Janata Party

Not to be confused with Bharatiya Janata Party.

Janata Party
AbbreviationJP
PresidentNavneet Chaturvedi
FounderJayaprakash Narayan
Founded23 January 1977; 47 years ago (1977-01-23)
Merger of
Succeeded by
Youth wingJanata Yuva Morcha
Women's wingJanata Mahila Morcha
IdeologyBig tent
Economic nationalism[1]
Political positionCentre-right[2] to centre-left[3]
Colours   Orange, Green
SloganJanata se Janata ke liye जनता से जनता के लिए
ECI StatusRegistered Unrecognised Political Party
Election symbol

The Janata Party (JP, lit. 'People's Party') is an unrecognised political party in India.[4] It was founded as an amalgam of Indian political parties opposed to the Emergency that was imposed between 1975 and 1977 by Prime Minister Indira Gandhi of the Indian National Congress. In the 1977 general election, the party defeated the Congress and Janata leader Morarji Desai became the first non-Congress prime minister in independent modern India's history.[5]

Raj Narain, a socialist leader, had filed a legal writ alleging electoral malpractice against Indira Gandhi in 1971. On 12 June 1975, Allahabad High Court found her guilty of using corrupt electoral practices in her 1971 election victory over Narain in the Rae Bareli constituency. She was barred from contesting any election for the next six years. Economic problems, corruption and the conviction of Gandhi led to widespread protests against the Congress (R) government, which responded by imposing a State of Emergency. The rationale was that of preserving national security. However, the government introduced press censorship, postponed elections and banned strikes and rallies. Opposition leaders such as Jivatram Kripalani, Jayaprakash Narayan, Anantram Jaiswal, Chandra Shekhar, Biju Patnaik, Atal Bihari Vajpayee, L. K. Advani, Raj Narain, Satyendra Narayan Sinha, Ramnandan Mishra and Morarji Desai were imprisoned,[6] along with thousands of other political activists. When the State of Emergency was lifted and new elections called in 1977, opposition political parties such as the Congress (O), Bharatiya Jana Sangh, Bharatiya Lok Dal as well as defectors from the Indian National Congress joined to form the Janata party, which won a sweeping majority in the Indian Parliament. Narain defeated Gandhi at Rae Bareli in those elections.

The new Janata-led government reversed many Emergency-era decrees and opened official investigations into Emergency-era abuses. Although several major foreign policy and economic reforms were attempted, continuous in-fighting and ideological differences made the Janata government unable to effectively address national problems. By mid-1979, Prime Minister Morarji Desai was forced to resign and his successor Chaudhary Charan Singh became Prime Minister of India. He remained in office for 23 days until Congress(I) withdrew support. Popular disenchantment with the political in-fighting and ineffective government led to the resurgence of Gandhi and her new Congress (I) party, which won the general election called in 1980. After Jaiprakash Bandhu now Navneet Chaturvedi is the president of Janata Party since November 2021.[7][8][9][10][11][12]

  1. ^ Shashi Tharoor (2006). India: From Midnight To Millennium. Arcade Publishing. pp. 164–66. ISBN 978-1-55970-803-6.
  2. ^ "Why the Far Right Rules Modi's India". Jacobin. Retrieved 4 June 2024. In this vacuum, the BJP's path to power followed that of three other centrist parties, similar to Congress, which led coalitions on three separate occasions.
  3. ^ Gould, Harold (20 May 2019). India Votes Alliance Politics And Minority Governments In The Ninth And Tenth General Elections. Taylor and Francis. ISBN 9780429722776. Retrieved 19 June 2024.
  4. ^ "List of Political Parties and Free Symbols" (PDF). Election Commission of India. 10 March 2014.
  5. ^ Dr. Pavithran K.S. (2020). The Janata Interludes. VIJ Books (India) PVT Limited. ISBN 9789389620184. Retrieved 19 July 2024.
  6. ^ Official Excerpts from Speech of Veteran Journalist. Emergency: Top Oppositional political leaders arrested. Website. Archived from the original on 23 September 2015. Retrieved 31 August 2015.
  7. ^ "जिओ पॉलिटिक्स के लेखक नवनीत चतुर्वेदी जनता पार्टी के राष्ट्रीय अध्यक्ष बने | Journo Mirror". 18 December 2021. Archived from the original on 25 January 2024. Retrieved 25 January 2024.
  8. ^ "चुनाव स्थगित करने हेतु जनता पार्टी राष्ट्रीय अध्यक्ष नवनीत चतुर्वेदी द्वारा सुप्रीम कोर्ट में जनहित याचिका - अग्नि आलोक". 14 January 2022. Archived from the original on 25 January 2024. Retrieved 25 January 2024.
  9. ^ Malviya, Pavan (12 November 2023). "विधानसभा चुनाव राजस्थान और मध्यप्रदेश जहां जनता पार्टी गेम चेंजर की भूमिका मे खड़ी हो चुकी है - नवनीत चतुर्वेदी". दैनिक भास्कर हिन्दी (Dainik Bhaskar Hindi) (in Hindi). Archived from the original on 25 January 2024. Retrieved 25 January 2024.
  10. ^ "Political News : जनता पार्टी ने ठुकराया संयुक्त विपक्ष का प्रस्ताव, नए चेहरों को मौका देकर करेगी मिशन 2024 की तैयारी | Janta party President navneet chaturvedi distanced himself from all-party meeting, rejected proposal joint opposition". Patrika News (in Hindi). 22 June 2023. Archived from the original on 17 January 2024. Retrieved 25 January 2024.
  11. ^ "UP News: 5 जून से जनता पार्टी यूपी में शुरू करेगी सदस्यता अभियान, देशभर में पार्टी लोगों को जोड़ेगी". Navbharat Times (in Hindi). Archived from the original on 12 June 2023. Retrieved 25 January 2024.
  12. ^ "ब्राह्मण समाज के समर्थन में आई जनता पार्टी: नवनीत चतुर्वेदी". www.navodayatimes.in. 3 June 2023. Archived from the original on 28 March 2024. Retrieved 25 January 2024.