Bharatiya Jana Sangh

The Bharatiya Jana Sangh (abbrv. BJS), commonly known as the Jan Sangh, was an Indian nationalist political party that existed from 1951 to 1977 and was the political arm of Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh (RSS), a Hindu right-wing organisation. In 1977, it merged with several other left, centre and right parties opposed to rule of the Indian National Congress and formed the Janata Party. After the Janata Party split in 1980, it was re-formed as the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) in 1980, which is one of India's largest political parties today.

Origins

The BJS was started by Syama Prasad Mookerjee on 21 October 1951 in Delhi in collaboration with the Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh (RSS) as a "nationalistic alternative" to the India Congress. After the death of Mookerjee, the RSS activists in the party edged out the career politicians and made it a political arm of the RSS and an integral part of the RSS family of organisations (Sangh Parivar).

The symbol of the party in Indian elections was an oil lamp and like the RSS, its ideology was centred on Hindutva. In the 1952 general elections to the Parliament of India, Bharatiya Jana Sangh won three seats, Mookerjee being one of the winning candidates. The BJS would often link up on issues and debates with the right-wing Swatantra Party of Chakravarti Rajagopalachari. Its strongest parliamentary performance came in the 1967 elections, when the Congress majority was its thinnest ever.