1.
Atal Bihari Vajpayee
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Atal Bihari Vajpayee is an Indian politician who was the 10th Prime Minister of India, first for 13 days in 1996 and then from 1998 to 2004. A leader of the Bharatiya Janata Party, he is the first Prime Minister from outside the Indian National Congress party to serve a full five-year term, a parliamentarian for over four decades, Vajpayee was elected to the Lok Sabha ten times, and twice to the Rajya Sabha. He also served as the Member of Parliament for Lucknow, Uttar Pradesh, until 2009, Vajpayee was one amongst the founder members of erstwhile Bharatiya Jana Sangh, which he had also headed. He was also the Minister of External Affairs in the cabinet of Morarji Desai, when Janata government collapsed, Vajpayee restarted the Jana Sangh as the Bharatiya Janata Party in 1980. On 25 December 2014 the office of President of India announced the Bharat Ratna award, Indias highest civilian honour, in a special gesture, the President of India conferred Bharat Ratna to Atal Bihari Vajpayee in his residence on 27 March 2015. His birthday,25 December, was declared Good Governance Day, Vajpayee was born to Krishna Devi and Krishna Bihari Vajpayee on 25 December 1924 in Gwalior. His grandfather, Pandit Shyam Lal Vajpayee, had migrated to Morena and his father, Krishna Bihari Vajpayee, was a poet and a schoolmaster in his hometown. Vajpayee studied from the Government Higher secondary school, Gorkhi, Bara, Vajpayee attended Gwaliors Victoria College and graduated with distinction in Hindi, English and Sanskrit. He completed his post-graduation with an M. A. in Political Science from Dayanand Anglo-Vedic College, Kanpur and his activism started with Arya Kumar Sabha of Gwalior, the youth wing of the Arya Samaj, of which he became the General Secretary in 1944. He also joined the Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh as a swayamsevak in 1939, influenced by Babasaheb Apte, he attended the Officers Training Camp of the RSS during 1940-44 and became a full-time worker in 1947, technically a pracharak. He gave up studying law due to the partition riots and he was sent as a vistarak to Uttar Pradesh and quickly began working for the newspapers of Deendayal Upadhyaya, Rashtradharma, Panchjanya and the dailies Swadesh and Veer Arjun. Vajpayee never married and has remained a bachelor his entire life, in 1951, he was seconded by the RSS, along with Deendayal Upadhyaya, to work for the newly formed Bharatiya Jana Sangh, a Hindu right-wing political party associated with the RSS. He was appointed as a secretary of the party in charge of the Northern region. He soon became a follower and aide of party leader Syama Prasad Mookerjee, in 1954, Vajpayee was with Mookerjee when he went on a fast-unto-death in Kashmir to protest against perceived inferior treatment of non-Kashmiri Indian visitors to the state. Mookerjee died in prison during this strike, in 1957, Vajpayee lost to Raja Mahendra Pratap in Mathura for the Lok Sabha, the lower house of Indias Parliament, but was elected from Balrampur. There, his skills so impressed Prime Minister Jawaharlal Nehru that he predicted that Vajpayee would someday become Indias Prime Minister. By virtue of his oratorical and organizational skills, he became the face of the Jana Sangh, after the death of Deendayal Upadhyaya, the mantle of the leadership of Jana Sangh fell on the shoulders of a young Vajpayee. He became the president of the Jana Sangh in 1968 and, along with Nanaji Deshmukh, Balraj Madhok and L. K. Advani
2.
13th Lok Sabha
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The 13th Lok Sabha is the thirteenth session of the Lok Sabha. It was convened after Indian general election,1999 held during September–October 1999 and continued until June 2004 and this majority group in the Lok Sabha during this period was the National Democratic Alliance, a rightist group led by the Bharatiya Janata Party. The NDA, under the leadership of Atal Bihari Vajpayee completed its term till the general elections of May 2004
3.
Speaker of the Lok Sabha
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The Speaker of the Lok Sabha is the presiding officer of the Lok Sabha, the lower house of the Parliament of India. Their role is similar to that of speakers elsewhere in countries that use the government. The speaker is elected in the very first meeting of the Lok Sabha following general elections, serving for a term of five years, they are chosen from amongst the members of the Lok Sabha, and is by convention a member of the ruling party or alliance. The current speaker is Sumitra Mahajan of the Bharatiya Janata Party and she is the second woman to hold the office, after her immediate predecessor Meira Kumar. The Speaker of the Lok Sabha conducts the business in house and they maintain discipline and decorum in the house and can punish a member for their unruly behaviour by suspending them. They also permit the moving of various kinds of motions and resolutions such as a motion of no confidence, motion of adjournment, motion of censure, the Speaker decides on the agenda to be taken up for discussion during the meeting. The date of election of speaker is fixed by the President, further, all comments and speeches made by members of the House are addressed to the speaker. The speaker also presides over the joint sitting of both Houses of Parliament, the counterpart of the Speaker in the Rajya Sabha is the Chairman, who is the Vice President of India. In the warrant of precedence, the speaker of Lok Sabha comes next only to The Deputy Prime Minister of India, Speaker has the sixth rank in the political executive of India. Speaker can be removed by the Lok Sabha by a resolution passed by a majority of all the members of the House per Articles 94 and 96. Speaker is also removed on getting disqualified for being Lok Sabha member under sections 7 &8 of Representation of the People Act,1951 and this would arise out of speakers wrong certification of a bill as money bill inconsistent with the definition given in Articles 110 of the constitution. The appointment has to be approved by the president, the first meeting after the election when the Speaker and the Deputy Speaker are selected by members of the Parliament is held under the pro tem Speaker. In absence of the Speaker, the Deputy Speaker acts as Speaker, the names, terms of office and Lok Sabhas were taken from, Former Speakers. The Office of the Speaker of the Lok Sabha, Office of the Lok Sabha Speaker
4.
Indian National Congress
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The Indian National Congress is one of two major political parties in India, the other being the Bharatiya Janata Party. Congress was founded in 1885 during the British Raj, its founders include Allan Octavian Hume, Dadabhai Naoroji, there have been seven Congress Prime Ministers, the first being Jawaharlal Nehru, and the most recent Manmohan Singh. The partys social liberal platform is considered to be on the centre-left of Indian politics. From 2004 to 2014, the Congress-led United Progressive Alliance, a coalition of regional parties. As of March 2017, the party is in power in five states, Punjab, Himachal Pradesh, Karnataka, Meghalaya, in Bihar, it is a part of the ruling coalition. The Congress has previously directly ruled Andhra Pradesh, Tamil Nadu, Gujarat, Madhya Pradesh, Rajasthan, Uttar Pradesh, in the 2014 general election, the Congress had its poorest post-independence general election performance, winning only 44 seats of the 543-member house. The party primarily endorses social liberalism—seeking to balance individual liberty and social justice, the Congress was founded in 1885 by Indian and British members of the Theosophical Society movement, including Scotsman Allan Octavian Hume. It has been suggested that the idea was conceived in a meeting of 17 men after a Theosophical Convention held in Madras in December 1884. Hume took the initiative, and in March 1885 the first notice convening the first Indian National Union to meet in Poona the following December was issued. Its objective was to obtain a share in government for educated Indians and to create a platform for civic. The first meeting was scheduled to be held in Poona, Hume organised the first meeting in Bombay with the approval of the Viceroy Lord Dufferin. Womesh Chandra Bonnerjee was the first president of the Congress, the first session was held from 28–31 December 1885, representing each province of India, the Partys delegates comprised 54 Hindus and 2 Muslims, the rest were of Parsi and Jain backgrounds. It also included Bal Gangadhar Tilak, Bipin Chandra Pal, Lala Lajpat Rai, Gopal Krishna Gokhale and Mohammed Ali Jinnah—later leader of the Muslim League and instrumental in the creation of Pakistan. The Congress was transformed into a movement by Surendranath Banerjea and Sir Henry Cotton during the partition of Bengal in 1905. Mahatma Gandhi returned from South Africa in 1915, in 1923 following the deaths of policemen at Chauri Chaura, Gandhi suspended the agitation. In protest, a number of leaders, Chittaranjan Das, Annie Besant, the Khilafat movement collapsed and the Congress was split. Although its members were predominantly Hindu, it had members from other religions, economic classes, at the Congress 1929 Lahore session under the presidency of Jawaharlal Nehru, Purna Swaraj was declared as the partys goal, declaring 26 January 1930 as Purna Swaraj Diwas, Independence Day. The same year, Srinivas Iyenger was expelled from the party for demanding full independence, the British government allowed provincial elections in India in the winter of 1936–37 under the Government of India Act 1935
5.
Communist Party of India (Marxist)
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The Communist Party of India is a communist party in India. The party emerged from a split from the Communist Party of India in 1964, the CPI was formed at the Seventh Congress of the Communist Party of India held in Calcutta from 31 October to 7 November 1964. The strength of CPI is concentrated in the states of Kerala, West Bengal, as of 2016, CPI is leading the state governments in Tripura and Kerala. It also leads the West Bengal Left Front, as of 2014, CPI claimed to have 10,48,678 members. The highest body of the party is the Politburo, CPI emerged from a division within the Communist Party of India. The undivided CPI had experienced a period of upsurge during the following the Second World War. The CPI led armed rebellions in Telangana, Tripura, and Kerala, however, it soon abandoned the strategy of armed revolution in favour of working within the parliamentary framework. In 1950 B. T. Ranadive, the CPI general secretary, under the government of the Indian National Congress party of Jawaharlal Nehru, independent India developed close relations and a strategic partnership with the Soviet Union. The Soviet government consequently wished that the Indian communists moderate their criticism towards the Indian state, moreover, the Indian National Congress appeared to be generally hostile towards political competition. In 1959 the central government intervened to impose Presidents Rule in Kerala, simultaneously, the relations between the Communist Party of the Soviet Union and the Communist Party of China soured. In the early 1960s the Communist Party of China began criticising the CPSU of turning revisionist, Sino-Indian relations also deteriorated, as border disputes between the two countries erupted into the Sino-Indian War of 1962. The basis of difference in opinion between the two factions in CPI was ideological – about the assessment of Indian scenario and the development of a party programme. This difference in opinion was also a reflection of a difference at international level on ideology between the Soviet and Chinese parties. The alleged right wing inside the party followed the Soviet path, whereas the faction of CPI which later became CPI referred to this as a revisionist approach of class collaboration. It was this ideological difference which later intensified, coupled with the Soviet-Chinese split at the international level, hundreds of CPI leaders, accused of being pro-Chinese, were imprisoned. Thousands of Communists were detained without trial and those targeted by the state accused the pro-Soviet leadership of the CPI of conspiring with the Congress government to ensure their own hegemony over the control of the party. In 1962 Ajoy Ghosh, the secretary of the CPI. After his death, S. A. Dange was installed as the party chairman and this was an attempt to achieve a compromise
6.
Revolutionary Socialist Party (India)
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Revolutionary Socialist Party is a political party in India. The party was founded on 19 March 1940 and has its roots in the Bengali liberation movement Anushilan Samiti, the party got around 0. 4% of the votes and three seats in the Lok Sabha elections in 1999 and 2004. It is part of the government in Tripura. A major section of the Anushilan movement had attracted to Marxism during the 1930s. A minority section broke away from the Anushilan movement and joined the Communist Consolidation, the majority of the Anushilan Marxists did however, whilst having adopted Marxist–Leninist thinking, feel hesitant over joining the Communist Party. The Anushilanites distrusted the political lines formulated by the Communist International and they criticised the line adopted at the 6th Comintern congress of 1928 as ultra-left sectarian. Moreover, when Indian left-wing elements formed the Congress Socialist Party in 1934, moreover, the Anushilan Marxists opposed the notion of Socialism in One Country. However, although sharing some critiques against the leadership of Joseph Stalin and the Comintern, buddhadeva Bhattacharya writes in Origins of the RSP that the rejection of Stalinism did not automatically mean for them acceptance of Trotskyism. S. S. R. Anushilan Marxists adhered to the Marxist–Leninist theory of Permanent or Continuous Revolution, by the close of 1936 the Anushilan Marxists at the Deoli Detention Jail in Rajputana drafted a document formulating their political line. This document was distributed amongst the Anushilan Marxists at other jails throughout the country. At this point the Anushilan Marxists, recently released from long jail sentences, either they would continue as a separate political entity or they would join an existing political platform. They felt that they lacked the resources to build a political party. Joining the CPI was out of the question, due to differences in political analysis. Neither could they reconcile their differences with the Royists, in the end, the Congress Socialist Party, appeared to be the sole platform acceptable for the Anushilan Marxists. During the summer of 1938 a meeting place between Jayaprakash Narayan, Jogesh Chandra Chatterji, Tridib Chaudhuri and Keshav Prasad Sharma. The Anushilan Marxists then discussed the issue with Acharya Narendra Deva, the Anushilan Marxists decided to join CSP, but keeping a separate identity within the party. The great majority of the Anushilan Samiti had joined the CSP, the non-Marxists, although not ideologically attracted to the CSP, felt loyalty towards the Marxist sector. Moreover, around 25% of the HSRA joined the CSP and this group was led by Jogesh Chandra Chatterji
7.
All India Majlis-e-Ittehadul Muslimeen
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AIMIM has held the Lok Sabha seat for the Hyderabad constituency since 1984. In the 2014 Telangana Legislative Assembly elections, the AIMIM won seven seats, the party president and member of parliament Asaduddin Owaisi received the Sansad Ratna Award for 2014. The party has long seen as a political representation of Muslims in the state of Andhra Pradesh. The party has roots back to the days of the princely State of Hyderabad, then it was only Majlis-e-Ittehadul Muslimeen and the first meeting was held in the house of Nawab Mahmood Nawaz Khan on November 12,1927. The MIM advocated the set up of a Muslim dominion rather than integration with India, in 1938, Bahadur Yar Jung was elected president of the MIM which had a cultural and religious manifesto. It soon acquired political complexion and, alongside the Muslim League, were collaborators of British-occupied India forces, after the death of Bahadur Yar Jang in 1944, Qasim Rizvi was elected as the leader. The Razakars, led by Kasim Razvi, were a violent, anti-Hindu Islamist paramilitary organization of self-styled volunteers formed, ostensibly, the Razakars operated as storm troopers for the MIM. After the Indian annexation of Hyderabad State, the MIM was banned in 1948, Qasim Rizvi was jailed from 1948 to 1957, and was released on the condition that he would go to Pakistan where he was granted an asylum. Before leaving, Qasim Rizvi handed over the responsibility of whatever remained of the Ittehadul Muslimeen, to Abdul Wahid Owaisi, Abdul Wahed Owaisi restructured the Party and Organised it into All India Majlis-e-Ittehadul Muslimeen. After Abdul Wahed Owaisi, his son Sultan Salahuddin Owaisi took control of AIMIM in 1975 and was referred to as Salar E Millat. The AIMIM as a political party purports to protect and advance the rights of Muslims, Dalits, BCs, minorities and it bears true faith and allegiance to the Constitution of India. It purports to believe in the nation’s secular democracy and that it strives to protect, in 1960, AIMIM won the Mallepally ward of Hyderabad Municipal Corporation. In 1962, Salahuddin won from Patharghatti assembly seat as an Independent candidate, in 1972, he won from Yakutpura and later in 1978, again from Charminar. In 1984 AIMIM emerged victorious in the Hyderabad Lok Sabha Seat, since then, Salahuddins elder son Asaduddin Owaisi represents the seat of Hyderabad. Mohammad Majid Hussain of the AIMIM was unanimously elected as the Mayor of Greater Hyderabad on January 2,2012, AIMIM was once reduced to one Assembly seat in Andhra Pradesh in 1994. On 12 November 2012, Asaduddin Owaisi announced the withdrawal of support to the UPA government citing communal policies of the current congress led government, All India Majlis-e-Ittehadul Muslimeen was then supporting Congress, both at Centre and at state level in Andhra Pradesh. Party president Asaduddin Owaisi won the Sansad Ratna award for his performance in lok Sabha. AIMIM made its entry into Maharashtra state by winning 13 seats in Nanded-Waghala city municipal council polls held on October 2012, AIMIM made its entry into Karnataka state by winning 6 seats in Karnataka local body elections held in March 2013
8.
Indian general election, 1999
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General Elections were held in India from 5 September to 3 October 1999, a few months after the Kargil War. Thus shortly after the no confidence motion, President K. R. Narayanan dissolved the Parliament, atal Bihari Vajpayee remained caretaker prime minister till the elections were held later that year. The incumbent Bharatiya Janata Party went into the election as the head of the National Democratic Alliance, several other parties in the election not part of the NDA also committed themselves to supporting a BJP led government on matters of confidence. The main opposition league was led by Sonia Gandhis Indian National Congress, the opposition coalition comprised far fewer parties, and its alliances were generally weaker than those of the NDA. There were also nearly one thousand candidates of unaffiliated parties, independent candidates and parties who were unwilling to part in coalitions that stood in the election. The campaign coalesced around a few key issues, Sonia Gandhi was a relative newcomer to the INC and her leadership had recently been challenged by Maharastrian INC leader Sharad Pawar, on the grounds of her Italian birth. This led to a crisis within the INC that persisted during the election and was capitalised upon by the BJP. The BJP campaigned strongly on the back of these achievements, as well as cultivating some sympathy for the predicament which had led to the governments downfall. Perhaps most decisive though in the BJPs campaign was the alliance it had cultivated. These final factors were to prove decisive in the outcome of 1999. The voting was conducted five days. Despite some fears of voter fatigue, electoral turnout was comparable with previous elections at 59. 99%, over 5 million election officials conducted the election over 800,000 polling stations, with vote counting commencing on 6 October. The Congress party lost 23 seats, and its two key regional allies performed worse than expected, however it did regain ground in some such as Uttar Pradesh. The leftist parties’ fortunes continued to decline, with the Communist Party of India dropping to just four seats and we will attend to this in the coming days. In the meantime, we accept unhesitatingly the verdict of the people, for the BJP, this marked the first occasion where a non-INC party had secured a stable government coalition. Previous non-INC governing coalitions had been formed in 1977,1989 and 1996, one Senior BJP figure commented in the aftermath It will certainly be a government of stability. I expect that Mr Vajpayee, with all his experience, will be able to handle our coalition partners. Source, Electoral Commission of India, Statistical Report on General Elections,1999 to the 13th Lok Sabha Election Commission of India
9.
Communist Party of India
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The Communist Party of India is a communist party in India. In the Indian Communist movement, there are different views on exactly when the Communist Party of India was founded, but the date maintained as the foundation day by the CPI is 26 December 1925. However, the Communist Party of India, which separated from the CPI, has a different version that it was founded in 1920, the Communist Party of India has officially stated that it was formed on 25 December 1925 at the first Party Conference in Kanpur. The founding members of the party were M. N, Roy, Evelyn Trent Roy, Abani Mukherji, Rosa Fitingof, Mohammad Ali, Mohammad Shafiq Siddiqui, Rafiq Ahmed of Bhopal and M. P. B. T. Aacharya, and Sultan Ahmed Khan Tarin of North-West Frontier Province, the CPI says that there were many communist groups formed by Indians with the help of foreigners in different parts of the world and the Tashkent group was only one of. Contacts with Anushilan and Jugantar groups in Bengal, small communist groups were formed in Bengal, Bombay, Madras, United Provinces and Punjab and Sindh. However, only Usmani became a CPI party member, during the 1920s and the early 1930s the party was badly organised, and in practice there were several communist groups working with limited national coordination. The British colonial authorities had banned all communist activity, which made the task of building a united party very difficult, between 1921 and 1924 there were three conspiracy trials against the communist movement, First Peshawar Conspiracy Case, Meerut Conspiracy Case and the Cawnpore Bolshevik Conspiracy Case. In the first three cases, Russian-trained muhajir communists were put on trial, however, the Cawnpore trial had more political impact. Roy, S. A. Dange, Muzaffar Ahmed, Nalini Gupta, Shaukat Usmani, Singaravelu Chettiar, Ghulam Hussain, sharma were charged, in Cawnpore Bolshevik Conspiracy case. Singaravelu Chettiar was released on account of illness, Roy was in Germany and R. C. Sharma in French Pondichéry, and therefore could not be arrested, Ghulam Hussain confessed that he had received money from the Russians in Kabul and was pardoned. Muzaffar Ahmed, Nalini Gupta, Shaukat Usmani and Dange were sentenced for various terms of imprisonment and this case was responsible for actively introducing communism to a larger Indian audience. Dange was released from prison in 1927, on 25 December 1925 a communist conference was organised in Kanpur. Colonial authorities estimated that 500 persons took part in the conference, the conference was convened by a man called Satyabhakta. At the conference Satyabhakta argued for a National communism and against subordination under Comintern, being outvoted by the other delegates, Satyabhakta left both the conference venue in protest. The conference adopted the name Communist Party of India, groups such as Labour Kisan Party of Hindustan dissolved into the unified CPI. The émigré CPI, which probably had little organic character anyway, was substituted by the organisation now operating inside India
10.
Bahujan Samaj Party
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The Bahujan Samaj Party was the third largest national political party in India. The party claims to be inspired by the philosophy of B. R. Ambedkar, Mahatma Jyotiba Phule, Narayana Guru, Periyar E. V. Ramasamy and it was founded by Kanshi Ram in 1984, who named his protégée Mayawati as his successor in 2001. The BSP was the third most voted-for party in the 2014 general election, the BSP has its main base in the Indian state of Uttar Pradesh. It has an elephant as its election symbol, the Pali word Bahujan is popularly found in the literature of Buddhist texts. Gautama Buddha used this word to guide his disciples to work for the Bahujan Hitay Bahujan Sukhay, the BSP used this slogan extensively to campaign in her political rallies. The Bahujan Samaj Party was founded on the anniversary of B. R. Ambedkar by Kanshi Ram, who named former schoolteacher Mayawati as his successor in 2001, the stories are narrated in such a manner that the Dalits imagine the story of the making of this nation in which they played a significant role. The partys power grew quickly with seats in the Legislative Assembly of Uttar Pradesh and the Lok Sabha, in 1993, following the assembly elections, Mayawati formed a coalition with Samajwadi Party President Mulayam Singh Yadav as Chief Minister. Since this event, they have regarded each other publicly as chief rivals, Mayawati then obtained support from the Bharatiya Janata Party to become Chief Minister on 3 June 1995. In October 1995, the BJP withdrew their support and fresh elections were called after a period of Presidents Rule. In 2003, Mayawati resigned from her own government to prove that she was not hungry for power and asked the BJP-run Government of India to remove Union Tourism and Culture Minister, in 2007, she began leading a BSP-formed government with an absolute majority for a full five-year term. The results of the May 2007 Uttar Pradesh state assembly election saw the BSP emerge as a majority party. Most importantly, the majority achieved in part was due to the partys ability to take away majority of upper castes votes from their traditional party. The party could manage only 80 seats in 2012 as against 206 in 2007 assembly elections, BSP government was the first in the history of Uttar Pradesh to complete its full five-year term. On 11 July 2012, the party in a major revamp, the 2014 national Lok Sabha elections saw the BSP become the third-largest national party of India in terms of vote percentage, having 4. 2% of the vote across the country but gaining no seats. On 9 August 2009, Mayawati declared that she had chosen a successor from the Dalit community who is 18–20 years her junior and she has penned down his name in a sealed packet left in the safe custody of two of her close confidantes. The name of the successor will be disclosed on her death, Uttar Pradesh Legislative Assembly election,2017 Dalit Buddhist movement Dalit Nationalism Official website
11.
Bharatiya Janata Party
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The Bharatiya Janata Party is one of the two major political parties in India, along with the Indian National Congress. As of 2016, it is the countrys largest political party in terms of representation in the parliament and state assemblies. The BJP is a party, with close ideological and organisational links to the Hindu nationalist Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh. The BJPs origins lie in the Bharatiya Jana Sangh, formed in 1951 by Syama Prasad Mookerjee, after the State of Emergency in 1977, the Jana Sangh merged with several other parties to form the Janata Party, it defeated the incumbent Congress party in the 1977 general election. After three years in power, the Janata party dissolved in 1980 with the members of the erstwhile Jana Sangh reconvening to form the BJP. Although initially unsuccessful, winning two seats in the 1984 general election, it grew in strength on the back of the Ram Janmabhoomi movement. After the 1998 general election, the BJP-led coalition known as the National Democratic Alliance formed a government under Prime Minister Atal Bihari Vajpayee for a year. Following fresh elections, the NDA government, again headed by Vajpayee, lasted for a term in office. In the 2004 general election, the NDA suffered an unexpected defeat, long time Gujarat Chief Minister Narendra Modi led it to a landslide victory in the 2014 general election. Since that election, Modi leads the NDA government as Prime Minister and as of March 2017, the official ideology of the BJP is integral humanism, first formulated by Deendayal Upadhyaya in 1965. The party expresses a commitment to Hindutva, and its policy has historically reflected Hindu nationalist positions, the BJP advocates social conservatism and a foreign policy centred on nationalist principles. Its key issues have included the abrogation of the status to Jammu and Kashmir, the building of a Ram temple in Ayodhya. However, the 1998–2004 NDA government did not pursue any of these controversial issues and it instead focused on a largely neoliberal economic policy prioritising globalisation and economic growth over social welfare. The BJPs origins lie in the Bharatiya Jana Sangh, popularly known as the Jana Sangh and it was founded in collaboration with the Hindu nationalist volunteer organisation, the Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh, and was widely regarded as the political arm of the RSS. The RSS loaned several of its leading pracharaks, or full-time workers, prominent among these was Deendayal Upadhyaya, who was appointed General Secretary. The Jana Sangh won only three Lok Sabha seats in the first general elections in 1952 and it maintained a minor presence in parliament until 1967. The Jana Sanghs first major campaign, begun in early 1953, centred on a demand for the integration of Jammu. Mookerjee was arrested in May 1953 for violating orders from the state government restraining him from entering Kashmir and he died of a heart attack the following month, while still in jail
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