Deen Dayal Upadhyay Bharatiya Jan Sangh activities were still in the rudimentary stage in Kerala when the party’s 14th national conference was held at Kozhikode from December 30, 1967 to January 1, 1968. The meeting was a milestone for the party at the national level and the state level. The visionary Deen Dayal Upadhyay became the party president in the conference.
The venue of the conference was named after Sree Narayana Guru, at a time when the communists refused to acknowledge him. Sree Narayana Guru could usher in a bloodless social revolution on a path of love. Though many a reformer fought the social evils across India, the struggles led to bloodletting in many places. Kerala saw a different picture through the work of the guru. Jan Sangh wanted the message of the social revolutionary to fly across India and chose his name for the party meet’s venue. There was a column built at the entrance with the guru’s messages inscribed on it.
The meeting of 1967 was historic in the sense that Upadhyay came to the leadership after a long stint as the general secretary of the party and the party adopted a line that the way forward for India was through “integral humanism”. I was Jan Sangh’s state general secretary then. The conference was a success though the party did not have a solid base in Kerala. As many as 12,000 delegates attended the meeting.
Regional language issues were at their peak then. The issue were more serious and violent in Tamil Nadu. Delegates from other states had to pass through Tamil Nadu. We were concerned about their vehicles being targeted by protesters in Tamil Nadu.
But everything went smooth. The party could take a clear stand on the language issue in the meeting. The party encouraged everyone to study their mother language and learn English and Hindi as link languages. Hindi speakers could learn another language apart from English. The meeting also took a stand against untouchability in society. The party decided to go soft on all political parties because they worked among the people of India regardless of the differences in ideas and ideology. The party later allied with the CPI to form a government in Bihar.
The Jan Sangh was part of the government in six states at the time of the 1967 national meeting. The Samyuktha Vidhayak Dal was in power in those states. The Jan Sangh conference was rich in debates on building an Indian based on humanism, rather than capitalism or socialism. I feel proud of becoming a part of the meeting that laid the foundation for the party’s growth in Kerala.
Upadhyay had stayed in Alakapuri when he came to Kozhikode for the conference. I was offered the same room in the hotel this time. Memories of the historic meeting keep swelling in my mind. Years have passed and the party has added to its ranks in Kerala. Many people were surprised when I quit practicing as an advocate to propagate the ideas of Upadhyay as a Jan Sangh worker. They asked me why did I quit a profession for a party which was unlikely to have even a panchayat member.
The party’s growth in all these years is evident from the number of its representatives in the local bodies in Kerala. The BJP has its presence in the Kerala Legislative Assembly as well. I feel proud and grateful to have opened the doors of the assembly for the BJP. The vote share gathered by the party in the assembly election is a clear sign that the people of Kerala have started to realize the pretense of both the Left Democratic Front and the United Democratic Front. I am sure that the national council meeting will sound the bugle for the party’s march to power in Kerala.
