CPM RSS and the Constitution

 Kerala Minister Saji Cherian courts controversy with remarks against constitution

ANI

5 July, 2022 06:14 pm IST

Kerala Minister Saji Cherian courts controversy with remarks against constitution

Kerala Minister Saji Cheriyan (Photo/ANI)

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Pathanamthitta (Kerala) [India], July 5 (ANI): Kerala Minister Saji Cheriyan has courted controversy with his remarks that India’s constitution can be used to “loot” people of the country.

Addressing a CPI-M programme at Mallapally in Pathanamthitta district, Cheriyan, who is Fisheries and Cultural Affairs, the minister said the “Indian constitution can exploit people”.

“British prepared it, Indians wrote it and implemented it. It’s been 75 years. India wrote a beautiful constitution that can be used to loot. In that constitution, there are few places that have references to secularism, democracy but it can be exploited,” he said.

“We all say that we have a beautifully written Constitution. But, I will say, the Constitution is written in such a way that it can be used to loot the people of the country,” he said.

Several people including the Leader of Opposition in the state Assembly VD Satheesan hit out at the controversial remarks.

Taking to Twitter, Satheesan wrote, “Saji Cherian, Kerala Minister has made the most insulting statements about #IndianConstitution. Obnoxious words. He should resign or Chief Minister should demand the minister’s resignation. #Constitution”. (ANI)

Kerala assembly adjourned after UDF protest over Minister’s anti-Constitution remarks

As soon as the House proceedings began, the opposition members trooped into the well of the House raising slogans demanding the resignation of Cheriyan.

By: PTI | Thiruvananthapuram |

July 6, 2022 10:01:04 am

Saji Cheriyan (File)

The Kerala Assembly on Wednesday witnessed intense protests by the Congress-led UDF opposition over Minister Saji Cheriyan’s remarks against the Constitution, following which Speaker M B Rajesh declared the House adjourned for the day.

As soon as the House proceedings began, the opposition members trooped into the well of the House raising slogans demanding the resignation of Cheriyan.

They urged the Speaker to suspend the question hour and take up the notice for their adjournment motion to discuss the issue.

However, the speaker decided to adjourn the House for the day as the UDF members did not pay heed to his request to go back to their respective seats.

The opposition members later walked out of the House and staged a protest at the portal of the Assembly hall with placards and raised slogans against the minister and the Left government.

Saji Cheriyan, the minister for Cultural Affairs and Fisheries, on Tuesday landed in trouble for his remarks against the Constitution, triggering a huge political row in the state, but expressed regret soon claiming that he is a public servant upholding the noble constitutional values.

In the visuals aired by the TV channels, the minister could be seen saying in a recent event that the Constitution of the country “condones exploitation” and is written in a way helping to “plunder” the people of the country, drawing sharp reaction from the opposition parties which sought his immediate removal from the Pinarayi Vijayan-led LDF cabinet.

Kerala minister Saji Cheriyan resigns amid protests over his anti-Constitution remark

Though Cheriyan maintained that the decision to quit was his own, indications are that he was nudged to do so by the party on a day of hectic parley.

By: Express News Service | Thiruvananthapuram |

Updated: July 7, 2022 7:02:10 am

Governor Arif Mohammed Khan accepted the resignation and allocated the portfolios held by Saji Cheriyan to the chief minister, according to a Raj Bhavan tweet. (PTI)

Kerala minister Saji Cheriyan on Wednesday announced his resignation over his controversial remarks against the Constitution at the end of a day of hectic parley amidst mounting criticism from various quarters, not least from the Opposition Congress and the BJP.

Apparently succumbing to pressure from the CPI (M) central leadership, Cheriyan — a senior leader who held cultural affairs, fisheries and youth affairs portfolios in the cabinet — met media persons at the chief minister’s office (CMO) and announced that he had handed over his resignation to Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan. Cheriyan is the first minister to resign from the second Left Democratic Front (LDF) government headed by Vijayan.

Governor Arif Mohammed Khan accepted the resignation and allocated the portfolios held by him to the chief minister, according to a Raj Bhavan tweet.

Speaking at a party function in Pathanamthitta on Monday, Cheriyan had said that the Constitution endorses the exploitation and loot of the common people. “I would say the Constitution has been written in such a manner as to ensure that the maximum number of people are looted. What the British prepared, Indians penned down. Over the last 75 years that it has been implemented, I would say this is a Constitution that ensures the exploitation of the maximum number of people in the country,” he had said.

As the Opposition Congress and the BJP took to the streets demanding Cheriyan’s resignation over the comment, he said that his remarks were distorted and even on Wednesday morning maintained that he would not resign over the issue.

After attending a meeting of the available state secretariat at AKG Centre in Thiruvananthapuram, Cheriyan responded to questions on whether he would be resigning with a query of his own — “Why?” “…What is the problem? I already said what I had to say yesterday.”

However, at the same time, CPI(M) general secretary Sitaram Yechury told reporters in New Delhi that the matter was being discussed by the state leadership and “appropriate action” would be taken.

In the morning, the state assembly proceedings were disrupted by the Opposition’s agitations demanding Cheriyan’s resignation leading to the House being adjourned for the day.

After staging a brief sit-in protest at the portal of the hall with placards, the United Democratic Front (UDF) members gathered in front of the statue of B R Ambedkar at the assembly campus and raised slogans accusing Cheriyan of “insulting’ the architect of the Constitution through his harsh remarks. Besides that, there were protests in various parts of Kerala demanding his resignation.

Political Pulse |Fending off other storms, Kerala CPM buffeted by another: minister’s remarks on Constitution

In the evening, Kanam Rajendran, state secretary of CPI, the second-largest party in the LDF government, said that his party would react on the issue only after the CPI(M) decided on its due course of action.

Around 5.30 pm, Cheriyan appeared before the media and announced his resignation and said that it was his own decision to quit. He insisted that it was never his intention to disrespect the Constitution for which he has the “highest regard and respect”.

“I was hurt by such a portrayal of what I had said. I also believe it was aimed at destabilising the ruling Left government,” he said and reiterated that he had no intention to disrespect the Constitution. He also alleged that it was the Congress and the BJP which have failed many times to uphold the majesty of the Constitution.

Welcoming his resignation, leader of Opposition in the state assembly V D Satheesan, as well as other senior Congress leaders, said Cheriyan had not expressed any regret over his remarks nor had the chief minister, his party or the CPI(M) politburo indicated their stand on the speech.

Satheesan further said: “We sought the resignation because it was a dangerous stand he took through that speech. He was toeing the Sangh Parivar line. Why is CPI(M) not taking any stand in this matter? The Congress party feels that he should also resign his MLA post.”

“The police case will continue as he did a criminal offence. He does not have any privilege. The CM should express his opinion about this incident. Why is he not responding to this controversy?” he added.

Kerala Pradesh Congress Committee (KPCC) chief K Sudhakaran said it was good that Cheriyan exited without much protest.”Our Constitution is special as this is the only one which calls for unity in diversity. If this Constitution is weakened, then our country will be lost,” he added.

Also read |Kerala assembly adjourned after UDF protest over Minister’s anti-Constitution remarks

BJP state chief K Surendran too expressed a similar view and added that the protests would not stop with Cheriyan’s resignation. “It seems like he still stands by what he had said in the speech. Cheriyan has not so far rendered a public apology. Neither the CPI(M) nor the Chief Minister have said Cheriyan’s speech was anti-Constitutional. The disrespect towards the Constitution still continues,” Surendran said.

“He is not absolved from his crime just because he resigned from his minister post. Cheriyan must publicly apologise and resign from the MLA post. If he does not resign from the MLA post, then we will move legally,” he added.

The day also saw a magistrate court at Thiruvalla in Pathanamthitta district directing the Keezhvaipur police to register a case against Cheriyan on the basis of a plea moved by an Ernakulam-based lawyer for allegedly insulting the Constitution, according to PTI.

A leader close to CM Vijayan

A two-time MLA and first-time minister, Cheriyan has represented the Chengannur constituency in the state assembly since 2018. The 57-year-old leader is considered as a strongman of the ruling party in Alappuzha district and a confidante of CM Vijayan.

Beginning his political career as a student leader of the Students’ Federation of India (SFI) and Democratic Youth Federation of India (DYFI), Cheriyan also held various party posts during his decade-long political life. Though he contested for the first time in the 2006 assembly election, he lost to Congress’ P C Vishnunath.

He was elected to the House as legislator in the byelection in 2018 from Chengannur constituency by a record margin. During the 2021 assembly election, he won the seat by a margin of over 30,000 votes beating his nearest rival.

The first Pinarayi Vijayan government saw the resignation of at least four ministers over various controversies — E P Jayarajan, A K Saseendran, Thomas Chandy and K T Jaleel. Of them, Saseendran and Jayarajan had been re-inducted into the cabinet after sometime.

Another minister, Mathew T Thomas also quit from the first Vijayan government but as part of his party, JD(S)’ decision for the induction of K Krishnankutty into the then cabinet.

Amid row over CPM leader’s Constitution remark, a bout on the side between RSS, Congress leader Satheesan

CPM's Saji Cheriyan shares Golwalkar's ideology, says Satheesan; RSS warns of legal action.

Written by Shaju Philip | Thiruvananthapuram |

Updated: July 11, 2022 11:47:33 am

Saji Cheriyan (File)

The row over CPI(M) leader Saji Cheriyan’s remarks on the Constitution, which led to his stepping down as minister last week, has now escalated as a war of words between the RSS and the Congress.

While targeting Cheriyan over his controversial remarks on the Constitution, Congress leader Satheesan alleged that the CPI(M) leader had reiterated what Golwalkar stated in his “Bunch of Thoughts” and that Cheriyan shared the RSS leader’s ideology. “Who does not know that the approach of Cheriyan towards the Indian Constitution is the same as that of the RSS,’’ Satheshan, the Leader of the Opposition, had said.

Also Read |Kerala minister Saji Cheriyan resigns amid protests over his anti-Constitution remark

The RSS state committee on Saturday responded by serving a notice to Satheesan and warning of legal action if he failed to retract his statement.

In an outburst against the Constitution at a party function, Cheriyan had stated, among other things, that the Indian Constitution endorses the exploitation and loot of the common people.

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In Kerala, where the minority vote bank is crucial for winning any election, both the CPI(M) and the Congress have always tried to accuse each other of having Sangh Parivar leanings.

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Recently, the CPM had, while referring to the protests over K-Rail and the gold smuggling scandal, accused the Congress, BJP and other Sangh Parivar outfits of joining hands against the party-led Left Democratic Front government. Similarly, when the CPI(M)’s party congress held in Kannur in April decided against a pre-poll alliance with the Congress at the national level in the next general elections, the Congress had accused the CPI(M) and the Sangh Parivar of working together in Kerala. Also, when the Kerala government sent a delegation to Gujarat to study the state’s dashboard system, the Congress had taunted that Pinarayi Vijayan was emulating the Modi model of development. It reminded the CPI(M) that a decade ago, the party had sacked their MP A P Abdullakutty on charges of praising Modi.

EXPLAINED

Criticism of RSS over Golwalkar’s views

Speaking to the media on Saturday, Satheesan stuck to his stand and said, “Golwalkar had stated that the Constitution is just a cumbersome and heterogeneous piecing together of various articles from various constitutions of Western countries. It has absolutely nothing which can be called our own. This is the same thing that Cheriyan stated about the Indian Constitution, that the British prepared it… I reject their notice with contempt.’’

Also Read |Kerala govt reallocates Cheriyan’s portfolios to 3 ministers

The RSS responded by pointing out that Satheesan had in the past attended several Sangh Parivar events related to Golwalkar.

RSS leader and Kerala Hindu Aikyavedi general secretary R V Babu said in a Facebook post, “In 2006, Satheesan had inaugurated a seminar on religious terrorism on the occasion of the birth centenary of Golwalkar. He lit a lamp in front of an image of Bharat Mata. He did not find any fault with the RSS then. Now, Satheesan who backs Islamic terrorism, hopes that his anti-RSS stand will fetch him votes,’’ he said.

The BJP also hit out, with party state vice-president C Sadanandan Master pointing to a 2013 RSS event that Satheesan reportedly attended as a Congress legislator. “He (Satheesan) is now comparing the anti-national statement of CPI(M) leader Saji Cheriyan with the words of the honourable Guruji (Golwalkar). If Satheesan had felt that Guruji’s words were seditious, why did he then attend the RSS event in 2013 in Thrissur? Satheesan had then given a lengthy speech on the thoughts shared by Bharatheeya Vichar Kendram (which is associated with RSS). He had praised the Kendram and its activities. Now things have changed for Satheesan. This is self-deception,’’ he said.

Also Read |RSS notice: Satheesan says he stands by his remarks on Golwalker’s book

Satheesan on Sunday did not react to the RSS’s statements.

Sangh’s strongest critics have often used Golwalkar’s views on the Constitution and Muslims to take on the RSS on its alleged hardline position. In 2018, during a lecture series organised by the outfit, RSS chief Mohan Bhagwat had, while referring to a new edition of Golwalkar’s Bunch of Thoughts, said, “As far as Bunch of Thoughts goes, every statement carries a context of time and circumstance…his enduring thoughts are in a popular edition in which we have removed all remarks that have a temporary context and retained those that will endure for ages. You won’t find the (Muslim-is-an-enemy) remark there.”

CPM RSS BJP Janasangh alliance

 CPM RSS BJP Janasangh alliance 

Was Congress or CPM more pally with RSS? Debate rages

Onmanorama Staff Published: July 14, 2022 09:5...

Read more at: https://www.onmanorama.com/news/kerala/2022/07/14/congress-cpm-on-rss-kerala-assembly.html

Thiruvananthapuram: A day after Opposition Leader V D Satheesan charged him with soliciting RSS votes to win in 1977, Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan came to the Assembly on Thursday armed with his version of history. However, since they had staged a boycott, the Opposition UDF was not present. in the House to poke holes in Pinarayi's arguments.

Satheesan's basic charge was that the CPM was in alliance with Jan Sangh, the forerunner of the BJP, during the 1977 Assembly elections that took place right after the Emergency.

Pinarayi said the CPM was then part of the broad anti-Congress alliance forged by the Janata Party led by Jayaprakash Narayan to oppose the Emergency and the reign of terror unleashed by Congress. He said Jan Sangh had also later joined this national alliance after dissolving the party. "All parties like the Socialist Party, Swatantra Party, Praja Socialist Party and Congress (O) dissolved themselves to merge with the Janata Party. Chandrasekhar (who later became Prime Minister) was the president of and its symbol was a farmer and plough," the Chief Minister said. "It was a broad alliance of democratic forces that came together to fight the Congress and our tie-up was with the Janata Party and not the Jan Sangh. It was a time when the Congress had emasculated  all democratic institutions," he added. 

Pinarayi said that the kind of atrocities the Congress had unleashed in other places like West Bengal under Siddharth Shankar Ray was sought to be replicated in areas like Tholambra, Mambaram and Narikode in Kannur.

Even when there was an alliance with the Janata Party, Pinarayi said the CPM had openly opposed the RSS. "It was also the time the CPM was trying to defend itself against the RSS attacks," the Chief Minister said.

He also hinted that he had not received any support from the RSS during the 1977 polls. "Koothuparamba  is the land of the Thalassery riot martyr U K Kumaran. That is a place where the RSS had always, then and now, considered the CPM its biggest foe," Pinarayi said. He had then defeated the RSP candidate Abdul Khader by a majority of nearly 4500 votes; both the RSP and CPI were part of the Congress-led front then.

Pinarayi then sought to turn the tables on Congress. He said KPCC president K Sudhakaran, who was then a youth wing leader of the Janata Party, was the election committee office-bearer of Jan Sangh  leader K G Marar, the candidate of the anti-Congress alliance fielded in Uduma. Sudhakaran's party Indian National Congress (O) had merged with the Janata Party.

The Janata Party experiment failed and Morarji Desai had to resign when the dual membership of Jan Sangh members became an issue. Pinarayi said the CPM quickly severed even this tenuous link it had with rightwing forces in 1977. In the polls held soon after in 1979, in four Assembly constituencies, Pinarayi said E M S had openly declared that the Left did not want a single RSS vote. "I was there when EMS made the declaration. We won all the four seats (Kasaragod, Thalassery, Tiruvalla, and Parassala)," Pinarayi said.

The very next year, when both Lok Sabha and Assembly elections took place simultaneously, Pinarayi said that known RSS leaders like O Rajagopal and K G Marar were fielded as part of the Congress-led UDF. He said O Rajagopal was the Congress-led Front's candidate from the Kasaragod Lok Sabha constituency. K G Marar was the UDF candidate for the Peringalam Assembly constituency. That same year, Pinarayi said K Sudhakaran was a Janata Party candidate in the Congress-led Front and was defeated. 

Why Left joined forces with Sangh Parivar in 1977? 

Ayyappan R 

Published: June 28, 2019 

Former Kerala BJP President KG Marar, CPI(M) leader T Sivadasa Menon, former BJP President LK Advani and BJP MLA O Rajagopal....

Both the UDF and LDF members in the Kerala Assembly might stand a corruption charge brought against them but not an assertion, even a vague insinuation, that their party once had a dalliance with the Sangh Parivar. An affair with the BJP is considered the worst form of insult by both the fronts.

Therefore, it was no wonder when the ruling party members sprang to their feet shouting, screaming and banging their desks when Muslim League MLA T V Ibrahim said in the Assembly on Friday that the CPM was in an open alliance with the Sangh Parivar forces during the 1977 elections.

“K G Marar was the candidate of the CPM-led front in Uduma. You know who Marar was? He was the state's Jan Sangh chief,” Ibrahim said. Ibrahim had more to say. “You know who inaugurated the convention of the CPM's Palakkad candidate T Sivadasa Menon? It was none other than L K Advani,” he said. By then all hell had broken loose on the ruling side. 

“And you know who translated Advani's speech during the CPM candidate's convention. O Rajagopal,” Ibrahim said. “This means that Pinarayi Vijayan, Marar and Advani were in the same camp in 1977,” Ibrahim added. (In 1977, Pinarayi Vijayan was CPM's Koothuparamba candidate.).

Ibrahim's provocative comments were made during the discussion on the Finance Bill in the Assembly on Friday. The LDF backbenchers were so worked up that deputy speaker V Sasi, who was in the chair,  allowed CPM MLA M Swaraj to make a point of order.

“The Kondotty MLA (Ibrahim) has been uttering falsehoods and trying to mislead the House. This is not a place where he can speak all that comes to his mind,” Swaraj shouted over the din. “What is your point,” the opposition heckled him. He did not get to the point but said: “We know who went with whom in 1980.”

The young CPM MLA was perhaps hinting at how Congress (I) and Janata Party, of which Jan Sangh was a.member, came together to prop up the C H Muhammad Koya ministry, which did not last for more than two months, after P K Vasudevan resigned as Chief Minister in 1979.

Though he wanted the lie to be removed from the Assembly records, Swaraj did not clarify what the lie was. The opposition members kept asking him to elaborate on 1977.

Soon enough they got the details. C K Nanu of Janata Dal (S) gave a spirited and emotional defence of the Left's alliance with the Jan Sangh during the 1977 elections that came after Emergency was imposed. Nanu was with the Socialist Party then. Stunning the ruling benches, the octogenarian spoke highly of the veteran BJP leader Marar, painting him as a martyr worthy of reverence.

“K G Marar did not contest as a Jan Sangh candidate but as a Janata Party candidate. It was the need of the hour then. The world's largest democracy was under threat and we had to save it,” Nanu said. Jan Sangh had then dissolved and merged with the Janata Party to fight Indira Gandhi.

Janata Party in Kerala then included both socialists and Jan Sangh, the BJP's earlier avatar. At the national level, the CPM was part of an alliance headed by the Janata Party.

Nanu felt that the Muslim League should have actually stood by the Left alliance in 1977. “Except in Kerala, Muslims across the coTurkman Gate in Delhi you chose to stand with those who imposed the Emergency,” he told the Muslim League members.

(Hundreds who had gathered at Turkman Gate in 1976 to protest against the demolition of their houses by the Indira Gandhi government at the height of Emergency was shot at and brutalised by the police. Twenty civilians had died in the firing.)

Nanu said that it were the sacrifices of people like Marar that saved democracy. “They were the ones who suffered and went to jail. They were the ones who risked their lives to keep democracy alive,” Nanu, a former Congressman-turned-socialist, said. “You and I can speak so freely because people like Marar were willing to suffer,” he said....

CPI(M) has never allied with RSS: Kodiyeri

STAFF REPORTERKALPETTA:APRIL 27, 2016 00:00 IST

UPDATED: SEPTEMBER 09, 2016 00:05 IST

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CPI(M) State secretary Kodiyeri Balakrishnan has said that his party never had a tie-up with the RSS or the BJP. He was inaugurating an election campaign meeting at Panamaram on Tuesday.

Denying the allegation of some senior Congress leaders that the CPI(M) had made alliance with the RSS during the Emergency, Mr. Balakrishnan said his party had allied with the Janata Party – not with the RSS or the Jan Sangh – to dethrone the then Prime Minister Indira Gandhi in the 1977 general election after the Emergency.

The Congress leaders had made such an allegation to cover up their clandestine alliance with the BJP in the Assembly election, Mr. Balakrishnan said. The voters in the State would oust the Oommen Chandy government on May 19 and it would be the answer for the alliance, he said.

The Left political parties had a significant role to make the State a role model for secularism in the country, Mr. Balakrishnan said.

Next is the details of how 

@cpimspeak

 gave helped them grow at national level!

1989 When VP Singh formed Govt it was CPM who supported this alliance along with BJP! 

If they had rejected alliance with the facist forces notorious Rath Yathra might have never hapnd

Sudheeran opens debate on CPI(M)-BJP ‘links’

Girish MenonAPRIL 26, 2016 00:00 IST

KPCC president raises 11 questions on the alleged ties

Kerala Pradesh Congress Committee president V.M. Sudheeran has opened a new Facebook debate on the alleged ties between the Communist Party of India (Marxist) [CPI(M)] and the Bharatiya Janata Party [BJP] and the alleged attempt of the CPI(M) leadership to run a misleading campaign linking the Congress to the BJP.

To assert his point, Mr. Sudheeran has uploaded a photograph from 1989 on his Facebook page along with 11 questions on the CPI(M)’s alleged links with the BJP. Mr. Sudheeran has apparently tried to revive the decades-old allegations to reply to the recent allegations of Left Democratic Front leaders about a possible Congress-BJP understanding in the May 16 Assembly election.

Mr. Sudheeran raised questions in a chronological order beginning from the post-Emergency ties between the CPI(M) and the erstwhile Jana Sangh, the predecessor of the BJP. His questions relating to the 1977 period were mostly on the alliance of the CPI(M) with the Janata Party, in which the Jana Sangh had merged soon after the electoral victory. Through the posers, he alleged that the CPI(M) and Jana Sangh leaders had campaigned for each others’ candidates in Uduma and Koothuparamba, which were contested by the then Jana Sangh leader K.G. Marar and Pinarayi Vijayan respectively.

The photograph he posted had A.B. Vajpayee, N.T. Rama Rao, L.K. Advani, V.P. Singh, Jyoti Basu and E.M.S. Namboodiripad. Mr. Sudheeran’s main thrust was to establish the CPI(M)’s alleged links with the BJP. Referring to the withdrawal of support to the first UPA government, Mr. Sudheeran asked the CPI(M) leadership whether it could deny the fact that the party had voted along with the BJP to bring down that government.

He asked the CPI(M) whether the party was not responsible for helping the BJP by splitting secular votes in the recent Bihar elections.

Through the posers, Mr. Sudheeran also alleged that the CPI(M) leaders had maintained a studied silence when the Lok Sabha discussed the allegations of Kirti Azad against Union Finance Minister Arun Jaitely.

Why Left joined forces with Sangh Parivar in 1977? 

Ayyappan R

 Published: June 28, 2019 03:32 PM IST...

Read more at: https://www.onmanorama.com/news/kerala/2019/06/28/left-and-sangh-parivar-in-1977.html

Recalling JP: Freedom Fighter Who Dented Indira Gandhi, Made BJP And Non-Congress Socialism Mainstream

Much credit for the rise of the Jana Sangh, the predecessor of the BJP, to the status of a mainstream political party goes to its collaboration with JP, a lifelong socialist who had taken a Gandhian turn, in the 1970s and the Lohia socialists and Lok Dal in the 1960s.

Jaya Prakash Narayan File Photo

Outlook Magzine 

Vikas Pathak

UPDATED: 08 OCT 2021 4:16 PM

On this very day in 1979, Jaya Prakash Narayan, veteran freedom fighter and the leader of the JP movement of 1974-75 against Indira Gandhi’s government, passed away.

Forty-two years after his death, BJP president JP Nadda took to Twitter early on Friday morning to pay tributes to JP in Hindi. Roughly translated, his tweet said, “Tributes on the death anniversary of Loknayak Jaya Prakash Narayan, who gave a call for ‘Total Revolution’ to rid the nation of an unfettered government that clamped the Emergency. Such a leader who devoted his entire life to defending the motherland and democracy will always be a role model for us.”

Indeed, much credit for the rise of the Jana Sangh, the predecessor of the BJP, to the status of a mainstream political party goes to its collaboration with JP, a lifelong socialist who had taken a Gandhian turn, in the 1970s and the Lohia socialists and Lok Dal in the 1960s.

“Participation in the JP movement is widely held to be the Jana Sangh’s entry into the cherished space of civil liberties,” political scientist Sajjan Kumar told Outlook.

In 1963, the socialists and the Jana Sangh fielded joint candidates on four seats in Lok Sabha by-polls to challenge the Congress’ formidable vote bank of the so-called upper castes, Muslims and Dalits. The new alliance had an alternative vote bank: the small urban and largely ‘upper caste’ support base of the Jana Sangh and the rising Hindu ‘backward caste’ base of the socialists. Ram Manohar Lohia won the poll as the joint opposition candidate from Farrukhabad in UP. However, the Jana Sangh’s Deen Dayal Upadhyaya lost his election despite the alliance.

In 1967, the socialists, the Jana Sangh, the Rashtriya Kranti Dal of Charan Singh -- who had left the Congress the same year -- and even the CPI (M) came together in states like UP and Bihar in the legislative assemblies to form short-lived governments on the plank of ‘anti-Congressism’.

“The anti-Congress alliances that the Jana Sangh and the socialists wove together also marked the rise of the backward castes as an electoral force. These groups and the Jana Sangh’s small Hindutva base could together become electorally viable,” Sajjan Kumar contends.

However, JP, who had quit politics long back, was involved in social, constructive, work in these days.

His re-entry into public life took place in 1974, when a broad student opposition group, the Chhatra Sangharsh Samiti, protesting against the Congress government in Bihar met him to seek his leadership for their movement.

KN Govindacharya says this happened just after students tried to storm the Patna Legislative Assembly on March 18, 1974. The police resorted to firing, which killed some students.

Talking to Outlook at VP House in the national capital, he jogs his memory to recall details of the fateful day, which would lead to the iconic JP movement against Indira Gandhi. Govindacharya was on the spot as an RSS pracharak.

“The police seemed to be getting the upper hand. Just then, a young activist called Akshay Singh, a resident of Palamu, drove a bus filled with stones into the ground that separated the road from the assembly building. This tilted the scales yet again in favour of the students,” Govindacharya recalls. He remembers a girl from Maharashtra, Lata Kamat, who stepped out right between the clashing police and students, not fearing for her life. However, in the police firing, three students were killed.

After this, Govindacharya went to meet Jaya Prakash Narayan, with whom he had worked in Bihar draught relief some years back, asking him to join the movement. A delegation of 13 youth met JP a second time.

JP initially said, Govindacharya recalls, that the protesters were violent people. Govindacharya defended them, claiming Congress ally CPI and the ruling party were behind the chaos. As “proof”, he asked JP why only the offices of Pradeep and Searchlight, both pro-agitation, were torched, and not those of pro-government publications Aryavarta and Indian Nation.

JP agreed to lead the movement, making non-violence a condition.

JP’s entry added a spark to the movement, from Patna to Delhi. The tide was beginning to turn against Indira Gandhi, as JP addressed mammoth rallies. To add to the Prime Minister’s discomfiture, the Allahabad High Court held her election to Rai Bareli null and void. The Supreme Court gave her limited relief: she could attend Parliament but not vote there.

With the situation deteriorating, Indira Gandhi imposed the Emergency on the midnight of June 25, 1975, and opposition leaders were jailed. Pre-censorship of the press also began. Controversial policies like forced vasectomy and the bulldozing of Turkman Gate in Delhi were carried out.

Fresh elections were ordered in 1977 and Emergency revoked.

For the 1977 polls, the Jana Sangh, Charan Singh’s Bharatiya Lok Dal, the breakaway Congress faction Congress (O) and the Swatantra Party merged themselves to form the Janata Party, which defeated the Congress in the Lok Sabha elections held post-Emergency.

Internal ideological contests, however, ensured that the Janata government did not have smooth sailing. JP himself passed away in 1979.

The party was rocked by demands that Jana Sangh ministers could not also be part of the RSS at the same time. Eventually, the party split and Indira Gandhi stormed back to power. The Jana Sangh component of the Janata Party formed the BJP in 1980, and Vajpayee as party president sought to evoke the legacy of JP as a beacon for the party for some years. But, the massive defeat of 1984 convinced the BJP that its ideological distinctiveness could not be discarded.

However, the heady 1970s weren’t all that JP was about. He was one of the architects of the Congress Socialist Party formed within the Congress in 1934 to steer it in a more socialist direction. He acquired an aura of his own during the Quit India Movement. When the top leadership was arrested, JP and Aruna Asaf Ali continued to keep the movement alive underground.

Jawaharlal Nehru invited JP to be a part of his Cabinet, but JP wasn’t interested in holding office. Within years, he announced his retirement from politics and became a full-fledged social activist, practising Gandhian Sarvodaya and lending his helping hand for constructive work.

JP’s lasting political impact, however, has consisted in his acting as a bridge between the socialists and the Jana Sangh.

He initially had “misgivings” that the RSS was “communal”, Govindacharya told Outlook. “He asked me why there were no Muslim RSS pracharaks and I answered that even his Sarvodaya had just two Muslim volunteers. Does that make you communal, I asked him?”

Later, however, JP at the height of the Congress-JP movement duel even declared at a programme: “If the RSS is fascist, so am I.”

Nadda’s tweet is the most recent reminder of the debt that not only the socialist parties but also the BJP owe to JP.

Prakash Ambedkar urges Yashwant Sinha to withdraw from Presidential race

 Prakash Ambedkar urges Yashwant Sinha to withdraw from Presidential race

ANI

16 July, 2022 04:15 pm IST

Prakash Ambedkar urges Yashwant Sinha to withdraw from Presidential race

Vanchit Bahujan Aaghadi national president Prakash Ambedkar (Photo:ANI)

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Mumbai (Maharashtra) [India], July 16 (ANI): Days ahead of the Presidential polls, Vanchit Bahujan Aaghadi national president Prakash Ambedkar on Saturday urged Opposition’s candidate Yashwant Sinha to withdraw from the race and said that many “Scheduled Caste and Scheduled Tribe members” from across the parties have lent their support in favour of NDA candidate Droupadi Murmu.

The voting for the presidential polls is slated to take place on Monday while the counting of votes will take place on Thursday.

“Requesting Mr Yashwant Sinha to withdraw from the Presidential race because many Scheduled Caste and Scheduled Tribe members from across the parties are joining to vote in favour of Madam Droupadi Murmu,” Ambedkar tweeted.

Notably, various parties have extended their support to the NDA candidate including Congress ally Shiv Sena, Samajwadi Party ally Suheldev Bharatiya Samaj Party (SBSP), and RJD ally Jharkhand Mukti Morcha (JMM), Akhilesh Yadav’s uncle Shivpal Singh Yadav has also extended his support to Murmu.

YSR Congress Party, Biju Janata Dal (BJD) and Shiromani Akali Dal have already extended their support to Murmu.

Murmu is a former Governor of Jharkhand and a former Odisha minister. If elected, she will be the first tribal President of India and the country’s second woman President. Born in a poor tribal family in the village of Mayurbhanj, a backward district in Odisha, Murmu completed her studies despite challenging circumstances.

Murmu is the first presidential candidate from Odisha of a major political party or alliance.

Murmu filed her nomination papers at the Parliament Library Building in the national capital. Prime Minister Narendra Modi proposed her name for the nomination, which was seconded by Defence Minister Rajnath Singh.