Janata Dal (lit.'People's Party') was an Indian political party which was formed through the merger of Lok Dal, Indian National Congress (Jagjivan), and the Jan Morcha on 11 October 1988—the birth anniversary of Jayaprakash Narayan under the leadership of V. P. Singh.[3][4]

Janata Dal
AbbreviationJD
FounderV. P. Singh
Founded11 October 1988 (36 years ago) (1988-10-11)
Dissolved2003
Merger of
Succeeded by
Political positionCentre[2]
National affiliation
Colours  Green

History

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V. P. Singh united the entire disparate spectrum of parties ranging from regional parties such as the Telugu Desam Party, the Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam, and the Asom Gana Parishad, together and formed the National Front with N. T. Rama Rao as President and V. P. Singh as convenor. The front also included outside support from the right-wing Bharatiya Janata Party and the left-wing Left Front, led by the Communist Party of India and Communist Party of India (Marxist). They defeated Rajiv Gandhi's Congress (I) in the 1989 parliamentary elections.[5][6] His government fell after Lalu Prasad Yadav got Advani arrested in Samastipur and stopped his Ram Rath Yatra, which was going to Ayodhya on the site of the Babri Masjid on 23 October 1990, and the Bharatiya Janata Party withdrew support. V. P. Singh lost a parliamentary vote of confidence on 7 November 1990.[7] In the 1991 Indian general election the Janata Dal lost power but emerged as the third largest party in Lok Sabha.[8] The Janata Dal-led United Front formed the government after the 1996 Indian general election with the outside support of the Indian National Congress. However, after this the Janata Dal gradually disintegrated into various smaller factions, which largely became regional parties such as Biju Janata Dal, Rashtriya Janata Dal, Janata Dal (Secular) and Janata Dal (United).[9]

Ascent to power

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V. P. Singh

It first came to power in 1989, after cases of corruption, known as the Bofors scandal, caused Rajiv Gandhi's Congress (I) to lose the elections. The National Front coalition that was formed consisted of the Janata Dal and a few smaller parties in the government, and had outside support from the Left Front and the Bharatiya Janata Party. V. P. Singh was the prime minister. In November 1990, this coalition collapsed, and a new government headed by Chandra Shekhar under Samajwadi Janata Party (Rashtriya) which had the support of the congress came to power for a short while. Two days before the vote, Chandra Shekhar, an ambitious Janata Dal rival who had been kept out of the National Front government, joined with Devi Lal, a former deputy prime minister under V. P. Singh, to form the Samajwadi Janata Party, with a total of just sixty Lok Sabha members. The day after the collapse of the National Front government, Chandra Shekhar informed the president that by gaining the backing of the Congress (I) and its electoral allies he enjoyed the support of 280 members of the Lok Sabha, and he demanded the right to constitute a new government. Even though his rump party accounted for only one-ninth of the members of the Lok Sabha, Chandra Shekhar succeeded in forming a new minority Government and becoming Prime Minister (with Devi Lal as deputy prime minister). However, Chandra Shekhar's government fell less than four months later, after the Congress (I) withdrew its support.[10]

 
I. K. Gujral

Its second spell of power began in 1996, when the Janata Dal-led United Front coalition came to power, with outside support from the congress under Sitaram Kesri, choosing H. D. Deve Gowda as their prime minister. The Congress withdrew their support in less than a year, after the H. D. Deve Gowda Government restarted probing the corruption cases against a lot of Congress leaders, hoping to gain power with the support of various United Front constituent groups, and I. K. Gujral became the next prime minister. His government too fell in a few months, and in February 1998, the Janata Dal-led coalition lost power to the Bharatiya Janata Party in General Elections.[citation needed]

List of prime ministers & chief ministers of India

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Prime ministers

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No. Image Prime ministers Year Duration Constituency
1   Vishwanath Pratap Singh 1989 – 1990 343 days Fatehpur
2   H. D. Deve Gowda 1996 – 1997 324 days — (Rajya Sabha MP) from Karnataka
3   Inder Kumar Gujral 1997 – 1998 332 days — (Rajya Sabha MP) from Bihar

Chief ministers

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No. Portrait Chief Ministers State Year Duration
1
 
Mulayam Singh Yadav Uttar Pradesh
2 Chimanbhai Patel Gujarat
 
Lalu Prasad Yadav Bihar
 
Biju Patnaik Odisha
 
H. D. Deve Gowda Karnataka
J. H. Patel Karnataka
 
Devi Lal Haryana
 
Om Prakash Chautala Haryana
 
Banarsi Das Gupta Haryana
Hukum Singh Haryana

Electoral records

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Electoral Performance
Year Seats won Votes
1989 Indian general election 143   143 53,518,521   53,518,521
1991 Indian general election 59   84 32,628,400   2,08,90,121
1996 Indian general election 46   13 27,070,340   55,58,060
1998 Indian general election 6   40 11,930,209   1,51,40,131
Party Disintegrated

Vice President & Deputy Prime Minister of India

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No. Portrait Vice President Year Duration
1   Krishan Kant 21 August 1997 – 27 July 2002 4 years, 340 days
No. Portrait Deputy Prime Minister Year Duration
1   Devi Lal 10 November 1990 – 21 June 1991 242 Days

Party presidents & deputy chief ministers

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No. Portrait Presidents Year Duration
1
 
Vishwanath Pratap Singh 1989-1997 days
2
 
Sharad Yadav 1997-1999 days
No. Portrait Deputy Chief Minister State Year Duration
1 Banarsi Das Gupta Haryana
2 Hukam Singh Haryana
J. H. Patel Karnataka
K. Siddaramaiah Karnataka

National units

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Thakur Ji Pathak

Thakur Ji Pathak (1989 – 1994)- National General Secretary [11]

State units

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Uttar pradesh

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Anantram Jaiswal (1983)

Karnataka

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Presidents

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B. Rachaiah (1989)[12]

Siddaramaiah (Feb 1999)[13]

C. Byre Gowda (July 1999)[14]

General Secretary

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Jeevaraj Alva (1989-1990)[15][12]

C. Narayanaswamy (1999)[14]

Tamil Nadu

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President

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Sivaji Ganesan (1989-1993)

Janata Dal factions

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Party Name Led By Formed Remarks
Pro-NDA parties
Rashtriya Lok Dal Chaudhary Jayant Singh 1996 State Party in Uttar Pradesh
Janata Dal (Secular) H. D. Deve Gowda 1999 State Party in Karnataka
Janata Dal (United) Nitish Kumar 2003 State Party in Bihar & Manipur
Hindustani Awam Morcha (Secular) Jitan Ram Manjhi 2015 Split from Janata Dal (United) State party in Bihar
Lok Janshakti Party (Ram Vilas) Chirag Paswan 2021 Factioned from Lok Janshakti Party State Party in Bihar & Nagaland
Rashtriya Lok Janshakti Party Pashupati Kumar Paras 2021 Factioned from Lok Janshakti Party Recognised Party
Rashtriya Lok Morcha Upendra Kushwaha 2023 Split from Janata Dal (United) Unrecognised Party
Pro-I.N.D.I.A. parties
Samajwadi Party Akhilesh Yadav 1992 State Party in Uttar Pradesh
Rashtriya Janata Dal Lalu Prasad Yadav 1997 State Party in Bihar
Non-NDA/I.N.D.I.A. parties
Biju Janata Dal Naveen Patnaik 1997 State Party in Odisha
Indian National Lok Dal Om Prakash Chautala 1996 Unrecognised Party
Jannayak Janta Party Ajay Singh Chautala 2018 Split from Indian National Lok Dal Recognised

Party

Defunct parties

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See also

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References

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  1. ^ Samata Party, archived from the original on 15 February 2022, retrieved 15 February 2022
  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. ^ N. Jose Chander (1 January 2004). Coalition Politics: The Indian Experience. Concept Publishing Company. pp. 35–. ISBN 978-81-8069-092-1. Retrieved 31 October 2015.
  4. ^ India Since Independence: Making Sense of Indian Politics. Pearson Education India. 2010. pp. 334–. ISBN 978-81-317-2567-2. Retrieved 31 October 2015.
  5. ^ "V. P. Singh, a Leader of India Who Defended Poor, Dies at 77". New York Times. 29 November 2008. Retrieved 31 October 2015.
  6. ^ Indian Parliamentary Democracy. Atlantic Publishers & Dist. 2003. pp. 124–. ISBN 978-81-269-0193-7. Retrieved 1 November 2015.
  7. ^ "India's Cabinet Falls as Premier Loses Confidence Vote, by 142-346, and Quits". New York Times. 8 November 1990. Retrieved 1 November 2015.
  8. ^ "India Parliamentary Chamber: Lok Sabha Elections Held in 1991". Inter-Parliamentary Union. Retrieved 1 November 2015.
  9. ^ "Lalu green signal for Janata Parivar unity". Madan Kumar. The Times of India. 5 April 2015. Retrieved 1 November 2015.
  10. ^ Srivastava, Aaku (2022). Sensex of Regional Parties. Prabhat Prakashan Pvt. Limited. ISBN 978-93-5521-236-8. Retrieved 21 July 2024.
  11. ^ "india-today". indiatoday.com.
  12. ^ a b Rajghatta, Chidanand; 31 March 1989 (31 March 1989). "Karnataka unit Janata Dal gets a president". India Today. Retrieved 22 August 2021.{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: numeric names: authors list (link)
  13. ^ "Rediff On The NeT: Spectre of split returns to haunt JD". inwww.rediff.com. Retrieved 13 December 2021.
  14. ^ a b Menon, Parvathi. "The fallout in Karnataka". Frontline. Archived from the original on 13 December 2021. Retrieved 13 December 2021.
  15. ^ Raj Chengappa (15 September 1988). "Karnataka's new CM S.R. Bommai inherits a troubled legacy". India Today. Retrieved 17 August 2021.
  16. ^ "Samras Samaj Party merges into RLSP". News.webindia123.com. Archived from the original on 7 April 2020. Retrieved 22 September 2018.
  17. ^ "Nitish Kumar hails SJD's merger with JD-U in Kerala : South, News - India Today". Indiatoday.intoday.in. 29 December 2014. Retrieved 12 March 2017.
  18. ^ "SJD Merges with Sharad Yadav's Janata Dal (United)". The New Indian Express. 29 December 2014. Archived from the original on 31 December 2014. Retrieved 12 March 2017.
  19. ^ "From Lucknow to Delhi, parties that died with their founders". The Indian Express. 24 December 2016. Retrieved 27 June 2018.
  20. ^ "Samata Party – Official Website". Archived from the original on 15 February 2022. Retrieved 25 April 2022.