Review of Abhishek Choudhary’s Vajpayee: The Ascent of the Hindu Right 1924-1977 ; The right man in the right party
1 year, 9 months ago

Review of Abhishek Choudhary’s Vajpayee: The Ascent of the Hindu Right 1924-1977 ; The right man in the right party

The Hindu  

The early years of late Prime Minister Atal Bihari Vajpayee captured in a new biography, Vajpayee: The Ascent of the Hindu Right 1924-77, by Abhishek Choudhary are not just instructive on the manner in which Vajpayee dealt with questions of politics and ideology, but also the fluid lines between conservative and liberal politics in the years pre- and post-independence. After the fall of the Janata government, and in the political chaos that followed, the RSS did not have too many choices and went with Vajpayee, because the Jan Sangh was of the view that it was the ‘real’ Janata party of JP which included co-opting the latter’s ideas of Gandhian socialism that found its way in the newly-formed BJP. The Jan Sangh was consciously projecting the idea that together with the new BJP, they were “JP’s party”. When the NDA government was formed, all these contradictions came home to roost, where the Vajpayee government’s economic reforms policy found him in an adversarial position with his friend of 55 years, Dattopant Thengadi, who founded the Swadeshi Jagaran Manch and the Bharatiya Mazdoor Sangh.

Congress Party Man Right Hindu Bjp Jan Rss Janata That Time Choudhary Sangh Vajpayee Sardar Patel His Travels  hindu  abhishek  rss  politics  sardar  janata  jan  right  ascent  19241977  choudharys  review  man  sangh  vajpayee  party

History of this topic

Congress Insulted Ambedkar: Kishan
3 months, 1 week ago

Congress Insulted Ambedkar: Kishan

Deccan Chronicle  

Hyderabad: Union minister for mines G. Kishan Reddy lauded the role of former PM Atal Bihari Vajpayee and said he remains in the hearts of people. He said Jan Sangh leaders had fought the Emergency imposed by former prime minister Indira Gandhi alongside Jayaprakash Narayan. It was the Congress which did not cooperate with him and insulted him.” Congress, he …

Book Review | Vajpayee never a liberal but Hindu Right's first spin doctor
1 year, 9 months ago

Book Review | Vajpayee never a liberal but Hindu Right's first spin doctor

Deccan Chronicle  

Atal Bihari Vajpayee has remained a puzzle in his politics and in his personal life. So the man who said that the Muslims who remained in India were fifth columnists in 1948 could then argue that there is need to admit Muslims into Jana Sangh, something that the fundamentalist Ram Rajya Parishad refused and thus broke the possibility of bringing …

BJP's 43 years: How it emerged from Jana Sangh and became world's largest party
1 year, 11 months ago

BJP's 43 years: How it emerged from Jana Sangh and became world's largest party

India Today  

The history of the Bharatiya Janata Party is linked to the Bharatiya Jana Sangh and the connection dates back 72 years. Jana Sangh's First Election In the 1952 Lok Sabha elections, candidates contested 94 seats on the Bharatiya Jana Sangh ticket and its election symbol. Jana Sangh's performance in Lok Sabha elections and vote percentage seat 1952 3.1% votes 3 …

The Hindu Right Wing’s Attempt to Appropriate Gandhi, Ambedkar, and Bose Despite Their Despise for Sangh Parivar
2 years, 10 months ago

The Hindu Right Wing’s Attempt to Appropriate Gandhi, Ambedkar, and Bose Despite Their Despise for Sangh Parivar

The Hindu  

It is characteristic of upstarts andsocial climbers to drop names. This was in reference to Congress president Sitaram Kesri’s jibe that the BJP was trying to “hijack” Gandhi. If we understand the old basis of nationalism, then it will be clear that it is nothing but Hinduism.” The Times of India noted editorially on October 17, 1989: “Mr Advani, while …

L K Advani and the Ram Janmabhoomi movement: The journey
3 years, 4 months ago

L K Advani and the Ram Janmabhoomi movement: The journey

Op India  

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70 years after the birth of Jan Sangh
3 years, 5 months ago

70 years after the birth of Jan Sangh

New Indian Express  

On 21 October 1951, when about 200 delegates had come together at the Raghumal Arya Kanya Vidyalaya close to the Gol Market in Central Delhi to announce the formation of the Bharatiya Jan Sangh, they were clear about their objectives. The Bharatiya Jan Sangh had never opposed equal rights to Muslims and other minorities. In its first manifesto released before …

RSS brings men from same generation to run the Sangh and politics
4 years ago

RSS brings men from same generation to run the Sangh and politics

India Today  

"The philosophy of the school room in one generation will be the philosophy of government in the next." A RSS pracharak who has seen the Sangh travel from the Guru Golwalkar to the Mohan Bhagwat era said, "In Vajpayee’s time, given the weak mandate BJP had, RSS provided equal weightage to the party and its other organs. Modi's leadership brought …

Aakar Patel | BJP has never spelt out what parivartan' it hopes to bring
4 years ago

Aakar Patel | BJP has never spelt out what parivartan' it hopes to bring

Deccan Chronicle  

In 2019, the BJP won 18 of the 42 Lok Sabha seats in West Bengal. Formed in 1951, the Jan Sangh/BJP manifestos move effortlessly back and forth from grand and formless expression like “national rejuvenation yagna” directly to things like running more trains with third-class compartments as opposed to air-conditioned ones, pushing the benefits of cow manure and asking linguists …

Lok Sabha elections 2019: Sangh push to Karnataka BJP campaign
5 years, 11 months ago

Lok Sabha elections 2019: Sangh push to Karnataka BJP campaign

Hindustan Times  

As two military green helicopters hum noisily overhead, two lakh plus people climb onto railings and each other in a large maidan in Karnataka’s Chitradurga town. The temple code is different.” And then adds,”Datta Jayanti is only for Hindus.” Waiting in the wings, copying Ravi’s style entirely, is a Bajrang Dal and VHP leader from the same district and village …

How coastal Karnataka was saffronised; part 8: Bharatiya Jan Sangh emerges amid nationwide crackdown on Hindu nationalists
5 years, 11 months ago

How coastal Karnataka was saffronised; part 8: Bharatiya Jan Sangh emerges amid nationwide crackdown on Hindu nationalists

Firstpost  

The emergence of Bharatiya Jan Sangh: The unrest within RSS grew over the fact that they couldn’t participate in elections and directly confront Congress. Joshi played a crucial role expanding and establishing Jan Sangh in South Kanara along with RSS leaders like Karkala Sadashiva Rao, one of the founders of RSS in Dakshin Kannada. I don’t want to say anything …

Atal Bihari Vajpayee's 94th birth anniversary: 'Bhishma Pitamah' of politics was known for zeal for reforms, moderate outlook
6 years, 3 months ago

Atal Bihari Vajpayee's 94th birth anniversary: 'Bhishma Pitamah' of politics was known for zeal for reforms, moderate outlook

Firstpost  

When he sat in the Opposition for many years, Vajpayee was called the “right man in the wrong party”. Former prime minister Atal Bihari Vajpayee, whose 94th birth anniversary on Tuesday will be celebrated as Good Governance Day, was given several monikers during his unparalleled political career. “Hardliner” to “right man in wrong party” A young Vajpayee flirted with communism …

Narendra Modi and RSS, Part 2: Rise of a backward caste as PM is highpoint of Sangh's Hindutva project
6 years, 6 months ago

Narendra Modi and RSS, Part 2: Rise of a backward caste as PM is highpoint of Sangh's Hindutva project

Firstpost  

Editors note: Russia is not the only “riddle wrapped in a mystery inside an enigma”. For many, the Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh and Prime Minister Narendra Modi also fit Churchill’s description of Russia. His assertions were seen either as a radical departure from the “RSS position” or as an attempt to rein in Modi and reaffirm the RSS’ position as the …

Poet Prime Minister’s last rites at 4 pm today at Delhi’s Smriti Sthal
6 years, 7 months ago

Poet Prime Minister’s last rites at 4 pm today at Delhi’s Smriti Sthal

Hindustan Times  

The last rites of former prime minister Atal Bihari Vajpayee will take place at 4 pm on Friday at Rashtriya Smriti Sthal in New Delhi, BJP chief Amit Shah said. India’s former prime minister and one of the country’s most-loved and respected leaders, Atal Bihari Vajpayee, died on Thursday evening, uniting an otherwise deeply divided political class in grief. A …

Opinion | Atal Bihari Vajpayee: A titan of Indian politics
6 years, 7 months ago

Opinion | Atal Bihari Vajpayee: A titan of Indian politics

Live Mint  

Politicians are thick upon the ground in India. In a political life that spanned seven decades, he rose to become one of India’s most consequential prime ministers and a colossus of the Indian Right. In the 1930s, K. B. Hedgewar’s Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh was still in many respects a fledgeling organization, digesting diverse influences—from Bal Gangadhar Tilak and the Hindu …

RSS is hydra-headed monster, seeks legitimacy by inviting Pranab Mukherjee, writes Congress' Pawan Khera
6 years, 9 months ago

RSS is hydra-headed monster, seeks legitimacy by inviting Pranab Mukherjee, writes Congress' Pawan Khera

Firstpost  

Inviting an intellectual giant like Pranab Mukherjee, who vehemently opposed all that the Sangh stands for is yet another attempt by the Sangh to mainstream itself and shed its image of an unregistered, unaccountable hydra-headed monster. Recent invitation by the Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh to former president and senior Congress leader Pranab Mukherjee elicited reactions from across all the political spectrum. …

Is RSS anti-Dalit? To paint Sangh as natural enemy of SC/STs is a prejudiced reading of its history, objective
6 years, 11 months ago

Is RSS anti-Dalit? To paint Sangh as natural enemy of SC/STs is a prejudiced reading of its history, objective

Firstpost  

Disparate attacks on Dalits over the last three years read with the Supreme Court’s recent ruling switching off the automatic arrest of an accused in an Scheduled Caste/Scheduled Tribe Atrocities Act complaint, have had Opposition parties and political commentators jump to very facile and specious conclusion: that this is hardly surprising because the Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh, the parent of the …

BJP, Under Vajpayee, Had Set Out to Be a Gandhian Socialist Party
6 years, 11 months ago

BJP, Under Vajpayee, Had Set Out to Be a Gandhian Socialist Party

The Quint  

This campaign was led by socialist leader Madhu Limaye, who was also the general secretary of the Janata party. In the aftermath of its foremost leader, Jayaprakash Narain’s death in 1979, the cracks within the different factions of the Janata Party became even more apparent. Ostensibly, the campaign to make Jan Sangh leaders like Atal Bihari Vajpayee, LK Advani and …

Common workable program with like minded parties to defeat BJP in 2019 elections: Congress
7 years ago

Common workable program with like minded parties to defeat BJP in 2019 elections: Congress

Live Mint  

New Delhi: In a politically significant statement, Rahul Gandhi led Congress party on Saturday said that it was looking for cooperation with like minded parties ahead of the crucial general elections next year. “Congress will adopt a pragmatic approach for co-operation with all like-minded parties and evolve a common workable program to defeat the BJP-RSS in the 2019 elections,” read …

O Rajagopal: BJP’s first Kerala MLA looks to change old notions about the party
8 years, 10 months ago

O Rajagopal: BJP’s first Kerala MLA looks to change old notions about the party

Live Mint  

Bengaluru: It has been over half a century since former Union minister O. Rajagopal entered politics—he started off as a national executive council member in the Jana Sangh way back in 1964. The last 52 years haven’t been easy ones—he has sought the public mandate in almost 13 small and big elections for the Bharatiya Janata Party and was referred …

The Dalit-Hindutva paradox
9 years, 1 month ago

The Dalit-Hindutva paradox

The Hindu  

At a time when the Bharatiya Janata Party — indeed, the entire Sangh Parivar — has been making a concerted effort to reach out to Dalits, the insensitive response of its members to >Hyderabad student Rohith Vemula’s death appears inexplicable. Three weeks after the incident, BJP leaders privately acknowledge that endorsing Union Minister of State for Labour Bandaru Dattatreya’s partisan …

Fulfill people's aspirations: Advani to BJP leaders
10 years, 7 months ago

Fulfill people's aspirations: Advani to BJP leaders

Firstpost  

Advani felt there was a “sense of accountability and responsibility” in the speeches delivered during today’s conclave, and said the arrangements at the National Council meeting proved that those attending the conclave have no arrogance of victory. New Delhi: People expect a lot from BJP after its victory in Lok Sabha elections, and party workers and leaders have to show …

RSS comes to the rescue of beleaguered BJP
11 years, 9 months ago

RSS comes to the rescue of beleaguered BJP

The Hindu  

The shadow of Gujarat Chief Minister Narendra Modi and the unmistakable influence of RSS leadership on the affairs of the BJP were hard to miss on Tuesday as the party battled with all its resources to overcome the crisis created by L.K. At the national executive of the BJP in Goa that year, communal riots in Gujarat were in focus …

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