BJP makes history
By Nardev Sharma Advocate

When the Emergency imposed by the Congress on the country was lifted in 1977 the BJS merged itself with the Janata Party. Assembly elections were held simultaneously with the Parliamentary Elections and the Janata Party came into power in Haryana. Dr. Mangal Sen , Dr. Kamla Varma and Shri Ram Lal Wadhwa from BJS were given ministerial berths. Shri Surajbhan and Chaudhary Mukhtar Singh were the two members from BJS who were elected to Lok Sabha on Janata Party ticket.

BJS faction of Janata Party had a strength of 17 members in the Haryana Assembly between 1977 and 1980. BJS had won Jagadhari, Mulana , Sadhoura, Yamuna Nagar, Nilokheri , Panipat, Barnala, Ambala City, Sonipat, Rohtak, Faridabad, Hansi, Kaithal, Palwal seats. But the Janata Party Government could not complete its term and mid-term elections were held in 1980 consequent to which Congress returned to power and Janata Party experience turned out to be a big disappointment.

BJS members left the Janata Party and Bharatiya Janata Party came into being on April 6, 1980. In July 1980 Dr. Kamla Varma became the first Haryana State BJP president. She worked tirelessly to give BJP a firm foothold in the State. In 1983 she gave way to Shri Surajbhan who became the State president.

The State politics in Haryana took a new turn when in 1986-87 the Rajeev Longowal accord influenced the politics in northern States. Dr. Mangal Sen was the State unit president and he along with Chaudhary Devi Lal embarked on a padyatra from Hissar to Delhi demanding safeguards to the interests of Haryana. The yatra received a massive response from the people and when elections were held Chaudhary Devi Lal formed the Government with active support from BJP which again had won 17 seats in the Assembly and seven members of BJP Shri Surajbhan, Smt. Sushma Swaraj, Shri Ram Vilas Sharma, Dr. Kamala Varma, Shri Sitaram Singla, Shri Ratan Lal Katariya, and Chaudhary Bhag Mal became ministers.

But this Government fell a victim to massive violence that took place during Meham by-elections contested by Shri Om Prakash Chautala, the son of Chief Minister Shri Devi Lal. In 1989 Smt. Sushma Swaraj became a member of Upper House vacating Ambala Cantt. seat in Assembly. Shri Anil Vij emerged as a winner in the subsequent by-polls defeating the Congress candidate comfortably. It was the second successive win for BJP in Haryana by-elections. Prior to this, it had been successful in registering an emphatic win in Karnal when Shri Ghanshyam Das Bajaj defeated the Congress in by-elections. Dr. Mangal Sen’s unfortunate demise in 1990 brought in Prof. Ram Vilas Sharma as the State president.

General Elections held in the year 1991 did not bring much success to BJP as it could muster only two seats in the Assembly. Shri Ram Vilas Sharma won the Mahendragarh seat. The winner of Shahbad seat left the party just after winning the elections.

The period between 1991 to 1996 witnessed growing popularity of the party in Haryana as it participated in Ayodhya movement actively. In 1996 Chaudhary Bansi Lal led Haryana Vikas Party formed the Government. The BJP registered a win at 11 seats and Shri Ram Vilas Sharma , Prof Ganeshi Lal , Dr. Kamla Varma, Shri Kanwarpal Gurjar, Shri Sashipal Mehta, Shri Kailash Chandra Sharma became ministers. Shri Fakir Chandra Aggarwal became the Deputy Speaker of Haryana Assembly.

After Shri RamVilas Sharma, in 1993 Shri Joshi became the State unit president and he continued till 1998. After him Shri Om Prakash Grover became the president for the next two years.

The 1996 general elections to Lok Sabha brought good news for BJP as it gained success in 4 seats out of ten by winning in Ambala , Karnal , Faridabad and Gurgaon. Shri Surajbhan won from Ambala, Shri Ishwardas Swami from Karnal, Shri Ram Chandra Bainda from Faridabad and Col Ram Singh from Gurgaon defeated Congress candidates in their constituencies with handsome margins. Shri Surajbhan became the Deputy Speaker in Lok Sabha. But the party could not repeat its success in the mid-term polls in 1998 and only Shri Ram Chandra Bainda could win from Faridabad. The BJP shared power with the Bansi Lal led government till the end of year 1998 but later was forced to withdraw its support as there was large scale defection from Haryana Vikas Party.

In 1999 the BJP emerged victorious on five seats as its candidates Shri Ratan Lal Kataria, Shri Kishan Singh Sangwan, Shri Ram Chandra Bainda, Shri I D Swami and Dr. Sudha Yadav won the Lok Sabha elections from Ambala, Sonipat, Faridabad, Karnal and Gurgaon.

On the other hand, the Indian National Lokdal won the remaining 5 seats with BJP’s support.

The state unit of BJP was headed by Shri Ratan Lal Katariya when the party registered this spectacular victory. Shri Ganeshi Lal became the president in 2003 after Shri Kataria stepped down and has been discharging his duties since then.

Assembly elections in year 2000 brought six seats in BJP’s account when Smt. Veena Chibbar, Vaidya Kapoor Chand, Shri Kanwar Pal Singh, Shri Krishan Pal Gujjar, Shri Chandra Bhatia and Smt. Sarita Narayan won from Ambala, Shahbad, Chichrauli, Mewla Maharajpur, Faridabad and Kalanaur respectively.

General Elections in 2004 did not bring much good news to the BJP as it could win only one seat. Shri Kishan Sangwan won from Sonipat as the party lost on the remaining 9 Lok Sabha seats.

In the last Assembly elections held in 2005, the party could win only two seats. Shri Ram Kumar Gautam from Narnaund and Shri Naresh Malik from Hasangarh were the only winners. The BJP is now busy making inroads at the grassroots level under the leadership of Shri Ganeshi Lal the party president. The journey of Haryana BJP has received boost from the relentless work by its organizing secretaries. Shri Pawan Kumar Mittal (1968 to 1970), Shri Krishna Sharma( 1970 to 1977), Shri Ramfal Kohli ( 1977 to 1986), Shri Surya Krishna ( 1987 to 1988), Shri Amarnath Shastri and Shri Ramfal Kohli ( 1988 to 1996), Shri Manohar Lal Khattar ( 1996 to 2003). Shri Ram Pyare Pandey and Shri Bhagwat Sharan Mathur are toiling hard to strengthen the organisation in Haryana.

This brief history of BJP in Haryana is an attempt to draw an outline of the developments that had taken place and milestones created in the State. The names which could not find a mention here also deserve admiration and credit because their hard work had been crucial in the long journey of BJP in Haryana.

(Concluded)