Conservatism in India
Conservatism in India refers to expressions of conservative politics in India. Conservative-oriented political parties have included the Bharatiya Janata Party, the Congress Nationalist Party, and the Uttar Pradesh Praja Party. The Sangh Parivar is the largest group of Conservative organizations in India, including the Bharatiya Janata Party, the Vishva Hindu Parishad and the Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh.
A Pew research survey conducted between late 2019 and early 2020 found that India is a largely conservative country.
History
National level
19th century: Rise of modern conservatism
Modern Indian conservatism arose as a reaction to colonialism under European powers and the subsequent loss of sovereignty and political power - it harkened back to a glorious Hindu past before the time of foreign invasions. Social and cultural changes laid the groundwork for Hindu revivalism as well as traditionalism.Establishment of early political organisations
was a political party formed as a response to Hindu opposition to the Bengal partition of 1905. It aimed to safeguard the interests of Muslims. This along with the creation of a separate Muslim electorate under Morley-Minto reforms in 1909 consolidated the Hindu Right, resulting in formation of the Hindu Mahasabha. Later Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh was started by Keshav Baliram Hedgewar after being disillusioned by the participation of INC in the Khilafat Movement.Conservatism in Congress party
Conservatism manifested under the aegis of Indian National Congress as well in early to mid 20th century. This tendency subsided gradually over time as conservative factions started breaking away from the party one by one.Soon after independence, conservatives in the cabinet convinced the social democrat Nehru to quash communist uprisings in parts of the country. But after 1950, the conservative movement was in trouble. Patel died by then, Prominent right-leaning figures in the party were demoted to ceremonial posts or forced out or stepped aside, leaving Nehru as the most powerful leader for the time being.
The conservative caucus,
which included leaders like G. B. Pant and B.C. Roy tried to dissuade Nehru from the most extreme policies with only limited success.
Indira Gandhi started her Prime ministerial tenure with devaluation of rupee but failed to follow this up with other pragmatic measures like elimination of industrial licensing. This did not help and she turned to a leftwing economic policy afterwards.
Splits from Indian National Congress and formation of Jan Sangh
was established as a political party in 1933.Madan Mohan Malaviya along with Madhav Shrihari Aney split away from the party in 1934 in protest of the Communal Award. They began Congress Nationalist Party afterwards.
Syama Prasad Mukherjee started Bharatiya Jan Sangh in 1951 as a nationalistic alternative to Congress after he left Hindu Maha Sabha.
The party platform included banning cow slaughter and abolishing the special status given to Jammu and Kashmir.
The party was able to form coalition governments after the assembly elections of 1967 in states including Madhya Pradesh, Bihar and Uttar Pradesh.
The Swatantra party was formed by right-leaning congress members in response to the socialistic turn of INC after the Nagpur resolution of 1959. They stood for free markets and dismantling of dirigiste policies prevalent at the time.
In 1967, Charan Singh left the Congress party with a host of MLAs to form Bharatiya Kranti Dal after fallout with the party over concerns about farm sector and went on to become Chief Minister.
Later another conservative faction known as the Indian National Congress also split from INC in 1969 due to the left-wing economic policies of Indira Gandhi, like bank nationalisations.
The Swatantra party later merged into Bharatiya Lok Dal in 1974.
Conservative political parties had very limited success in the national arena even in the late 1970s.
1977-1980: Interregnum between Indira governments and Janata Party rule
Congress and Jan Sangh merged into the Janata Party in 1977. The big tent arrangement led to a government whose foreign policy led India towards closer relations with the United States, but it also caused the exit of several multinational companies from the Indian market due to economic nationalism under the Janata rule.The former Jan Sangh contributed largest number of seats to Janata Party's contingent with 93 seats. The previous leader of Jan Sangh, A.B. Vajpayee, was appointed the Minister of External Affairs.
The national leadership of the former Jan Sangh attempted to integrate with the Janata Party but assimilation proved to be a failure since the state and local units retained strong association with RSS. The moderate constituents of Janata Party demanded that they break the connection and revoke dual membership in both RSS and Janata Party. Eventually the coalition rule collapsed due to infighting among members of different ideologies and subsequent economic deterioration. After defeat in the 1980 elections, the party executive council finally banned dual membership to RSS in April of that year. This led to the former Jan Sangh members leaving to create a new party, the Bharatiya Janata Party.
1980-1998: Emergence of BJP and ascent to power
The electoral misfortune of political conservatism changed with the formation of the Bharatiya Janata Party and its later adoption of the Ram Janmabhoomi campaign which ultimately resulted in BJP going from two seats in 1984 to leading government at the central level in 1996 and 1998.Vajpayee was named the first president of the party, the bulk of which was identical in rank and file to its predecessor, the Jan Sangh.
The party initially had a moderate agenda in contrast to the Jan Sangh and focused on Gandhian socialism and emphasised its earlier links with Janata Party to gain wider appeal. However, the Congress Party, riding on a sympathy wave after the assassination of Indira Gandhi, won a landslide victory in the 1984 election.
Subsequently, the party traded the moderate agenda for a more aggressive Hindu nationalist program under the leadership of L.K. Advani from 1984 onwards.
The party backed the construction of Ram temple in Ayodhya and made it their electoral plank. By 1989 elections, they secured 86 seats, providing crucial support to V. P. Singh's government.
Journalist A.S.Abraham wrote on the Times of India that the Lok Sabha elections revealed a significant shift of political central ground to right. He believed that the recent socioeconomic disparities among people were benefitting BJP rather than the Left parties.
BJP support for Singh's government was later withdrawn after Hindu religious volunteers called Kar Sevaks were killed while fighting with paramilitary forces guarding Babri Mosque.
Fresh elections ensued and BJP raised its tally to 120 seats and won a majority in the Uttar Pradesh assembly.
RSS and its affiliates called for a massive rally at the site of the Babri mosque on December 6, 1992. The rally later gave way to violence and led to the destruction of the mosque. Riots occurred between Hindus and Muslims resulting in over 2,000 deaths.
BJP was able to capitalise on the heightened communal polarisation and further increased its strength to 161 seats in the Lok Sabha. Vajpayee was sworn in as Prime Minister as he was the leader of the largest party. However, he couldn't muster majority and stepped down after 13 days.
A coalition of regional parties took over the government but lasted only for two years. BJP fought 1998 elections leading the National Democratic Alliance coalition.
Vajpayee returned as Prime Minister after gaining outside support from the Telugu Desam Party. The coalition later lost majority after All India Anna Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam withdrew support in May 1999.
1999-2004: First full term by non-Congress-led government
BJP retained power after the success of Kargil war in 1999 elections but lost 2004 polls in spite of its India shining campaign.RSS was the ideological mentor of BJP but Vajpayee couldn't push key issues like building Ram temple, Abrogation of Article 370, implementing Uniform Civil Code since his government was dependent upon coalition support.
As a result, there were reports in January 2000 that hard-line BJP leaders along with RSS were threatening to restart Jan Sangh, the predecessor of BJP.
In December 1999, terrorists hijacked Indian Airlines IC 814 flight from Kathmandu to New Delhi. The government later accepted their demands to exchange terrorists in prison for the passengers. Two years later, a group of terrorists stormed the Parliament building in Delhi and killed several security guards before being stopped.
The Prevention of Terrorism Act, 2002 was subsequently passed in March 2002.
Prior to May 2001, NDA was holding power in 16 of 30 assemblies, including union territories. After two rounds of state elections, in February 2002, the situation reversed with Congress and its allies now holding power in 16 assemblies while NDA shrunk to seven.
Vishva Hindu Parishad held the government in a standoff between December 2001 and March 2002 by trying to perform a foundation stone laying ceremony at Ayodhya. The ceremony was later moved to a location a kilometer away and thus ended without further incidents. However Vajpayee was later accused of doing nothing to stop violence during the 2002 Gujarat riots. He reportedly wanted to remove the then-CM of Gujarat, Narendra Modi but decided against doing so after party members discouraged him.
Vajpayee later admitted that the situation was mishandled and that not removing Modi was a mistake.
During late 2002 and 2003, the government pushed through economic reforms, increasing privatisation, foreign investment and modernisation programmes. This resulted in GDP growth exceeding 7% between the years 2003 and 2007.