Jan Morcha
The Jan Morcha (literally, the 'People's Front') was founded by V. P. Singh when he was dismissed from his post of Defence Minister and subsequently left the Congress Party in 1987.
Together with Arun Nehru, Arif Mohammed Khan, Mufti Mohammad Sayeed, V. C. Shukla, Ram Dhan, Raj Kumar Rai and Satyapal Malik, he formed a nucleus of opposition to the government of Rajiv Gandhi which at that time possessed a commanding majority in the Lok Sabha.[1]
Following the increasing visibility of his stand against corruption in public life and his growing popularity, the other social-democratic parties like the Janata Party, Lok Dal and Congress (S) - many of them survivors of the original Janata Party - came together and merged with the Jan Morcha to form the Janata Dal to fight the 1989 General Elections, in which the National Front together with the Left and Right parties opposed to the Congress gained a plurality of seats.
Following the Janata Dal's time in power and its subsequent split and decline, V. P. Singh, after surviving a battle with cancer, re-formed the Jan Morcha in 2005 with socialist actor-politician Raj Babbar as its public face.[2]
In the Uttar Pradesh state assembly elections, 2007, the party fielded 118 candidates, but other than Dharmpal Singh, who won from Dayalbagh, defeating Kishan Lal Baghel of the Bahujan Samaj Party by three thousand votes (1.7%), no other candidate was successful.[3]
After the party drew a blank in the 2007 UP elections, Raj Babbar joined the Congress, and Singh's elder son Ajeya Singh took over the reins of the party in anticipation of the 2009 General elections.[4]
In March 2009 Ajeya Singh announced that Jan Morcha was to be merged with the Lok Janshakti Party (LJP). Ajeya Singh and other members were inducted into the LJP and Ajeya was declared a Vice President of the party and its candidate from Fatehpur Lok Sabha constituency.[5] However, later, Ram Vilas Paswan joined hands with the Samajwadi Party (SP) of Mulayam Singh Yadav and the RJD of Laloo Prasad Yadav, to form a Fourth front, and Mulayam Singh declared that the LJP would not contest any seats in UP.[6] Ajeya Singh then contested as Jan Morcha candidate from Fatehpur, but lost to Rakesh Sachan of the SP.
The Jan Morcha was renamed as the National Jan Morcha in June 2009 and dedicated to farmer's causes and to forging a third alternative in national politics.[7] A month later, the Jan Morcha merged with the Indian National Congress.[8]
References
- ↑ "Congress Decline and Party Pluralism in India", by C. Candland, Journal of International Affairs, 1997.
- ↑ The Tribune
- ↑ List of Contestants of Jan Morcha Election Commission website.
- ↑ An irreparable loss: Mayawati
- ↑ Jan Morcha merges with LJP
- ↑ Corruption main poll issue: Mulayam
- ↑ National Jan Morcha plans farmers’ meet in Delhi
- ↑ Jan Morcha merges with Congress