Bharatiya Jana Sangh’s humble origins

A crowd of memories haunt veteran BJP leader Vijay Kumar Malhotra as and when he is in the Connaught Place area. Reason: It was in Raghu Mal Arya Kanya Vidyalaya in Raja Bazar of CP area, where the Bharatiya Jana Sangh (BJS) was found on October 21, 1951. As the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) was celebrating its 38th founding day on April 6, some of the surviving members of BJS, the earlier avatar of the BJP, must be recalling that humble first meeting of the BJS.

The RSS was banned in 1948 for its alleged involvement in the assassination of Gandhiji. Those were the days of despair when RSS members decided to form a political party to take their ideology to the masses. Therefore, an all-important meeting was held at Raghu Mal Kanya Vidyalaya, one of the early all-girls schools of Delhi. RSS activist and local Arya Samaj leader Lala Hansraj Gupta was the head of the school’s governing body and under his watchful eyes, RSS activists were providing all the logistical support for the meet. Later, Hansraj Gupta became the Mayor of Delhi in 1977.

Around 250 delegates from across India came to attend the first meeting of BJS. The mood was electric and all the delegates wanted to start a party without any further delay. Dr Syama Prasad Mookerjee authored the constitution of BJS and was elected president and Balraj Madhok was elected as secretary of the party there. In his presidential address, Dr Mookerjee tore apart the ‘anti-poor’ and the ‘anti-Hindu’ policies of the Nehru government. It is a different matter that he was a member of Nehru’s cabinet before he resigned on April 8, 1950, over a disagreement about the 1950 Delhi Pact with Pakistan Prime Minister Liaquat Ali Khan. Interestingly, the BJS decided in the very first meeting that it would fight to ban cow slaughter in India.

In Raghumal school, there is no plaque to inform that the BJS was founded in this institution. The grand-daughters of Dr Rajendra Prasad, the first president of India, also studied in this school that was established in 1944.

And, yes, Raja Bazar is hardly three kilometres away from the new and plush head office of the BJP at Deendayal Upadhyaya Marg. While the saffron party was formed on April 6, 1980, its ideological origins can be traced to 1951 when the BJS was formed. AB Vajpayee and LK Advani, the tallest leaders of BJP, were the products of BJS days. Notwithstanding many challenges and hardships that it has faced, the BJP is currently ruling the roost across India. It now rules 21 out of 29 states. While now the BJP operates from a grand office, the Bharatiya Jana Sangh had a very humble office at the crowded Ajmeri Gate.

The author is a former editor of Somaiya publications, New Delhi