The Origin & Evolution of BJP from 2 to 303 seats – A Strong Contender for GHMC Elections 2020!

From 4 seats in GHMC Elections 2016 to a Strong Contender in 2020. That’s a very challenging but a complete Deja vu Event for Bharatiya Janata Party aka Jan Sangh…

November 2020 – The campaigning for GHMC Elections in Hyderabad is on full swing. The strongest party at the centre but not so strong in Telangana State ‘Bharatiya Janata Party’ is doing all it can to win the GHMC elections 2020. From being nowhere in the 2016 elections, BJP is the only Strong Contender for TRS. They are desperately waiting to make their entry into Telangana. After a close victory in Dubbaka Assembly by-election, BJP is keen for a victory in GHMC Elections 2020.

This isn’t really a new situation for BJP. Continuously BJP Politicians point at how BJP was at just 2 seats in 1984 General Elections to reach 303 seats in 2019 General Elections. Keeping your political affiliations aside, the story of BJP’s growth from 2 to 303 is one for everyone to notice and understand. There has been a slow and steady growth for BJP, in a business language we call it organic growth. This was so much like a pendulum, as BJP started to gain its ground in India, Indian National Congress went down in seat tally.

We now have BJP Govt in power for the last 25 years in Gujarat. The first place to bring change in Indian politics and acted as the flag bearer for BJP’s national dominance. Not just that, BJP is in power for the last 16 years in Madhya Pradesh. BJP won big in the last Uttar Pradesh elections. In the recently concluded Bihar elections, BJP won 74 in alliance with JDU. This is all about Northern India and the resurgence of BJP. But come down the story hasn’t been great for the saffron party. Except for Karnataka & Goa BJP doesn’t have enough presence in the other three states.

2020: Things look completely under control for BJP in the country, but how did this happen?

The BJP that we know today is the avatar of Jan Sangh Party founded by Syama Prasad Mookerjee. It was in the year 1951, Jan Sangh was found by Syama Prasad Mookerjee as a Right Wing Indian Political party.

Jana Sangh-BJP saga started in Delhi - The Sunday Guardian Live
Jan Sangh Party Logo

This was actually a political body of the right-wing institution Rashtriya Swayam Sevak. Jan Sangh though started with a vision to take right-wing ideology deep into the Indians, it couldn’t gather enough support. The very first election it contested in the year 1952, Jan Sangh could win just 3% votes. Below are the vote % and the year of general elections.

  • 1952 – 3%
  • 1957 – 4%
  • 1962 – 6%
  • 1967 – 9%
  • 1971 – 7%
Sea of Blue – Indian National Congress in First-Ever General Elections 1952

Soon the party was finding ways to expand and reach to nook and corner of the country. In the pursuit of gaining people’s attention, the party brought in promising leaders. It was Pandit Deendayal Upadhyay who spearheaded the next generation of Jan Sangh after Shyama Prasad Mukherjee. He dedicated his life to Bharatiya Jan Sangh. It was his efforts through which, Jan Sangh got an excellent leader and future Prime Minister Atal Bihari Vajpayee into politics. But an untimely and mysterious death made way for Atal Bihari Vajpayee. ABV took the role of president in the year 1968 and continued till 1972.

Jan Sangh peaked in the 1967 elections with 9.5% and 30 seats. After that, there was a brief lull when Indira Gandhi was dominating the Indian politics, especially after the 1971 war with Pakistan. Then came one of the biggest mistakes of Indira Gandhi. It was the year 1975 when Prime Minister Indira Gandhi declared emergency. This action by her led to the arrest of numerous political leaders for various parties. It had shaken the sentiments of the Indians and the parties.

The JP Movement gives birth to today’s Biggest Political Party in the World – Bharatiya Janata Party

Emergency 1977: The JP Movement started by JP Narayana against the emergency brought a sudden change a wave in support of the Janata Party. Jan Sangh decided to merge with Janata Party of Jaya Prakash Narayan. The main agenda of this party along with political parties from across the country was to defeat the arrogance of PM Indira Gandhi and her misuse of powers. In the year 1977 Janata Party won the elections defeating Indira Gandhi’s Congress. Morarji Desai took oath as the Prime Minister. The first non-congress Prime Minister and the first non-congress party had come to power.

But the victory didn’t last long as differences within Janata Party was used by Indira Gandhi to topple the Govt and came back to power in the elections held in 1980. In the same year, Bharatiya Janata Party came out of Janata Party and that started a new era of politics in India. It was in the power for the last 3 years, but technically Bharatiya Janata Party did not participate in the elections yet. The official formation only happened in 1980 but the first election it contested in the year 1984. Headed by Lal Krishna Advani, BJP won as few as 2 seats. One from Hanmakonda, Andhra Pradesh and another from Mehsana in Gujarat.

From that moment, BJP didn’t see a low till 2004. It only went upwards from here; it was the 1990’s which tuned out to be the turning point for LK Advani’s BJP. With nothing to lose but a lot to gain, BJP had to manage politics in the best way possible. Campaigning is most crucial in part in politics. It was one such campaign ‘Rath Yatra’ brought BJP to power and introduced to India that votes.

Now, does BJP have the right campaign in place to win the GHMC Elections 2020? December 4th will answer this for us. But we still have a lot to learn about the evolution of the Bharatiya Janata Party and how it shaped modern India!!! Will continue it in my next post….

 

BJP’s 2nd Consecutive Victory with 303 Seats! How did BJP achieve this? Coming in the next post…
Image source: Wikipedia - Google

Published by Sriram

A Teacher trying to Learn new things and explore the world each day! Believe in Happiness by the virtue of sacrifice and forgiveness.

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