BJP Foundation Day: Atal-Advani was removed from the party with a majority of just 3 votes, BJP became two days later

‘It is not easy to find the mind of the Indian voter’

In his book, Advani writes, “One topic that has baffled me throughout my political life is how Indian voters determine their choice in elections? Sometimes their trends can be anticipated, but most are not Indian.” Due to the large diversity of voters, it is usually impossible to predict election results. However, there are times that the collective behavior of the voters seems to be driven by a single emotion and can be judged by their choice. Formal training Despite not receiving, an experienced political activist can often predict which way the electoral wind is blowing. “

I realized this in the 1980 election …

Advani writes, “I did this before the 1977 general elections that took place after the Emergency. And I did it again in the early 1980s, when mid-term elections were held after the dissolution of the Sixth Lok Sabha. I know It was that the political party would be wiped out and Indira Gandhi would return to power. The reason for this was clear. If the spirit of fury against the Emergency brought the Janata Party to power in 1977, another collective quarrel led to the collapse of the Janata Party government The frustration generated broke the confusion of the people and this time it was going to affect the behavior of the voters. “

The blame for the defeat was put on the people associated with the Jana Sangh …

The former deputies PM further wrote in his suicide, “The Janata Party’s massive defeat also made me aware of another aspect of the behavior of voters. When voters want to teach a misguided political party a lesson, it is often against that party Because of the anger. In 1980, we also learned that deep disillusionment can also incite us to punish a party that does not live up to its expectations.

….. The electoral defeat deepened the dual membership dispute within the Janata Party, which remained in effect until the parliamentary elections. On 25 February 1980, Jagjivan Ram wrote a letter to party president Chandrashekhar demanding a discussion on the issue. Efforts were made to put the entire blame of the defeat on those who were associated with the Jana Sangh and were determined that they would not break their ties with the Sangh. “

And we were expelled from the party with 3 votes

Advani talks about the circumstances from which the BJP was born. He writes, “The anti-union campaign within the Janata Party cooled the enthusiasm of the activists in the 1980 Lok Sabha elections. This clearly benefited the Congress and it attempted to bring down the Janata Party’s performance in the elections. 4 On April, an important meeting of the National Executive of the Janata Party was scheduled in New Delhi, in which the final decision on dual membership was to be taken. Morarji Desai and some other members retained us in the Janata Party on the basis of acceptance of mutual agreement Made a final attempt. But the future was written. The National Executive of the Janata Party rejected the compromise formula by 17 votes compared to 14 and a resolution was passed that the members of the former Jana Sangh be expelled. “

‘One party fell to a thousand pieces, some fell here, some fell there’

Says Advani, “It was a strange coincidence that the very next day, Jagjivan Ram left the Janata Party and joined the Congress (U) party led by YV Chavan. Charan Singh had already left the party. Those who survived in the original Janata Party They were simply relics, chaired by Chandrasekhar. Many critics started making fun of the party. In a film song, ‘Ish dil ke khous hui, koi here gir, koi there gir’, he changed the word heart from the party Said sarcastically, ‘One party fell to a thousand pieces, some fell here, some fell there.’ “

Birth of BJP in Ferozeshah Kotla

According to Advani, ‘More than 3,500 delegates gathered at the two-day national convention of April 5-6, 1980 at Ferozeshah Kotla Maidan in Delhi and on 6 April announced the formation of a new political party Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP). done. Atal Bihari Vajpayee was elected its first president. I was given the responsibility of General Secretary along with Sikandar Bakht and Surajbhan. There was speculation whether the new party would revive the Jana Sangh? Atal ji categorically rejected this speculation in his presidential speech. They said, no we will not go back.

‘Everyone liked the name of Atalji Bharatiya Janata Party’

Advani writes in his book, “From the beginning our emphasis was not on returning to the Jana Sangh, but to start not one. It is also evident from the intense deliberations by senior members of the party in the name of the new party. Some felt that it should be called the Bharatiya Jana Sangh. But an overwhelming majority supported the Bharatiya Janata Party, the name given by Atalji, which showed both our Bharatiya Jana Sangh and the Janata Party a proud relationship and made it clear That we are not a party with a new identity. “

Atal-Advani gave new identity to BJP

The first President of BJP was Atal Bihari Vajpayee. At one time the BJP used to do politics talking about following Gandhi’s ideals. After winning only two seats in the 1984 Lok Sabha elections, the party was attracted to Hindutva. By making Ram Janmabhoomi an agenda, the pair of Vajpayee and Advani brought the BJP into mainstream politics. The BJP won 85 Lok Sabha seats in 1989, then captured 120 seats in 1991. The BJP, led by Vajpayee, gave the country the first permanent coalition government. After the BJP lost the elections in 2004, the search for the next round of leaders in the party began.

Modi and Shah reached the peak of popularity for BJP

Even in the 2009 Lok Sabha elections, when the BJP could not come back, Narendra Modi, who was the Chief Minister of Gujarat, was given the responsibility. The 2014 Lok Sabha elections were contested by BJP by Modi’s face.

In those elections, BJP had the best performance ever and was in a position to form a government on its own for the first time. The party had won 282 seats. The next Lok Sabha elections saw the BJP’s tally getting stronger. In 2019, BJP won 303 seats and Modi again became Prime Minister.

When Amit Shah was BJP President, he started a campaign to make BJP the largest political party in the world. Today she claims to be 18 crore members.

Ram temple, fulfilled promise on section 370

The BJP is basically right-wing. The party has fulfilled the promise of annihilating the special temple of Ram temple and Jammu and Kashmir in Ayodhya. Work is going on on issues like the National Register of Citizens, the Citizenship Amendment Act. Apart from this, BJP has also been talking about uniform civil code. The party’s mouthpiece is ‘Kamal Sandesh’ which is a fortnightly magazine. The election symbol of BJP, which is moving forward on Hindu nationalism, is ‘Kamal’. There is also an interesting story of how Kamal became the BJP’s election symbol. Click here to read.