments keen to funnel
funds into the election coffer of the ideological allies and friends in India
While the splintered Janata Party
was routed in January 1980, their suicidal “dual memebership” campaign
continued. The BJS component found this situation impossible, went out and
reorganised itself as BHARATIYA JANATA PARTY. A bright new day had
dawned in the chequered history of India
The very first session of BJP in
December 1980 in Bombay Bombay
It was during the Indira Gandhi’s
second coming that the country experienced the trauma of Meenakshipuram and the
massacre of Nellie.
However, her worst disservice to the
country was the propping up of Bhindranwale - till then an obscure granthi - to
harass and divide the Akali Dal. To this day the country has not recovered from
that play with fire, the latest victim of the same being Punjab Chief Minister
Beant Singh.
No less dangerous was her aiding,
abeting, arming, and financing of LTTE which was out to partition a friendly
neighbouring state like Sri
Lanka
And when her political son died in
an unfortunate and mysterious air accident she promptly put up even her airline
pilot son to succeed her and try to pilot the ship of State.
The BJP, while exposing all these
sins of ommission and commission, continued to consolidate its organisation and
fine-tune its policies. It won election after after corporation election in
major cities. The general feeling was that Mrs. Gandhi would not be able to win
the next election due early in 1985. And President Zail Singh was heard saying
that in that case he would not call her to form the Government. It was at this
stage that she was shot dead by enraged Sikhs for having violated the sanctity
of the Golden Temple
in Amritsar
THE RAJIV REGIME
In the elections that followed the
sympathy wave got Mr. Rajiv Gandhi more votes and more seats than even Pandit
Nehru in all his three general elections. For a while he appeared as Prince
Charming on a White Charger, the ‘Mr. Clean’, out to purge “power brokers”.
However, it soon became clear that it is much easier to run an election than to
run a country.
He signed an agreement with Shri
Longowal of the Akali Dal, but never implemented it. He signed an Assam
He despatched the army to Sri Lanka
However, the BJP lost no time in
preparing for the next round. It appointed a high power Working Group to study
the results of the 1984 elections and recommend remedial action. The Party
streamlined its organisation. It re-pledged itself to “Integral Humanism”. It
urged early and comprehensive electoral reform. And it highlighted the problem
of massive infiltration from Bangladesh
That a ruling party should make
money on Government contracts was bad enough. But that it should make money on
Defence deals, compromising national defence was wholly unacceptable to the
country. The fat was in the fire.
In the 1989 elections the Janata Dal
effected adjustments of seats with the BJP and proceeded to form the Government
with outside support from the BJP and the Communists.
From day one Shri VP Singh did not
play ball. The BJP had pledged him unconditional support, which was probably a
mistake; there is no charity in politics; no free lunch. BJP should have
probably made it clear that it should be consulted on all major issues. But Mr
VP Singh on his part only added insult to injury. The BJP had made no demand on
him whatsoever. But whenever any of his colleagues suggested some gesture to be
made to BJP he was heard saying: “I do not have to give them anything; they
have no choice.” Evidently the Raja Saheb thought that BJP was his “bonded
labour.”
As BJP president Advani was heard
remarking at the time: “Mr VP Singh is like an old-style princeling. He is all
courtesy and all conspiracy”. He would tell Advani that he himself would join
him in Kar-Seva and then issued a temple ordinance only to withdraw it within
hurs and have Shri Advani arrested.
Shri VP Singh suddenly came up with
the Mandal report, not because his heart was bleeding for the poor but because
he thought that, on this issue, he could dissolve the House to go to the polls,
collect some 350 seats and rule the country on his own without the bother of
consulting anybody on anything. But it was a gamble that failed, because the
BJP had already raised the Ayodhya issue. And it had done so early in 1989, not
on the basis of any electoral calculation, but on ideological conviction.
Historic wrongs had to be righted, however, symbolically, for a lasting
solution of the Hindu-Muslim problem. SEA CHANGE
IN POLITICAL SCENE Shri
Advani’s Rath Yatra from Somnath to Ayodhya effected a sea change in the
political scene. While Mandal had divided the people, Ayodhya united the
people. What violence there was in 1990 came only because the government
arrested Shri Advani and the UP Chief Minister fired on Kar-Sevaks. Had they
allowed Advani to reach Ayodhya and do symbolic Kar-Seva there would have been
no Bandh, no violence, anywhere.
Shri VP Singh thought that BJP had
secured 89 seats in 1989 because of seat adjustment with JD, and that was true
enough. But he forgot that his JD had also got 143 seats only because of seat
adjustment with the BJP. He now thought that in the absence of seat adjustment
the BJP would lose scores of seats. Actually the BJP would lose scores of
seats. Actually the BJO added 30 seats to its old score and it was the JD that
declined to 59 seats. And but for the sudden killing of Mr Rajiv, which won the
Congress scores of seats, both the BJP and the Congress would have been around
175 seats. This was particularly remarkable, because on this occasion the BJP
had fought all alone. It had emerged as the only major solid pole in a fluid
Indian political situation.
In assessing the BJP other parties
make a serious mistake. They forget that as a result of our first-past-the-post
electoral system, the first party has an undue advantage over No.2 Party. But
the BJP, being a solid party and a solid pole, can always survive adverse winds
and live to thrive another day. In 1984 the BJP had won only 2 seats, but in
terms of vote it was second only to the Congress. Under a system of
proportional representation its 7.4% vote would have won it 30-40 seats even in
1984. Therefore its win of 89 seats in 1989 was not all that much of a
surprise. Parties like JD, being loose outfits, are in no position to survive
serious reverses.
This trend has been confirmed in
State Assembly elections. In the 1993 elections the BJP vote and seats declined
in HP and MP thanks to strict administrative measures for which public opinion
had not been prepared in advance. In UP the party lost its majority due to a
gang-up of all other parties against it, but its popular vote went up by almost
30% to 34%. In Rajasthan both our vote and our seats went up. And in Delhi
UNSTOPPABLE BJP The
results of the 1995 elections in Andhra, Karnataka, Bihar, Orissa, Goa, Gujarat
and Maharashtra were, if anything, even more
remarkable. In Andhra the main fight being between TDP and the Congress the BJP
got squeezed to just 3 seats. But in Karnataka BJP won 40 seats, pushing the
Congress to the third position. In Goa , for
the first time the BJP won 4 seats in a house of 60. In Orissa BJP trebled its
modest strength from 3 to 10. In Bihar BJP pushed Congress to the third
position and emerged as the official opposition. In Maharashtra ,
Shiv Sena and the BJP have formed a fine coalition government. And in Gujarat the BJP has won a two-thirds majority. It is
trends like these that have convinced even the detractors of BJP that the party
is now “unstoppable”.
Conventional wisdom is that the BJP
won 89 Lok Sabha seats in 1989 as a result of seat adjustments with JD and 119
seats in 1991 as a result of the Ayodhya issue. The fact is that these were
only contributory factors. The BJP’s historic performance in the recent
assembly elections, when there was no seat adjustment with other parties and
when the Ayodhya issue stood frozen, is confirmation of the fact that basically
the BJP is forging ahead because of its excellent organisation, superb
leadership and patriotic people’s policies.
When, in 1991, the Congress formed
the Government on its own, even though it did not have a majority of its own,
the BJP acted very responsibly and helped it have a speaker of its choice,
contnt with deputy speakership of the Lok Sabha. Having been all along opposed
to a licence-permit-quota Raj it welcomed the policy of liberalization in
principle. At long last New Delhi recognised Israel and South Africa
BJP state governments enunciated a
new education policy; they made copying in exams a congnisable offence; they
decentralized the administration; their Antyodaya took care of the poorest of
the land; they waived the loans of poor farmers; and they made war on criminal
elements and put them in jail.
CONGRESS DOUBLE-DEALING But
before long the double-dealing of the Congress came to surface. They organised
defections in JD, SS etc. to give themselves a majority that the country had
withheld from them. They kept playing games with Ayodhya resulting in the
December 6, 1992 demolition of the disputed structure. While those who welcomed
that demolition congratulated the Sangh parivar, and those who didn’t like it
condemned the Parivar, the fact is that the Parivar leadership does not know
who did it. We all wanted it removed respectfully and through due process of
law. What actually happened was no part of our plan. It is, therefore, a
mystery wrapped in a riddle inside an enigma. And now comes the revelation by
Shri Arjun Singh in his letter of resignation from the Cabinet that on December
1, 1992, he had sent the PM a copy of a fax message sent by an active Congress
worker from Ayodhya, which said: “There is indication that some agent
provocateurs from Pakistan have been able to infiltrate into Ayodhya and would
try to damage the Babri Masjid if the VHP Kar-sevaks fail in their mission to
do the same.” The VHP had no such mission. But the point is, why was this fax
message kept out of government’s White Paper on Ayodhya? Obviously the object
of Pakistan and its friends
and allies was to trigger Hindu-Muslim violence, culminating in the Bombay serial bombing, give India New Delhi
Meanwhile, in the name of
liberalisation and globalisation foreign banks and unscrupulous speculators
were allowed to cheat the country of thousands of crores through the securities
scam and the government did not have the decency to accept even the unanimous
report of the joint Parliamentary Committee on the subject. Many more thousands
of crores have been lost on businessmen who have not returned their loans to
nationalised banks. On the other hand even profit-making public sector
undertakings are being sold. The result of all this is an unprecedented rise in
prices. The BJP has responded with an yearly alternative budget, showing how
the growth rate could be accelerated while augmenting employment and holding
the price line.
However, potentially even more
dangerous is the government’s knuckling under to foreign pressure on issue
after issue, compromising our soveriegnty and endangering our very
independence.
While the BJP is for liberalisation
we find that we have liberalised too little internally and too much externally.
Even now we need a licence to start a sugar mill or a shoe factory. And of
course the corrupt “Inspector Raj” continues to harass the small-scale
manufacturer who is the backbone of Indian Industry. But foreigners have been
allowed to come in even with junk foods.
CLEAR BJP POSITION
The BJP position is very clear on
this issue; Indian Science and technology have come of age, as examplified by
our Defence and Research Development Organisation. Therefore, foreign capital
is welcome only in capital intensive hightech and infrastructural areas,
however, it must come on fair and competitive terms. And because Enron was an
opaque, expensive and dubious deal it has been cancelled by the BJP-RSS
government in Maharashtra . This has protected
national interests and upheld national honor. The new watchword is “Swadeshi”.
The world has been told in unmistakable terms that India India
Vindication of the BJP position
comes from no less person than Samual D. Huntington, the US Establishment
ideologue. In his article “The Clash of Civilizations” (vide Foreign Affairs
Quarterly, Summer 1993) he wrote: “Through the IMF and other international
economic institutions, the West promotes its economic interests and imposes on
other nations the economic policies it thinks appropriate. In any poll of
non-Western peoples the IMF undoubtedly would win the support of finance
ministers and a few others, but get an overwhelmingly unfavourable rating from
just about everyone else.”
Today, strong foreign pressure, New Delhi ’s pussillanimity and nationalist India India Srinagar
While the Supreme Court faltered on
the issue of Article 356 of the Constitution to dismiss four BJP governments,
it has come out categorically for implementation of Article 44 of the
Constitution, directing the adoption of a uniform civil code for all citizens
of India
Calculators think that the
arithmatic does not quite add up to a majority for the BJP. They, however,
forget one thing: elections are not arithmatic; they are chemistry. Once it
becomes clear that the BJP is poised to forge ahead of all other parties
millions of people who have probably never before voted for it will plump for
it. Regional parties could make a beeline for it. The UP development where the
BJP helped a dalit lady become Chief Minister ‘Ram ne Shabri ko raja banaya’,
said a Hindi newspaper headline is a pointer in this direction.
Until now the TINA (There Is No
Alternative) factor worked in favor of the Congress. Now it works in favor of
the BJP. Having tried state elections in 1967, support from inside in 1977, and
support from outside in 1989, and found them all wanting, the BJP has, by a
philosophical process of elemination - “neti” - come to the conclusion that it
would be best to go it alone. The poet’s plea for going it alone (“Aikla Chalo
Re”) has literally worked wonders for the BJP.
While the status-quoists may be shaken by this emerging
brave new India, the people of India have every reason to cheer the emergence
of this rejuvenated India with the promise of Ram Rajya and with Rabindranath
Tagore’s prayer for “Eka Dharmarajya hable a Bharate” (Let there be one Dharma
Rajya - a just and moral order - in India).
स्वतंत्रता संग्राम से जन्मा: हिन्दुत्व का महानायक केशव
राष्ट्रवाद के महानायक ‘ पूज्य श्री गुरूजी ’
शून्य से शिखर तक: भाजपा
Pandit
Deendayal Upadhyaya : ' A Rashtra Dharmaa'
BJP
: Time-Line (Chronology)
दीनदयाल उपाध्याय,एक रहस्यमय राजनैतिक हत्या
टिप्पणियाँ
एक टिप्पणी भेजें